Hastings-on-Hudson church seeks to rebuild following damage caused by Ida

The First Unitarian Society in Westchester County took a heavy hit during the storm.

News 12 Staff

Sep 5, 2021, 12:03 PM

Updated 962 days ago

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A Westchester church is trying to rebuild after Ida tore through the Hudson Valley.
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The First Unitarian Society in Hastings-on-Hudson took a heavy hit during the storm.
Furniture is in disarray, the brand new floors are covered in mud, the pulpit was defaced and the smell of mold and sewage is overwhelming to the senses inside the building.
Not just the congregation will suffer, but the nursey class that uses the church too.
"There's a nursery class that uses our Sunday school wing for their classes Monday through Friday, and this is going to affect them," says Craig Butler, the past president of the church.
The church was also part of the Midnight Run Program, collecting clothing and preparing meals for the needy in Manhattan. However, the kitchen is unusable, and the clothing they collected ruined.
The church underwent a partial demolition this weekend.
"They have to take off a lot of the sheet rock, and they got to take up the carpet because, of course, that is still soaked, and take it all out put it in the dumpster," says Rev. Arlin Roy
The church is facing, at the very least, $400,000 worth of damage and don’t have flood insurance to help.
The one silver lining is that, thanks to the pandemic, the building was empty or else they could've been dealing with a lot more than just water damage.
It is unknown if the building can be salvaged.


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