“This is Maggie, can you bring me some water…”
Susan, my spouse, received this voicemail from our next door neighbor on Saturday that broke my heart.
“This is Maggie, can you bring me some water…” Sadly, Maggie lives in East Bethany where currently over fifty homes have gone without water during this summer because their wells have run dry.
Maggie’s well went dry five weeks ago. She hired a water pump contractor who delivered 1500 gallons of water into her well. He returned several times to repair her plugged water pump. However, last week he returned again and told Maggie: “there’s no more water in your well and you need to dig a new well.”
Maggie’s neighbors in Bethany have trucked 1500 gallons of water in pouches for the past six months and they will need to do this throughout the winter months. Maggie is a frail senior living on social security and SSI with no truck, no ablebodied relatives, no Genesee County grant assistance, and no water.
Susan brings ten gallons of water in milk jugs every third day so she can boil water to wash dishes, cook food, bathe and drink.
Maggie signed a contract with a well digger who heard her plight and he said: “we can’t let that lady be without water.
Tragically, Maggie has three choices. Move out of her home, get her neighbor to bring her water or dig a new well. In reality, due to the drought conditions in the GLOW area, there is no guarantee that her land has any more water. But she told Fr. Matt, “I want to die at home.”
So Maggie made her decision to stay in her home and signed the well digger contract last week with estimate over $10,000 depending how deep they have to go to find water again.
Maggie’s home was built in 1945 and she has lived in this home all her life. Her father hand dug the well that has provided water until a month ago. Prayers are needed that they find clean and drinkable water.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who find themselves in desperate situations, no water, no job, no health and look to You for courage and strength. Give this lady and all her neighbors good drinkable water again. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how you or your church can help Maggie.
