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Ever since its beginnings as Spokane Valley’s most visible social service organization, Spokane Valley Partners has been helping low-income residents cover water and electric bills in a pinch.
Last week, the agency required some emergency assistance of its own.
A pair of floods struck the SVP building at 10814 E. Broadway, damaging several basement offices and leaving three inches of water on the floor of the agency’s clothing bank.
The first incident involved a frozen pipe fracture on the morning of Dec. 8 around 11 that sent rushing water from the ground level to three downstairs offices. Connie Nelson, SVP program director, was in the middle of planning for this week’s holiday gift distribution when the flooding began.
“It probably set me back at least a week,” Nelson said. “The signs and instructions (for the gift giveaway) were on the floor and got soaked. There was also a lot of paperwork that just looked like paper mache.
Staff and volunteers worked diligently to remove the gathering water, utilizing wet/dry vacuums and fans. Nelson was at the building until 11 p.m. trying to restore order to her office.
Some employees like Don Kaufman, SVP development director, returned to work to find a massive cleaning effort underway.
“I came back from a Rotary meeting and half the office was moved and the fans were on,” he said.
Part of the heating system also went out in the morning, dropping the temperature in several areas of the building to below 50 degrees. Workers with Advanced Mechanical Systems arrived on the scene to address both the heat and water problems.
The next day, a frozen drain attached to the washing machine in the clothing bank ruptured, causing more flooding in Nelson’s office.
“It was about the same amount of water on Wednesday that we saw the day before,” Kaufman said.
Despite the inconvenience, Nelson tried to maintain a sense of humor about the situation.
“The good news is it wasn’t a total loss,” she said. “We’ve been talking for awhile about getting these carpets cleaned.”
The building itself goes back to 1952 when it was constructed as the new home of the Spokane Valley Nazarene Church. A renovation project in 1960 added space to the structure. After the church moved to a new site on Sullivan Road, SVP moved into the location in 2001.
The flooding incidents are the latest in a series of financial challenges for SVP which continues to face shortfalls in its annual operating budget, according to Executive Director Ken Briggs. While the cost of the water damage is still to be determined, Briggs said it will have an impact on the facility.
“Anytime something like this happens, we spend money that could be put somewhere else,” he said.
Nelson was able to rally volunteers in time to host another successful Christmas gift distribution this week. While donations for the annual Season of Sharing program were running low earlier this month, a last-minute rush of presents stemmed the tide as hundreds of residents dropped by Valley United Methodist Church this week to collect free gifts.
“We’re all trying to pitch in,” Kaufman said. “We’ve got to keep everything rolling.”
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By
Craig Howard
