Churches Raise More Than $300,000 to House Embreeville Flood Survivors

by

The Call | May 09, 2025

Key points:

  • A coalition of United Methodist pastors and church leaders raised more than $300,000 over seven months to fund six new homes for Hurricane Helene survivors living in Embreeville, Tennessee.
  • The mortgage-free homes are being constructed in partnership with Appalachia Service Project.

EMBREEVILLE, Tenn. – Carolyn Garland lost her home on Sept. 27, when the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused deadly flooding in Embreeville, a community along the Nolichucky River in Washington County.

Soon, Garland and her partner will move into a newly constructed house, built with funds raised by a coalition of United Methodist pastors and congregations from nearby towns.

“We’ve been through a lot of hard times, but we’ve met a lot of good people,” said Garland. "We've been blessed."

She pulls out photos showing her property as it used to be, with grandchildren playing near a home and lush vegetation that no longer exist. The photos would have disappeared with all her other possessions, except someone found snapshots downstream and returned them to her.

Garland’s new house is one of six homes that are being built with more than $300,000 raised by representatives of seven United Methodist ministries, who wanted to do more than collect bottled water for their flood-stricken neighbors.

The “Rebuilding Embreeville” coalition includes:

As a native of Embreeville United Methodist Church, the Rev. Caleb Frazier is still shocked to see how the late-September floods changed lives and landscape in his hometown. 

“The land is gone. There used to be backyards here where kids were playing. There’s something jarring about the land just being gone,” Frazier said on a recent tour through Embreeville. He points out where three people drowned in a valley submerged by the Nolichucky's overflow.

Frazier, who serves as director of the Wesley Foundation at East Tennessee State University, was motivated to do something to help survivors who lost their homes. Some were sleeping in tents or on the floors of relatives’ apartments. Some are members of Embreeville United Methodist Church, including three generations of a family whose land was washed away. 

“How are we going to help our families and friends?” Frazier asked last fall.

Frazier heard that Appalachia Service Project (ASP), a Christian home-repair and replacement ministry based in Washington County, had committed to building or repairing 200 homes after Hurricane Helene. He learned that $50,000 would equip ASP to build one mortgage-free home, supplemented with aid from other funding partners.

Frazier called families who needed homes and said, “Get your applications in.” Then he started calling his friends, including the Rev. Jeff Wadley, director of Camp Bays Mountain in Kingsport, Tennessee.

“Caleb and I believe that people will fund the future,” says Wadley, known in Holston Conference for his fundraising successes. “We got together with other pastors and churches who wanted to fund the future of Embreeville.”

Fresh off of a 2024 capital campaign that garnered $607,000 to support ETSU Wesley Foundation, Frazier and Wadley enlisted friends from area churches to help fund at least one house in Embreeville, maybe two.

The money started rolling in from churches and individuals, including $25,000 from Holston Conference disaster response, $10,000 from a Resurrection youth retreat offering, and $10,000 from Kingsport YMCA. The coalition decided to fund three houses at $150,000.

When the money kept coming, the coalition upped their commitment to build six houses at $300,000.

“We reached our goals quicker than we anticipated,” said Frazier, praising his fellow pastors and church leaders for getting the opportunity before their congregations and communities.

“People found out why we were raising money, and they didn’t want to miss out,” Wadley said.

The Rebuilding Embreeville coalition ended up raising about $310,000 before leaders closed the campaign and encouraged people to keep giving to ASP.

“ASP, to me, is the real angel in this situation,” Frazier said. “They created a path for us to move forward.”

Ani Boyd, ASP’s East Tennessee regional director, reiterated that her organization's goal is to build 200 homes for Helene survivors, including several in Embreeville. 

“But given what we’ve seen, there could be more," she said. "Caleb was very touched by Embreeville because he grew up there. As long as people contribute, it allows us to go out in areas that don’t have a Caleb.”

Living in a donated camper next to the nearly complete house constructed by ASP, Garland looks forward to moving into her new home with her longtime partner, David Harris. “This is the finest house we’ve ever had,” she said.

Patsy White is also looking forward to the new ASP home she will share with her daughter, located next door to the home being built for her granddaughter’s young family. Family members have been living apart since the flood swallowed up their property and possessions. “It means a lot to me to be near family,” says White.

The great-grandmother admits, however, that she is pained by the loss of her gardens; her 100-year-old brick house that belonged to her parents; her Bible, quilts and jewelry.

“I will be satisfied here,” she says, looking at the raw earth surrounding her emerging new home, “because anything would be different now.”

Holston Conference includes United Methodist churches in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and North Georgia, with main offices in Alcoa, Tennessee. 

Annette Spence is editor of The Call, the Holston Conference source of news and stories. This article is republished with permission from The Call.