Help Rushes In After Pipe Burst Floods Kin Center in Buckingham

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A burst water pipe last Thursday night sent water cascading down from the ceiling at the 5,000-square-foot Kin Wellness Center at the Heritage Center in Buckingham.

But almost as fast as the water came down flooding 14 of the center’s rooms, a flood of help came rushing in from the community for the nonprofit center that provides free care and support to cancer patients and their caregivers.

“I can’t tell you how unbelievable this community has been to reach out and offer their help, their services and their support,” said Keith Fenimore who operates the center with his wife Kristina, who serves as the center’s director. “So much came in so quickly, it was almost to the point that it was overwhelming. You never want to be on this side of something like this, but when you have the kind of support we have it makes all the difference. It made it so it’s palatable for us. I’d like to express my gratitude to the amount of kind people that we have in this community.”

Water damage inside the Kin Wellness Center. (Keith Fenimore)

Fenimore said he was at his parent’s house Thursday night when he got a text message that there had been a leak at the center. ‘We’re not sure ow bad it is but you better come down,’ read the message on Fenimore’s phone.

When he and his wife Kristina arrived at the center, they found 14 rooms had been flooded from the burst pipe. Only a handful of rooms remained dry including the office and the yoga studio.

Within an hour, the landlord had a company there vacuuming up the water. And once the water was gone, 16 fans were placed throughout the center to begin the drying process, said Keith.

“I can’t tell you what it felt like standing there in an inch and a half of water in the center wondering what we’re going to do and you’re phone is exploding with people saying they’ll come on over right now and help. It puts things in perspective real quick.”

While the furniture and equipment can be replaced, their more immediate concern was how were they going to keep the center’s many programs going for its clients, many of whom rely on Kin.

They didn’t have to wait long for the answer. After learning what happened, the community rallied around Kin and the Fenimore’s ensuring that the center wouldn’t miss a beat.

“We have all these places that are allowing us to perform our services at their place of business and in doing so we can resume our entire slate of services and help our patients,” said Fenimore. “It’s been amazing. We took Friday to rally and get our stuff together and Saturday we were back to offering services.

Furniture piled up inside the high and dry yoga studio. (Keith Fenimore)

“Serenity Day Spa will give us a couple rooms there to offer our integrated services. Sun Dog Yoga and Barre3 in Doylestown gave us their studios to do yoga in. Doylestown Inn gave us their event space for workshops and counseling. Our center isn’t under one roof for the time being, but we’re functioning.

“We have not had to cancel anything,” added Fenimore. “From our workshops to our yoga, our integrated services and our counseling and therapy, everything continues as if there were no flood.”

According to Fenimore, it will probably be about two months before the center can dry out and reopen, but in the meantime they have a game plan in place to continue to serve its clients.

“Kristina and I aren’t used to being on the receiving end so we were emotional. We were overwhelmed,” said Keith. “It’s good to feel you’re not alone and that someone has your back. That’s what we try to do at Kin. Kristina and I experienced that first hand through this. And we are grateful to the community.”

“Our motto is ‘By the community. For the community.’ There’s a strong pulse in that motto that has shown itself over the last couple of days,” said Fenimore.

“I want to embrace the community with the biggest thank you and let them know we are grateful beyond words,” said Fenimore. “We will continue to work as hard as we can to help as many people as we can. And we’re not letting a flood or anything else get in our way.”

Some of the businesses and organizations that stepped up to help include:

• Serenity Day Spa
• Sun Dog Yoga
• Barre3 Doylestown
• Doylestown Inn
• The Center for Neuropsychology and Counseling
• Buxmont UU Fellowship
• Vallerina Yoga
• Dragon Fly Yoga Studio
• Ardana Food and Drink
• Bodies in Harmony
• The Tile Works of Bucks County
• Green Street Real Estate
• Living Hope Community Church
• Kaleidoscope Angels
• Salt and Sun
• Beth's House