Ladies from Grace Baptist Church, Springfield, deliver water and snacks to volunteers. From left are Leigh Freeman, Katie Freeman, Sierra Jones, Mary Allen, Ella Allen and Sandra White.
GREENEVILLE — Six families in Greene County whose homes were heavily damaged by Hurricane Helene last September were back in their homes on Thanksgiving Day or shortly thereafter.
First Baptist Church, Greeneville, in conjunction with Aidnet of Greene County, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and Grace Baptist Church, Springfield, coordinated a four-day effort that fueled the rebuilding of the houses, said FBC pastor David Green.
The project originally was designed to construct five homes in five days, but it turned out to be six homes in less than four full days, Green said.
“It was exciting to see,” Green said.
Aidnet, a non-profit organization in the county founded a few years ago to help flood and tornado victims in the county, vetted applications and selected six homes that could be restored in five days, Green said. Aidnet is led by Jeff Idell, a contractor and a deacon at First Baptist, and his son Josh Idell, and Robert Bailey, a volunteer with the organization.
The costs for helping the residents get back to their home was shared by First Baptist, Grace Baptist Church and Aidnet, Green said.
First Baptist received thousands of dollars and multiple offers to help, including Grace Baptist Church in Springfield which is led by pastor Steve Freeman, a longtime friend of Green.
The effort in Greeneville was part of the TBMB’s Arise and Build initiative.
Grace Baptist brought more than 100 volunteers from their congregation and surrounding churches in Middle Tennessee to Greeneville to begin the process of restoring the homes in late November, Freeman said.
Freeman said he had several contractors within the group and he assigned each one a house. “My only instruction was to get it done,” he said. “And, they did.”
Volunteers were skilled in every area of constructions, from electrical and plumbing to flooring and drywall and more, Freeman said.
One of the families who received assistance were Dennis and Kim Tompkins and their son, Brayden.
Kim Tompkins related that they had to evacuate the night of the flood and when they returned the next morning there was 12 feet of water and all their belongings were destroyed. She noted that after the flooding they had hundreds of volunteers who helped with flood recovery.
Her husband said: “It’s been truly a blessing how the community has come together to take care of us,” said Dennis Tompkins.
The couple is especially appreciative of the Christian community. Tompkins said he never comments on Facebook but if he sees anything in the future that is negative about the church, he will respond. “I will say those are the people who came and saved our neighborhood. They were the ones there to help anybody and everybody.”
