WATCH: Clean up begins at Vernon’s Upper Room Mission

Watch above: The Upper Room Mission unable to cook for those in need after extensive flooding.

VERNON – A restoration crew was ripping up the floor at the Upper Room Mission Tuesday as part of a big job to clean up the charity’s 27th Ave. building after extensive flood damage.

Around 10 p.m. Monday a pipe burst in an upstairs office causing the building’s sprinklers to go off. The damage has affected everything from the heating system to the kitchen.

At this time of year, on a typical day, the Upper Room Mission usually serves around 300 meals to people in need. However, after the damaging flood the nonprofit doesn’t know when it might be able to cook or provide day shelter services again.

But despite the uncertainty and subzero temperatures, lunch was served in the Mission’s parking lot Tuesday with the help of some local businesses.

“The public’s assistance is starting to pour in and it is very humbling and overwhelming,” says fundraising director Lisa Anderson. “We are all coming together and trying to make this work.”

With no clear estimate on how long the clean up job might take, the charity’s hoping to find a temporary space where they can continue to provide food and warmth for their clients at a time of year when it is needed most.