Church Volunteers Provide a New Home For A Woman When Her Old Home Was Destroyed By Termites

Hurricanes are well understood to be unforgiving home-destroyers. Anybody who has lived on the Gulf Coast or eastern seaboard for the past few years is certainly well aware of the destruction that results from hurricanes. A North Carolina resident, Cassandra Leonard, is one of thousands of people who lost a home following Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Surprisingly, Leonard’s home was not destroyed by high winds during the hurricane; instead, her home was destroyed by termites. Although Leonard lost her home due to termite activity, the hurricane played a part in the formation of the termite infestation. Several recent studies have confirmed that hurricanes leave homes more vulnerable to termite attacks, and Leonard probably does not find the results of these studies hard to believe. Luckily, Leonard lives within a community that contains numerous volunteers who are helping to provide homes for those who lost their original homes to the recent barrage of hurricanes in the southeast US. These volunteers are working to renovate old houses for those who are now homeless as a result of the hurricanes, and termite induced destruction counts too.

Recently, a group of volunteers from the First Presbyterian Church in Kinston spent a week renovating and repainting a home that Leonard purchased for one dollar. The houses’ cheap price meant that renovations were required before it became livable. Initially, the church volunteers visited Leonard’s old home with the intention to repair the damages. However, the volunteers quickly realized that the home was uninhabitable due to a widespread termite infestation. The advanced state of the termite infestation meant that the home would have to be demolished. This came as a major disappointment to Leonard, as she grew up in the condemned home. Happily for Leonard, a hurricane-recovery program provided her with the manpower required to renovate a cheaply priced fixer-upper. Renovations on Leonard’s new home will not be finished for another couple of weeks, as a second team will arrive shortly to add the finishing touches to her new home. Leonard describes the community’s response to her dilemma as a “miracle”.

Do you think more people should volunteer their time to helping victims of uncontrollable termite infestations find new homes?