The 5 Q's: Kaylea Furgerson describes overcoming flood damage
Feb. 21—In this weekly feature, we put five questions before someone in the community. Today, we chat with the Alliance of Southwest Missouri's Kaylea Furgerson.
1. What prompted the Alliance of Southwest Missouri to launch a $1.5 million campaign in 2019?
In early 2019, we were shown the building at 1601 S. Wall in Joplin with the offer of it being donated to help further our mission and serve our community in many different ways. It seemed like a daunting task; however, in a few days time there was a vision for how it could be used by the alliance, as well as being able to offer its use to other nonprofit organizations in our service area.
After much consideration and planning, the board of directors decided to take on the project of restoring the building and moving the alliance to 1601 S. Wall. We accepted the donation in April 2019, remodeled the addition on the back of the building and moved in our staff in June of 2019.
As we continued to dream and plan with architects, we determined it would cost $1.5 million to remodel the facility to accommodate all of our hopes and dreams. We knew all along that we would need to call on the generosity of the communities that we serve, so in December of 2019, we launched our capital campaign, "1601 at the Core of Community."
2. How was the Alliance of Southwest Missouri impacted by flooding on Jan. 22?
On Saturday, Jan. 22, our building had a pipe burst in our sprinkler system that caused massive flooding and damage to our building. Within a minute, over a half-foot of water surged through our entire building. We were fortunate to have a staff member and former firefighter, Mark Box, Safe Kids coordinator, at the scene at the time of the flood. Thanks to his quick actions and knowledge from his former profession, we were able to get help immediately.
While our building sustained no drastic structural damage, there is a lot of work to be done to repair the damage. The pipe and ceiling where it burst will need to be replaced. We will also need to repair all of our office walls and insulation to prevent mold growth. A vast majority of our furniture, electronics, office supplies and decorations had to be thrown away because of water intake.
There are also additional factors that have to be calculated into the total cost as well. As of right now, our biggest concern is the fee that will be associated with our utility usage. Running multiple fans, dehumidifiers, our heater at a high degree, water pumps, etc., have all added up. The insurance company is still configuring what will be covered and how much in damages it will cost, but the outlook is good. We are hoping that the insurance will cover the majority of the fees, and the rest can be raised through fundraising.
3. Did the flooding cause any setbacks to the renovation project?
Fortunately, we did not have any setbacks or delays with our 1601 at the Core of Community campaign outside of a minor distraction of our attention, which will restore our 106-year-old building. Last November, post-pandemic, we relaunched our campaign and were able to secure enough funding to start phase 2. This phase, coincidentally, addresses issues related to the exterior of our building that allow it to take in rainwater. We're still set to start this project in March of this year, so hopefully 2022 will be the end of our building's water issues.
We also want to stay true to our donors' vision for the project. While it would be easy to use funds we have already raised for our campaign, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. We created a separate fundraiser for the sole purpose of expenses related to the flood, and we have already had an anonymous donor cover our insurance deductible for $2,500.
4. Where is the Alliance of Southwest Missouri working while repairs are being made to the building?
The most amazing thing to have come out of this disaster is how resilient our staff, volunteers and community have been. We were able to move over into spare offices in the United Way building immediately. Our programming directors were amazing with the transition, and we haven't skipped a beat with any of the programs that we offer.
We are expected to have the building fully operational again in April.
5. What can the public do to support the Alliance of Southwest Missouri at this time?
First, we want to thank the amazing volunteers and members of the community who immediately responded. The Joplin Fire Department, Helping Hands Commercial Cleaning, Total Electronic Contracting, Marmic Fire and Safety, Midwest IT, Absolute Best Cleaning and Restoration Service, Larry the Carpet Guy, Servpro, and the Carl Junction Chamber of Commerce volunteers, along with our board, staff and their families, have gone above and beyond with their help.
Second, we ask that you be patient while we continue to pivot and watch for requests for help as needs arise.
If you would like to help with unexpected expenses due to the pipe burst, please designate your donation at www.theallianceofswmo.org or mail a check to 1601 S. Wall, Joplin, MO 64804. We know that we will have a continual need for volunteers, so if you have the availability to help with this restoration project, please contact Kaylea Furgerson at kfurgerson@theallianceofswmo.org.
Kaylea Furgerson is the director of community relations at the Alliance of Southwest Missouri.
