Progress 2025: Elizabethton couple lean on their faith to help restore homes for hurricane victims
Published 2:27 pm Sunday, March 23, 2025
A volunteer from Iowa, Joni Graybow (left), stands with Courtney Dailey, taking time for a quick photo.
The home of Jerry Poole on Spring Street in Hampton, before and after.
A sign given to Jerry Poole by a church friend hangs in front of his home.
A group of volunteers from "all over" takes a break from their work on a muck-out crew.
One of the homes still under construction in the Valley Forge area. It is scheduled for completion in three to four weeks.
Two volunteers work on drywall at the Jeff Largent home on Spring Street.
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Strong backs, endless prayers and willing hearts
By Lynn J. Richardson
In the days following Hurricane Helene’s assault on Carter County, devastation was everywhere. So many families were affected, either sustaining severe damage, losing many of their possessions, or, in many cases, losing everything.
Neighbors rallied to try and help one another, not really knowing what to do, but knowing they had to do something.
Such was the case with Courtney and Paul Dailey, who have been tirelessly working to help repair and replace homes in the Hampton area that were severely damaged.
They first began at Jerry Poole’s home on Spring Street. A family friend, Poole, like many others in the area, had lost his home and the majority of his belongings in a matter of minutes, Courtney Dailey explained.
“He had no flood insurance or means to rebuild,” she said. “We were heartbroken for him. That first night after we saw his house on September 30, we went home in tearful prayer for our friend.”
“My husband led us in prayer that night before bed. ‘Dear Lord,’ he prayed, ‘we don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we have to build back Jerry’s house. We need help. We want to get him back in his house by Christmas.’”
The very next morning, after Paul’s prayer, Courtney and Paul took their children and headed down to Spring Street. Paul’s background in doing home flips and building new construction spec homes would come in handy.
“We spent the day mucking out Jerry’s house, pressure washing, and teaming up with dozens of other volunteers, strangers, to even rip out the drywall and insulation,” Courtney said. “All day, whether we needed tools or a ladder or bottled water or more manpower, God sent the exact item we needed — right on time.”
Almost in disbelief, Courtney cried all the way home that night, praying and thanking God for His help. Shortly after arriving home, and still covered in mud and drywall, she made a video hoping to draw in more volunteers and donated building materials.
“Never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted what God would do next,” she said. The video went viral, getting close to five million views, and Courtney’s inbox filled up with thousands of messages from believers all over the world, wanting to help rebuild Jerry’s house.
“It was the answer to our prayer,” she said. “Someone from Georgia committed to buying Jerry’s appliances. A lady from Maryland sent his bathroom vanity. Someone else in California sent his flooring. A family from Georgia pledged to donate all of the insulation and drywall and install it. The kitchen cabinets and countertops came from Virginia. Someone from Jerry’s church offered their professional painting crew. Someone else from Jerry’s church donated all of the electrical work. And on and on it went.”
Courtney recalls one of several amazing events that took place during that project. “About a week into the renovation, we had a framing crew donate their efforts for a few days to put walls back in place. One of the guys came to me saying ‘we need 98 more 2x4s.’”
“I stepped out into the front yard and scrolled through my phone, brainstorming who I could call. Just as I dialed a construction contact, I looked up and a truck was backing into the driveway with 100 2x4s in his truck bed.
Taken aback, Courtney asked, ‘Are these for us?’
‘Yep,’ he replied.
‘How?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘All I know is that a local hardware store just donated them from funds through an out-of-state donor.’”
“Like I said,” Courtney added, “we don’t do much of anything. God always has a plan bigger than what we can ask or think.”
Thanks to that donation and the gifts of workers and materials that flowed in, the Daileys and all of the volunteers who came to help made rapid progress on Jerry’s house. That gave the couple time to look around at the homes of other families on the street and “our hearts ached for them,” Courtney said.
“A volunteer from Florida gave us the idea to let churches take on each home until they were turnkey,” she said. “We called it ‘adopting a family,’ and local churches were quick to jump on board.”
The idea caught on. Central Community Christian Church took on two homes; Poplar Ridge Christian Church took on one home; Meades Branch Freewill Baptist Church in Louisa, Kentucky, took on three complete rebuilds; Red Stone Church of Elizabethton and Johnson City took on two homes; The Fort took on one home; and Calvary Baptist and Tri-Cities Baptist each took on a home.
When a church committed to adopting these families, they stayed with them through the entire process, Courtney said, from lining up contractors to helping some of them get campers or vehicles or even Christmas gifts for their children.
“It was beautiful, watching God unify the different denominations to shine His light in a hurting community,” she said. “On any given day, Spring Street was buzzing with activity from crews and building supplies and even volunteers unloading meals from their vehicles to feed everyone.”
Many of the families, including Jerry, were back in their homes by Christmas — a “miraculous” three months after the flood.
“When a family moved back into their home, we had them make an Amazon wishlist to post on my Facebook page,” Courtney said. “People from all over the world would send every household or clothing item they needed to get back in their homes. It was truly amazing.”
With Spring Street restoration moving toward completion, the Daileys are now moving on to River Road and into the Valley Forge area.
“In the Valley Forge area, our church is now working on several homes, coming alongside Curtis and Desie Gentry, who have been working tirelessly in this area since day one,” Courtney said. “We have a crew putting four homes back together, having completed another one last week, and our hope is to do a complete rebuild for another family this spring.”
To be able to continue their work, the Daileys have a fund set up through their church at: https://jesusiscentral.churchcenter.com/giving
“But we don’t ask for donations,” she said. “Ever. God is still sending us everything we need.”
“Someone asked me a few weeks ago, ‘Well, what will you do when the money runs out?’ And I simply shrugged and said, ‘Well, I guess that means God is done because this isn’t our project. It’s His.’”
