Five months and two weeks. That’s how long it took to reopen a beloved quilt shop in Seymour.
Five months and two weeks. That's how long it took to reopen a beloved quilt shop in Seymour.
"Relieved. Yeah, I think maybe relieved," said owner Cheryl Ogrisek.
Ogrisek and her husband Brian lost their shop after a historic flood over the summer, which took over homes and businesses in southwestern Connecticut. Communities in Oxford, Southbury, and Seymour are still recovering.
Security footage captures the moment floodwaters tore through their store, wiping out their business of over two decades.
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"The next day we talked about what do we do, do we reopen? Do we close? And Brian literally said flip a coin and decide in the air."
"I said if you flip a coin, you'll know what wanted to come up," said Brian Ogrisek.
They made a huge come back and they didn't just leave it up to chance. They had their whole community by their side, eager to help them get back on their feet.
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"If it weren't for all the folks behind the scenes with like donating towards the GoFundMe's that we didn't even start. The GoFundMe's were started by customers," said Brian.
One woman says her husband helped out with the cleanup and built cabinets.
"Cause I work, and he's retired. And it didn't take really anything for him to come down and help. That was just something he was going to do, and he knew how upset everyone was in the community," said Robin Litke, of Oxford.
On Saturday, shoppers burst through the doors, ecstatic to see the lights back on.
"Being here all fresh and clean and new is wonderful," said Cathie Couture, of East Haddam.
The storm wiped out one of the walls. Everything - the floor, shelves, and fabrics - was covered in mud. So much had to be replaced, but one thing that survived was a quilt.
"Every single block that we were given is in there, I made a sure of it," said Cheryl.
Ogrisek made this quilt with her neighbors during the pandemic.
Now, it hangs high on the wall, serving as a reminder of what can happen when a community, much like the patches of a quilt, come together.
"It's our community, it's just the world we live in," said Cheryl.
