EASTVIEW, Ky. — Two Hardin County Churches are looking for answers after they were broken into and vandalized over the weekend.
Needham Cumberland Presbyterian and Smith Chapel United Methodist sit just across the street from each other in Eastview, southwest of Elizabethtown, on Laurel Ridge Rd.
"There's a lot of love for this church. It's not just a building that is vandalized. This is our church. The church is in our heart. It's part of us,"Connie Toczko-Adkins, the daughter of the pastor at Needham Cumberland Presbyterian Church, said.
Toczko-Adkins said they discovered the damage Sunday morning. They walked in to find bathroom sinks ripped off the wall, dishes smashed, the piano broken, and paintings and artwork busted. The floors were also covered with papers and other things thrown around.
"They just dumped everything out, just turned everything upside down," she said.
The church's shed was also set on fire.
"In there we keep extra tables, extra chairs, decorations, things that we don't use on a daily basis and they made a big pile in the middle of the floor and they set this pile on fire," she said.
Across the street, church members found a similar scene of disarray Sunday morning.
"The pictures broken, glass everywhere and the more we walked through, the more devastation. That was really hard," Martine Smallwood, a member of Smith Chapel United Methodist Church, said.
Sentimental items were stolen form both church, including both of their large bibles.
"I mean some things you just really can't put a price on, like our bible. 45-50 years old. How do you put a price on that?" Toczko-Adkins said.
At the Methodist church, a cross, quilt, two TV's, and even an American flag were taken. At the Presbyterian church, records dating to the 1800's were ripped apart.
"I do hope they find who did this. I would like to know why," Toczko-Adkins said. "We do pray for that person. This person has a heart that needs to be touched. Their heart is not in the right place."
Neither church had surveillance cameras, so it's unclear how many people were involved. Church members have already poured hours into cleaning up the damage.
"It became very clear to us that we are the church and that all of these things that we've lost, they were lovely and precious to us but they are just things," Smallwood said. "We have faced this loss but we will pick up and keep going and I hope that's the message people get, that we will keep going."
Some of what was lost is hard for the churches to put a price tag on. What's also priceless is the support they've received.
"It's just been overwhelming how much help and how kind everyone has been," Toczko-Adkins said.
"People have called, wishing us well and offering to help and that's what communities do," Smallwood said. "Our church is pulling together more than ever through this."
Kentucky State Police are handling the investigation. If you have any information, you can call 270-766-5078.
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