PLEASANT GARDEN, N.C. (WGHP) — Members of Full Throttle Biker Church were working to pick up the pieces after Pleasant Garden was struck by powerful Labor Day weekend storms.
Instead of their usual Sunday service, 16 volunteers were helping neighbors clear debris from their yards, particularly for people who cannot do the physical labor themselves.
“We knew the storm was going to be kind of bad because we had several fronts like that come through with straight-line winds or tornadoes,” Pastor Randy Austin said.
He said the decision was an easy one to make.
“We could’ve had church, but we just decided since we had gathered all of our equipment and tools and since everyone brought all of their stuff that we would just go on out and do what we felt like God was telling us to do,” Austin said.
“We need to go out and do what we can for people,” said Debbie Hinshaw, a member of the church. “It don’t matter if you have just one rake or if you don’t have a rake at all. You got good hands, got good feet, you can go out and help your neighbor do something simple. Don’t have to be big or dramatic. It can just be something very simple”
And they weren’t alone. Throughout the area, volunteers and families were hard at work, including Michael Bradshaw of N. Bradshaw Builders.
“We just cleaned up a house down the road here on the left,” Bradshaw said. “Three trees fell through it, and we cleaned them up. We tarped the roof off. … There was a girl in the room. She was walking out right when the tree fell through. Fell right over her bed.”
He said he helped to clean up after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and would still call this weekend’s damage “pretty massive for this area.”
Bradshaw estimated that one home was hit with about $60,000 to $80,000 in damage and the other with about $100,000 in damage.
Neighbor Josh Sizemore said the wild storm lasted around 20 minutes.
“Crazy wind in pretty much every direction,” Sizemore said. “The trees were bent over 90 degrees.”
He checked his mother’s home nearby after the storm.
“Friday evening after the storm, my dad rode around, and then I rode around and came over here and saw it all,” Sizemore said. “So the whole backyard was full of trees down.”
He said several large trees, branches and debris were scattered in her backyard. He is grateful that the damage did not impact her home. He knew that cleaning up the damage over the course of several weekends would take months.
Sizemore said they started clearing the fallen trees around 8 a.m. on Sunday. The crew re-visited him on Labor Day to ensure all the trees were cleared.
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“There’s no way we can thank them enough,” Sizemore said.
Austin said their efforts are a part of a greater community initiative.
“Several of the churches were all a part of an organization called the Southern Baptist Convention,” Austin said. “There’s disaster recovery, and they bring equipment and people from all over the state to help. That’s who’s deployed to this area, and you’ll see the trucks out and about.”