Pipe Break Floods Dining Hall at Helping Hand Rescue Mission

The dining hall at Helping Hand Rescue Mission was severely damaged overnight when a water pipe burst in the severe cold and flooded the building, the Rev. Kim Gambino said Monday morning.

“I woke up the sound of the water alarm in the dining room building and when I came, water was  gushing from everywhere and an upstairs pipe had broken. It was a sprinkler pipe pouring 80 pounds of pressure throughout the building. So basically the downstairs and the upstairs are pretty much demolished and have to be gutted and rebuilt,” she said.

Chunks of insulation hung from the ceiling and debris littered the wet floors as workers  cleared away furniture and bagged rubbish.

The damage scuttled plans to reopen the hall Jan. 25. Before the Covid-19 epidemic, the mission hosted community meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays and had a Happy Day Kids event on Saturdays.

Workers from All Dry and Gerken Plumbing and Heating were on the scene to begin clean up the damage.

While Gambino didn’t have specific needs for volunteers related to the flooding, she said volunteers are always needed and could sign up at the mission’s website.

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