Bladen church raising $30,000 to deal with mold contamination

WHITE OAK, NC (WWAY) — After 125 years of services, the Live Oak United Methodist Church is dealing with a new issue. It comes following damage from Hurricane Matthew.

Sunday mass for the members of the Live Oak United Methodist Church is the same as usual, but they are not in their church right now. Mass is held in the community center because of mold.

Tests were done on the air quality in the church and results showed the air was heavily contaminated.

“We got some of those little test kits that you get from the big box store and tested the air samples and it turned out to be pretty bad,” Eddie Griffin, a church member, said.

Griffin says the mold was first spotted in January all over the church foundation, floor and walls.

He says it wasn’t noticeable at first but then he knew something was wrong when his wife kept having health problems.

“Sunday she would feel fine and then on Monday she wouldn’t feel so good. come Tuesday, she just felt horrible. She could hardly breathe, had ear aches and things like that,” Griffin said.

Pastor Brock Meyer continues to hold mass for the people and sees this as an opportunity for the congregation to move beyond just the building

“The church is not the building and there’s something about this experience of being dislocated that has taught us that church is not about the building. So we’re experiencing a spiritual renewal,” Meyer said.

They are doing everything they can to raise enough money to help their church.

“There’s going to be a big fundraiser that we’re having at Elizabethtown middle school. A barbecue dinner and that will raise funds. We’ve got a GoFundMe page going and churches are starting to call in with love offerings and support and our community is really really surrounding us.”

So far the congregation has raised $3,000 but they still need $27,000 in order to clean all of the mold out from their church.

You can go here to donate