$100,000 Rebuild-A-Block project helps Fayetteville Hurricane Matthew victims
Rebuilding Together of the Triangle and Lowes Home Improvement store has provided a $100,000 Rebuild-A-Block project for Hurricane Matthew victims in Fayetteville.
Similar to Habitat for Humanity projects, homeowners and neighbors are pitching in to put seven damaged homes back together in the Hollywood Heights neighborhood.
David Johnson has lived in his house on Louise Street in Fayetteville since 1965.
In October, flood water from Hurricane Matthew came in his home and ran him out.
Stories, video, photos and how to help: Hurricane Matthew in North Carolina
"And while I was out here, it was steady rising on me, so I went in the house, and I wasn't in there five minutes, and it was in the den," Johnson said.
Johnson has been staying with relatives while the home is being repaired.
Pauline Ellis's home is also being repaired in the project.
Hurricane Matthew photos by town
"Oh it's just wonderful," she said. "Gutters around the edge, cleaning the backyard, and they did the roof Sunday."
Lowes Home Improvement is providing the money and materials to make a miracle happen in a neighborhood devastated by the storm.
"We're doing landscaping, roofing, windows, door repairs," said Ty Holliday, a Lowes Home Improvement employee.
"We're putting out here on their community space. We're putting picnic tables out here just so the community can have somewhere to definitely meet up and definitely make the neighborhood. It's a rebuilding project.”
Here to Help: Give money, time, goods to storm relief
"The folks here we've been working with have been here for decades, and what struck me most is how much they want to come home," said Dan Sargent, Rebuild Together Triangle. "And this has been a really nice opportunity for us to contribute to that effort."
The project's official ribbon cutting ceremony is Wednesday. In honor of Flag Day, the community plans to raise a flag in the neighborhood's park to symbolize a new beginning for those whole homes are being repaired.
