By Bob Paroski
Posted October 30, 2025
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in Bob’s Blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of the CAC Office on Aging or its staff.
Part 2: Hands and Feet – Rebuilding Homes and Restoring Lives
This is the second of two posts on the damage caused by Hurricane Helene and the recovery from it.
The first gave a general overview of what has transpired since the flood and what remains to be done. You can read it by clicking here.
This one is about one non-profit and the work it has done to help those affected.
Hurricane Helene and the resulting flooding devastated six counties (Carter, Cocke, Greene, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington) in Northeastern Tennessee and much of western North Carolina.
Erwin is a small town in Unicoi County near the North Carolina border. The Nolichucky River runs through it. There are class I to Class IV rapids on the Nolichucky in that area. Whitewater rafting is popular and is an integral part of the local economy. It brings many tourists to the area. In 2022, rafters spent over $18 million dollar in Unicoi County.
Kenneth and Sharee Perciful and their son, Ashtun, live in Erwin. They had fairly average lives until the damage caused by the hurricane and the flooding. The Perciful’s home is about a mile from Unicoi County Hospital. While the hospital was devastated, their home was not affected.
Compassion for Others
Both Kenneth and Sharee grew up in the Foster system. Each lived in several different foster homes. Both of them have a heart for helping people. They had been planning to foster children themselves. At least, that was their plan until the hurricane hit. Then they got a much bigger job.
The night the Hurricane was raging, they were drawn to help. Unicoi County High School was an emergency shelter. They went there and comforted people coming in who had lost residences and loved ones. Some of those they already knew. To get the children’s minds off what was happening, they along with Ashtun organized activities for them.
Very quickly in the following days, the local Emergency Management Agency set up a site to receive and store donated supplies. Kenneth and Sharee began picking up supplies there and taking them to people who needed them.
The Birth of Hands and Feet
By mid-October, they realized they were limited in how much the two of them could do. They started thinking about ways they could expand their outreach. Kenneth had a background in project management. Sharee’s background was in organization and financial management.
They saw their own non-profit organization would enable them to take on bigger projects, manage and organize these and take care of the finances. They could enlist volunteers for the projects and coordinate the work to be done on them.
Their non-profit was born. They named it Hnds & Ft. They along with the volunteers working with them would be the hands and feet needed to help people recover from this disaster and any others in the future. Hnds & FT was formed in October of 2024. It was approved as a 501(c)(3) in January of 2025.
Sharee Trains Volunteers
Shortly after the food water receded, non-profits and volunteers started coming in to help with the recovery. Volunteers desired to help; however, many did not have any prior experience in relief efforts or what had to be done. One non-profit, Samaritan’s Purse, had Sharee train them.
In the last three months of 2024, the focus of Emergency Management Agencies in all six counties and in western North Carolina was helping people get into temporary shelter, clearing debris, opening roads, restoring electricity and cell service and other infrastructure repairs.
Kenneth and Sharee continued to supply food and other essentials to those who needed them and couldn’t pick them up themselves. Because of the widespread destruction, there were not enough rentals and places to accommodate all of the homeless. Many had to live in tents. Kenneth and Sharee helped to secure these and get them to the people who needed them.
They also helped wherever they were needed – they tarped roofs, cleaned up and removed debris and removed fallen trees locally and in western North Carolina.
One half of the largest whitewater rafting company in Unicoi County, USA Raft Adventure Resort, was wiped out in the flood. It normally employed 20 people full time all year round and 100 full and part-timers during the summer. Its full-time employees started clearing the debris and destroyed buildings and cabins on their grounds and rebuilding new buildings.
Kenneth started helping out there. In the process, he met 2 women from Pennsylvania. These ladies had been volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse in Asheville right after the flood. On their way home, they were routed through country roads because the Interstate wasn’t open. Along the way, they went through Erwin and Unicoi County and saw the damage there.
Compassion Campers
They were led to start a non-profit themselves in Pennsylvania that supplied campers to people who needed a temporary place to live. Since the people needing campers had lost most of their possessions in the flood, the campers came fully equipped with basic essentials (bedding, pots and pans, cleaning supplies, etc.) the people would need.
They called their non-profit Compassion Campers. They looked for people and organizations to donate campers and the supplies for them. They made these available to flood victims to use until they moved back to permanent residences.
The women who founded Compassion Campers started doing volunteer work at the USA Raft Adventure Resort. There they met Kenenth and they decided to work together.
As winter approached, tent living was not ideal. The people needed warm places to stay. The Percifuls told Compassion Campers about this. They began bringing campers to East Tennessee. Kenneth and Sharee moved people out of tents and into the campers.
Campers use propane gas for cooking and heating. A camper’s propane tank is 100 pounds. Kenneth quickly found out that the local propane supplier would not deliver propane for any tank less than 125 pounds. He had to pick up empty tanks at the campers, take them to the supplier. After they were refilled, he returned them to the campers.
From October of 2024 to April of 2025, here are some of the things Kenneth and Sharee did:
- Placed people in 24 campers
- Cleaned up 24 homes
- Got 2 vehicles for people who lost theirs
- Distributed 4,700 pounds of propane.
Rebuilding and Rehabbing Homes
By early January of 2025, Long Term Recovery Groups (LTRGs) were set up in most of the six counties. The LTRG’s started to work with people who lost their homes and to come up with plans to rebuild or rehab homes that they could move back into.
In January, Kenneth and Sharee began to look at rebuilding and rehabbing projects and Hands and Feet’s main focus has been on this ever since. Kenneth has worked closely with the LTRGs. Before they start a project, they check with LTRG in the county and make sure the LTRG has not scheduled it for a Rebuild or a Rehab.
The County LTRGs will also contact them to find out if they are working on a specific project or plan to. If they aren’t and cannot take the project on, they will help out. If they can’t, they connect the LTRG with the resources they know are available.
Whenever possible, Hands and Feet seeks Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money or applies for grants or looks for money from other sources to cover the cost of rebuilding or rehabbing the homes they work on. They try to ensure that families don’t go into additional debt to rebuild a destroyed home or rehab a damaged one.
Many people believe that FEMA gives people a lot of money to rebuild or rehab homes destroyed or damaged in natural disasters. That’s not the case. If the people get any money at all, it’s just a fraction of what the rebuilding or the rehabbing will cost.
People need to get money from other sources. Normally this is in the form of grants. Some of the grants have come from the following organizations:
- The East Tennessee Foundation
- The United Way of East TN Highlands
- The American Baptist Home Mission Societies
Kenneth and Sharee hope they will get a grant 3 to 4 weeks after applying for it. Realistically, most take 5 to 6 weeks.
Volunteers have come from eighteen different states:
| Alabama | Arizona | California |
| Florida | Georgia | Illinois |
| Michigan | New Hampshire | New Jersey |
| New York | North Carolina | Ohio |
| Pennsylvania | South Carolina | Tennessee |
| Texas | Virginia | Wisconsin |
One couple from Midland, Michigan spent 5 weeks helping out wherever they were needed.
The oldest volunteer they have had was an 85 year old man. Very quickly Kenneth learned he couldn’t tell this man there was any job he couldn’t do. The man went ahead and did it.
16 teenaged girls from Illinois installed flooring in a home. While they had no prior experience installing flooring, they did a great job. They challenged boys their age to do as good a job as they did. Needless to say, the boys couldn’t.
The Accomplishments of Hands and Feet and Its Volunteers During the first Three Quarters of 2025
2025 was a remarkable year for Hands and Feet. Kenneth and Sharee along with the volunteers have worked on 2 homes in Unicoi County, 5 homes in Washington County and 3 in Greene County.
During the weeks and on weekends when no volunteers are available, Kenneth has worked on other rehabbing and rebuilding efforts in the area.
Along the way, he and Sharee have built alliances with many local organizations which help them get the resources they need. 3 of these are their local Habitat for Humanity, the Appalachian Service Project and God’s Warehouse.
- Habitat for Humanity and the Appalachian Service Project have suppled them with excess lumber and building supplies they weren’t using.
- People and businesses donate clothing, furniture, household essentials and building supplies to God’s Warehouse. Kenneth and Sharee have picked up items there that people needed as they moved back into their homes.
Miss Connie’s House
The first home Hands and Feet started to rebuild was Connie Sinks Treadway’s in Chuckey, TN. Connie’s birthday was the day of the hurricane and flooding. She got one nasty birthday present – 4 feet of water in her house It caused so much damage the home had to be gutted and rebuilt.
Connie is an older woman As time passed, she became more and more depressed. She finally got into a camper in early December. Living in the camper didn’t help with her depression. Kenneth became familiar with her situation and felt her home was the first one they would rebuild.
The total cost of rebuilding the home was over $90,000. Connie is a single older woman. She didn’t have that money. She got $28,000 from FEMA. Kenneth and Sharee helped her get grants and money from other sources.
While Connie helped with anything she could do, she couldn’t do much of the work. Her neighbors and friends couldn’t help. 90% of the people at her church were impacted by the flood. Most of these were older. The Percifuls needed volunteers to help.
Kenneth started working on this project by himself in January. Later that month volunteers started to come. Over 800 volunteers helped to rebuild her home. Most were only available on weekends.
Along the way, there were delays.
- Sometimes it was getting the grants and the money to buy the materials needed. Then there was a shortage of materials needed.
- Windows were ordered and the wrong ones were delivered. They were returned. New ones came and they were still the wrong ones. Rather than sending these back, window frames had to be rebuilt for these.
- Rain storms delayed work.
- At time volunteers were unavailable or there were less than necessary.
As a result, it took much longer to complete rebuilding Connie’s home than it normally would have. Connie’s home was not completed and final inspection was not done until the end of September.
Future Projects
There are many more homes to rebuild or rehab in the area.
Right now, Keneth and Sharee want to finish the rebuilding underway on 3 homes. Once those are done, they will get involved in more that have to be done.
There are 4 things that have held them back from completing their jobs more quickly.
- The first is funding. They want to rebuild or rehab homes at no cost to the owners. That means they have to look for grants that will cover their costs. Needless to say, very few grants are large enough to cover the entire bill. Multiple grants are needed for each project.
- The second is materials. There is so much rebuilding and rehabbing going on in the six counties that lumber, plumbing supplies and electrical wires and outlets are not immediately available. This causes delays.
- The third is skilled tradespeople to work on each job. Carpenters, plumbers, electricians and HVAC technicians are in short supply.
- The last is volunteers. As time passes, less people are volunteering to help. With less help, it takes longer to do each job and projects are delayed.
How Can You Help?
You can volunteer even if it’s for a day or a weekend.
You might be saying you are too old or you have no skills. Remember – the oldest volunteer they have had was a young 85. Skills are not needed. Kenneth and Sharee would appreciate any time you can give them. They will also find work you can do.
If you have any relatives or friends or know any people who are in the skilled trades, let them know there are many different jobs going on for them in the six counties Tell them about Hands and Feet and have them get in touch with Kenenth and Sharee.
If you are able to and would like to donate any money for the work Hands & Feet is doing, they would appreciate it.
Here is the way to get in touch with Hands & Feet.
Their website is https://hndsandft.org.
To volunteer, there is a form you can fill out on the website. Please click here. You can also call them at 423-444-4048.
There are 2 ways you can make a donation:
- You can make it on their website. Please click here. Hnds & Ft uses a website for these donations. It is Zeffy.com. Zeffy charges 11% to cover their cost in processing the donation. You can either increase the amount you are donating by 11% to cover this or they will take it out of the amount you are donating.
- If you want to avoid any transaction fee, you can send a check for the amount you are donating. Please make the check out to HNDS & FT, Inc. and send it to:
HNDS & FT, INC
610 Carolina Ave.
Erwin, TN 37650
Many people have suffered because of Hurricane Helene and the flooding. Any help you can give them will be appreciated.
________________________________
If you have any comments on what you have read in this post, I would love to know them. Please email them to me. Also – if you have any ideas about subjects you would like to see discussed in future posts, please send me an email and let me know. My email address is bob.ooablog@gmail.com.