THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Last week, when the winter storm left Kimberly Roberson and her kids piled under 20 blankets in a freezing, powerless home in The Woodlands, things went from bad to worse.
First a water pipe burst in her bathroom.
“I got a price of $500, and then they came back and said $400,” said Roberson, who just lost her job a few weeks ago. “And then my sprinkler broke, and it was gushing water, and I didn’t know what to do. I said, ‘Oh, please help me, Lord. Please help me.”
Luckily Jason Shepperd, pastor of Church Project in The Woodlands, was hatching a plan with his team.
“I knew the greatest need out there was people’s pipes bursting. And even if the water was turned back on in their neighborhood, then they still can’t turn the water back on,” Shepperd said.
So more than 300 of his church members volunteered to learn how to patch pipes then hit the streets.
“We’ve been in hundreds and hundreds of homes that we know of. In many homes that we’ve been in people have gone to the next-door neighbor,” he said.
Kimberly Roberson’s home is among them.
“They don’t charge or nothing! They wouldn’t accept money," Roberson said.
Because plumbing parts are hard to find, volunteers from Church Project in Orange County, Calif., stepped up and drove $20,000 worth of supplies in to town overnight to help.
“We went around Southern California and emptied out every plumbing supply place and every big box store, seriously!” said Brian Wilson to the congregation. “Because by then all the plumbers in California were figuring out how to load their vans and drive to Texas and price gouge you. And that’s literally what they were doing.”
“When there’s a tragedy or crisis going on, it’s really beautiful to see the way that people respond,” Shepperd said.
From the pulpit to the pipes, this church’s love overflows.
“I can’t think of enough,” Roberson said. “My heart is full.”
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