On a frigid Christmas Day, church leaders of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Laurel, Maryland, got a call from their local fire department.
The church held their services as usual on Christmas morning but were alerted of burst pipes in the building later that afternoon.
When they arrived, senior Pastor Peter DeMik said, water was coming down profusely with cold weather presumed to be the culprit.
The main damage was to the day care area — but a simple call for help brought out a large crowd of the congregation that showed up with mops, fans and vacuums in hand.
“Christmas is about gifts that we give to one another and exchange, but the gift of time and willing hearts and service we saw was just an incredible blessing and certainly a demonstration of God’s love,” DeMik said.
Parishioner Robb Wilmot said his family headed over immediately when they got the call for help.
“We just headed over there with mops and buckets … it was like waves of water because people were mopping and pushing and squeegeeing and trying to get all of this water out,” Wilmot said. “Despite the work, people were in good spirits.”
Pastor DeMik said they will need professional help to be able to reopen the day care and an estimate for damages is pending.
Church leaders expect repairs to happen early this week, but some are worried about their child care as they return to work after the holidays.