By Shannon Williams
As we are now in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri (that is the name that was unofficially given to whatever that was over Valentine weekend) we are still counting our blessing if we did not have a lot of damage, or still trying to repair the damage that was done. One thing about Facebook is it has been a great tool for people to look for contractors, parts, DIY information and prayers as they work to recover. There were wonderful stories of people reaching out, pooling their resources, sharing parts and just finding a way to help.

I thought about the plumbers that work on the peninsula and how the past two weeks has been for them. There is no way they can get to all of the people, let alone have all the parts on hand. So besides working long long days, they also have to let people know that they too have a limit to what they can commit to or even put on a list.

We are friends with one of the local plumbers, so I thought we should try and help out. We invited him to come to dinner. No expectations, just come and get a good meal at the end of his day to fill him up with the needed energy to continue on this long journey of getting everyone back to normal water use and repairing all those pipes. He had lots of stories to tell about some of the fixes that people were in and how he is working his team to get to as many people as they could as fast as they could. BUT, he was really concerned about things that he had seen and heard going on in the trades industry on Crystal Beach right now.

We all know that we were going to need some outside help, in fact the state was working to allow out of state plumbers to get a license and help out. But it seems there are people out there trying to get money up front, not returning after one day on the job and not giving a honest quote for the work the homeowner wanted and needed done. He really felt bad that he could not take care of everyone, but it is just not possible; but the concern he had for how other trades people might treat our neighbors was very real and upsetting to him.

So, we need to continue to help out our neighbors, by helping them go though this process and making sure that they are treated fairly by all who they let into their home. I found a nice little prayer that we can say for them all:

[March-15-2021]