10/31/16 — Wayne Opportunity Center in ruins as staff begins to rebuild

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Wayne Opportunity Center in ruins as staff begins to rebuild

By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on October 31, 2016 9:59 AM

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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO

Linda Adams, left, and Kathy Campbell throw away games Friday that were damaged by floodwaters at the Wayne Opportunity Center. Staff members have been using a generator and stand lights to start the cleaning process ever since they were able to get back in the building on Oct. 14 and will not be able to find out the extent of the damage until power is restored. Center director Amy Hartley said, "This has been far worse than Floyd was for us. Far worse."

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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO

Matthew, a client at Wayne Opportunity Center, gets help from staff member Sabrina Williams on his daily living skills goals at Rosewood First Baptist Church on Friday.

The extent of the damage done to Wayne Opportunity Center by Hurricane Matthew and the subsequent flooding is unknown.

The building on South George Street is still without power and phone service.

"When we came back into the building the first time, we came in and had a flashlight and a hoe, in case there were any snakes. We had snakes the last time (Hurricane Floyd)," said Amy Hartley, executive director.

"We found a fish," chimed in Daniel Hartley, her son.

A 3-inch-long dead fish floated up when the staff was still digging out from the storm, which has already filled more than four dumpsters with things that could not be salvaged.

"What we have been concentrating on is what we can get done, mostly the front building because we don't have to have light," said Evelyn White, production manager. "Back here it's another story. We're trying to take a little area at a time.

The private non-profit community rehabilitation program serves individuals with developmental delays. Some clients work on prevocational skills to learn how to get a job, others work on basic life skills, trying to be more independent in their homes.

The clients rely on the program for the paycheck it provides as well as the consistency.

WOC, which operates on the district calendar, resumed when schools did last week, but at a temporary location.

Rosewood First Baptist Church stepped up and provided space in its family life center for the day program.

"We boxed up everything that we could salvage and everything that we could save to run the program," Mrs. Hartley said.

The clients have adapted well, she said of the 98 currently served by the program, with an additional 75 to 80 staff.

The past three weeks have been "devastating," said Linda Adams, refinishing instructor. She hasn't even been able to fully assess her section of the building, which includes a lot of machinery.

"It's heartbreaking. It really is," she said. "To see something you worked so had for. I don't even want my clients to see it. It's heartbreaking to know they're going to have to come in and see that."

Mrs. Hartley, named interim director in April before officially taking over the role Oct. 1, has worked at WOC since 1994. She said this time was much worse than Hurricane Floyd.

"We tried to be proactive," she said. "We just were thinking it was going to be similar to Floyd. We had come down here Sunday before the flood actually happened, when they said it was going to be worse than Floyd.

"Angela Goldsby, the finance manager, she and her husband, Tim, and me and my son, Daniel, came down here. We put all the computers up on the desks, we tried to get as much stuff off the floor as we could. We got all the client charts and everything on top of the file cabinets. Anything that we put up on top of desks, we actually did save."

When they later returned, the front building was saturated. There had been 13 1/2 inches of water in the front building, up to 15 inches in the salvaging area, she said, rendering everything there as "basically ruined," she said.

"The water receded enough that we came back in on the 14th," she said. "We were able to get back in the building (that day). We went through and kind of looked at the initial damage and everything.

"I don't know if it was the force of the water or the water just came in and floated things to different areas but everything was just in disarray -- bookshelves were knocked over, there was a lot of stuff on the floor where the bookshelves had fallen."

Efforts since have included putting in dehumidifiers and air purifiers to get moisture out of the building, taking out sheetrock, carpeting and furnishings and boxing up anything that can be salvaged.

There is much work to be done, while keeping things as consistent as possible for clients, but it is unknown when the base of operations will reopen.

"We were hoping initially three to four weeks," Mrs. Hartley said. "We were hoping to be back in here by Thanksgiving.

The clients also have an annual Halloween party, something the director said was uncertain until a few days ago.

"We asked the church if they would have a fall festival, in case they didn't want to have a Halloween theme," she said.

Then a preacher walked in and produced $500, a donation from someone who wanted to give to someone affected by the flood.

Anyone wishing to make donations to the WOC can call 919-735-5363 or go online to wayneopportunitycenter.org.