ROCKY POINT, N.C. (WECT) - Members across Hills Chapel Missionary Baptist Church are continuing to build on repairs after an alleged impaired driver struck the building.“It looked like a tornado came through, when I’m like ‘Oh my God,’ I just prayed,” Anthony Hicks, the pastor of Hills Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, said.According to Highway Patrol, on June 4 at 1:34 in the morning, an impaired driver ran a car off of Little Kelly Rd., hit a ditch, and then slammed into the church building and a...
ROCKY POINT, N.C. (WECT) - Members across Hills Chapel Missionary Baptist Church are continuing to build on repairs after an alleged impaired driver struck the building.
“It looked like a tornado came through, when I’m like ‘Oh my God,’ I just prayed,” Anthony Hicks, the pastor of Hills Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, said.
According to Highway Patrol, on June 4 at 1:34 in the morning, an impaired driver ran a car off of Little Kelly Rd., hit a ditch, and then slammed into the church building and a brick pump house. The driver then fled but was eventually stopped, according to the highway patrol report.
Trooper Richard Henrickson, with the N.C Highway Control, responded to the incident and said in his 24 years of service, it’s one of the worst impaired driving incidents he has seen in a long time.
The damage forced the churches to shut down their food bank, which serves over 700 people on the first and third Saturdays of each month.
For Deaconess Joan Malloy, it wasn’t just the accident that broke her, it was the people that they couldn’t help.
“Sad at first, because I knew we weren’t, wouldn’t be able to do what we commissioned ourselves to do and I missed the people, I miss seeing the clients,” Malloy said.
The food bank is open again and serving families, but the pump house that’s used for cleaning vegetables in large amounts is still not working.
Also, the church can’t hold funerals, since there is an electrical wire that threatens the safety of patrons from the front door.
These problems can be fixed, but the congregation does not have the money to fund these projects.
“We’re a little behind, we had to stop,” Hicks said. “Better than losing a life.”
Pastor Hicks still has hope and is thankful nobody was hurt.
“No one was hurt - and everyone is safe, that’s the most important thing. The church can be repaired, the pump house can be rebuilt, you can never replace a life,” Hicks said.