Forget everything else, folks; HERE'S where we went wrong! No Amish!
Posted on 03/16/2006 2:42:56 PM PST by Indy Pendance
MARSHFIELD, Mo. - Nearly as quickly as a tornado wiped through Webster County, destroying Chris Graber's home, he was mopping the floors in a brand new house, thanks to his Amish neighbors.
Graber, who moved to a homestead in an Amish community about 10 miles east Marshfield in 1998, took cover with his wife, Lydia, and two children in a bedroom Sunday night. Moments later, the twister ripped down the walls around them and spread debris for hundreds of yards.
"I had a realization what was going on and came to the door, and I was watching it," he said. "Here comes a dark spot. I closed the door and yelled, 'It's here.'"
About 1,000 chickens in a nearby coop and Graber's 100 calves were untouched. But the tornado destroyed two other buildings and an outhouse, and all that was left of the home was the foundation.
"I thought we'd be getting ready for a funeral," Graber said. "I never thought we'd be rebuilding the next day."
The Grabers walked a quarter-mile to a neighbors' home, where planning immediately began for a new house. The next morning, more than 100 men and boys from surrounding Amish homesteads got to work. Graber's brother, Ernest, said the workers "looked like a bunch of ants."
"Everybody helps out," he said.
Less than 15 hours after the tornado hit, Chris Graber stood in a new 36-by-64 foot house and workshop, with sturdy aluminum siding covering the walls and roof.
"I didn't realize that many people would come," Graber said. "I figured there would be help, but I had picking up the mess more in mind."
It's not the first time Amish communities have rallied together in times of hardship. Graber said one of the hallmarks of the Amish is that they help their neighbors. The Grabers have pitched in several times when others had to rebuild from fires and other damage.
Even so, Chris Graber stood in the shadow of his new house and marveled at the community response.
"I don't feel I'm worth it," he said.
An Amish families home burned here in Southern Maryland and next day sure enough the entire neighborhood showed up to rebuild. Amisn and english as they call us. Money was raised and donated materials and labor and we had the house up in a day on the old foundation. Then along camt the county government. Inspections hadnt been done permits hadnt been issued and they were crapping their pants., Then along came a Md.state Senator and a Md. Congressman a few men from the business community and all was forgiven.
It took clout but we got R' done.
Those Amish, they can put up a building like nobody's business.
The kids are coming from schools (mostly religious), and doing the work during their spring break. It's called community service, and around here, it's required.
Americans of character, doing the work illegals wouldn't do!
I've met a few Amish families. The ones I met were very good people. They must be doing something right to create the citizenry they have. Not sure I could be one but I think they are people who live the way God intended.
Live in SW MO, I have to put a good word in for many of the people in this area. Just watched the news where high school students from Crane were transported to Marshfield in school busses to help with the clean up. It was rather nice to see a young man on there saying "I admit I don't miss having to go to school but I am learning something here I don't learn in school, helping others". Kudos to Crane school system, education is more than just academia.
15 hours to rebuild a home?? Amazing."
If 100 workers, that calculates to 1500 man-hours of rebuilding.
Too bad others cannot learn from this. I applaud the Amish. They work very hard. They live very simply. They most often do outstanding work. I have seen some of it. Most of us would be proud to own a home that Amish worked on.
I wonder if they got the proper building permit?""
Last I heard from friends who live near this area, permits are only needed in "the cities". The rural areas don't issue them. They build a beautiful house about 60 miles east of Springfield. If they had built the same house in Nevada County, Calif, the permits would have run between $40 and 50 thousand.
I've watched these people work. They are amazing.
Semper Fi
No wonder a 3 bedroom, one bath ranch, 1300 square feet, sells for 1.5 million, on a quarter acre lot. How can anyone afford to live in California? Unless you've been there for 30 years, you're sol.
Way to go! That attitude needs to be adopted always and everywhere - especially the "STFU to drones" part.
Yes, they definitely are admirable people. And comments made here notwithstanding, their lives arent too bad. I dont even watc TV, and im not Amish.
Sorry but you are somewhat wrong on the part they dont have to pay taxes. It goes like this:The Amish live within self-sufficient communities and do not collect Social Security, unemployment, or welfare benefits. According to their religious beliefs, paying Social Security, an insurance premium for the elderly, is tantamount to not "taking care of their own." Amish people who are self-employed are not obliged to pay Social Security tax, but they do still pay all other taxes, including property, income, and sales tax. If an Amish person decides to work outside of the community, he or she must also pay Social Security tax like any other American. In 1955, the IRS extended the Social Security Act of 1935 to include farm operators. At the time, some Amish people immediately complied with the tax, while others conscientiously objected to it. Many felt that it violated the separation of church and state, some did not want to accept monies for government programs, and still others believed that paying a commercial insurance for the elderly went against their trust in God to take care of them.
The IRS and the Amish played a convoluted shell game for close to a decade, until it all came to a head with the seizure of a struggling farmer's horses in 1961. The Amish elders stuck firmly by their principles, and the ensuing media and community outrage over the incident led the IRS to relent four years later. Tucked away in the 1965 Medicare Bill was a clause exempting the "Old Order Amish" and other religious groups that conscientiously objected to paying insurance premiums from Social Security tax. To be exempt, the group or sect must have been established prior to 1950 and maintain reasonable provisions for their elderly. http://ask.yahoo.com/20030821.html Now some states are making them put in bathrooms, thought they do not chose to use them and would rather use outhouses. And many counties are making them build to code. Most Amish would rather not have the govt involved in their lives for many reasons. They believe in taking care of their sick and elderly and helping each other. It all depends on which sect they are from I think.
""I don't feel I'm worth it," he said."
He's worth. If he wasn't, the people wouldn't have come.
I was helped by these folks in 1989. They are really amazing.
Amish neighbors beat Allstate.
Mind you, most of the owners of the homes are not there, but these college students are doing some of the nastiest, dirties work - demolition. They salvage and box what they can find to save and help to demolish the structures.
My daughter works for an architect there and is designing habitat for humanity homes. She and her husband will work this summer to help in the construction of these homes. The people who will live in the homes are required to work on their own home and to work on the homes of others. It's a good plan. The Amish have it right.
I didn't say they don't have to pay taxes, but they don't pay Social Security or Medicare, which is more than the half the total income tax bite of most people in the income range of family farmers or manual trades.
If they work then they do pay taxes. Usually they wont accept help from the govt, they try to take of their own.
As a contractor I have followed behind Amish engineering. Some are pathetic wood butchers. They work cheap, and that is the quality in most cases. But it is a roof over the head as far as they are concerned.
Aside from the lack of craftsmanship, we should not lose the gesture of kindness by neighbors. It is something we need to practice in our own areas. It is the thought that counts in this case.
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