Helene Relief Phase 2: Rebuild Lives, Restore Hope

Just three months before the storms came to Old Fort, Dudley was in the fight of his life—recovering from heart surgery. He could never have imagined that while healing from one storm, another was waiting just around the corner. This one wouldn’t touch his body, but it would break his heart.

Dudley’s home, built in 1920, had become his joy and his mission. Room by room, he and his wife poured love, sweat, and hope into restoring it—dreaming of the day it would finally reflect all the care they had given. For Dudley, the house wasn’t just walls and floors—it was purpose.

Then the rains came.

Water didn’t rush in like a raging river. It gathered quietly, pooling at the foundation until it crept inside. Soon, a foot of water filled the rooms, damaging walls, floors, and undoing so much of the work Dudley had given his heart to.

He remembers stepping outside, looking across the street to the school parking lot. Thirty-five cars sat abandoned in the floodwaters. In that moment, he realized just how quickly and unexpectedly the storm had changed everything.

But here’s where the story shifts.

Over a month ago, a small team from St Margaret’s Church arrived with willing hearts and hands. They started simple—hanging new sheetrock in one room. Since then, more volunteers have stepped in, one group after another, mudding, sanding, and now painting primer on the walls.

It’s not just sheetrock or paint going up in Dudley’s house—it’s hope.

For a man who has endured both physical and emotional storms, every nail driven, every brush of paint, every prayer spoken over his home is more than repair—it’s restoration. It’s a reminder that he is not forgotten.

At Adventures Relief, this is why we come. To bring both physical rebuilding and the hope of Jesus into homes and hearts. Dudley’s story is a testimony that in the middle of devastation, healing happens little by little—when the family of God shows up.

Dudley pictured on the right

Be Part of the Restoration

You can help families like Dudley’s find hope again.
Join us in rebuilding homes and hearts.