In Search of a Three Hole Punch – How About a Lot of Water Instead?

We’ve all heard the saying, “It takes a Village!” when referring to how a community joins together to raise kids, keep each other safe, and find a sense of belonging. Well, this past Sunday morning, July 16th, I experienced the joy of this expression firsthand!

I was the person on Safety Duty that morning, and I had made my normal rounds outside the building and all throughout the main building checking classrooms and other spaces to make sure all was in order prior to the 8:00 service. It was raining and all was quiet. Later, after the 8:00 service was over, I noticed that the rain was really coming down outside – my father would call it a “real gully washer!” Folks were waiting in their cars and others were shaking off umbrellas in the entryway. Libby and Bridget were rehearsing that morning’s special music. I was standing nearby with my Safety binder open on the stage checking to see what was next on my checklist when I heard Libby comment that she really needed a three hole punch for her music. I offered to go track it down knowing that it would either be in the chapel where the handbells rehearse or down in the choir room. And it’s a good thing I did!

I opened the choir room door and flipped on the light – there was the three hole punch over on the ledge, but wait! Am I hearing running water? Uh, oh! I looked over at one of the windows by the other choir room door and there was water running down the wall from the window and dripping from the ceiling on the upright Kawai piano! Well, ok, the water wasn’t just running down the wall, it was gushing! Eeek!

I shoved the piano away from the wall, grabbed the hole punch, and ran up to Wesley Hall where we were having services that day. I handed the hole punch to Libby and told Bridget that we were taking on water in the choir room! I went over to let Deacon Deb know what was going on, and before I knew it there were lots of people helping. Someone moved the piano further into the room away from the water, someone grabbed a mop and bucket from the utility closet, someone else grabbed trash cans from who knows where, and someone else started throwing our Wesley Ringers polo shirts onto the three-inch-deep puddle that was quickly spreading across the room and out the door by the copy machine! (Don’t worry the polo shirts are in my washing machine already!)

The window wells looked like two fish tanks with about 12 inches of water, so Glenn Knight & Bridget went outside with pitchers from the kitchen to bail water away from the building, then they propped up our lightweight bell tables outside to create diverters to keep at least some of the rainwater away. Mike Buldoc happened to have his shop vac in his truck and the next thing I knew Sandy Lipscomb was down on her hands and knees vacuuming up the water.

But the show must go on, so everyone involved in the service went back up to Wesley Hall while a few of us stayed with mops, sponges, and the shop vac. By the end of the service, we had most of the water mopped up and four fans running to help dry things out. (Special thanks to Tom, Barry, and Sandy!) Whew!

I would have discovered the leak eventually when I did my next safety round, but by then the service would have started and it would have been much more disruptive. So, thanks, Libby, for needing the hole punch!

I want to give my profuse thanks to Tom & Lee McGivney, Sandy Lipscomb, Bridget Scarlato, Glenn Knight, Barry Kline, Paul Collen, Mike Buldoc, Libby & Chris May, and anyone else who might have helped who I inadvertently left off this list. And thanks to Deacon Deb for keeping things calm in Wesley Hall.

Deacon Deb’s sermon was about community and the sense of unity that can bring, and I am very thankful for our SUM community.

- Jen Acheson
Church Council Chair