Students build homes for Helene victims in high school carpentry class

WLOS

By Taylor Thompson

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    YANCEY COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — A group of Yancey County high school students are building back their community.

At Mountain Heritage High School, a group of 18 seniors are building homes for Helene victims in their carpentry class.

Carpentry Teacher, Jeremy Dotts said after the flood they knew they had a rare opportunity within their program to help.

Within two weeks of the storm, Dotts said he was looking for grants to get the funds they needed.

It wasn’t until late November that help arrived through a partnership with the foundation, Rebuilding Hollers.

“I just started making sure as donations came in that we were putting money aside to make sure we could fund this as well for the materials so they could start building,” Rebuilding Hollers Founder, Stephanie Johnson said.

Johnson said it’s exciting to walk into the warehouse and see progress being made.

“I love coming in here, seeing them working, watching Jeremy give them incredible instruction, he’s changing their lives and he’s helping build our community back,” Johnson said.

Dotts said selling the kids on this idea wasn’t hard because they’re a very ambitious group.

“We’ve missed days, we’ve had snow days and other days we’ve missed for, and they’ve come in on those days and still continued to work on these homes because they believe in what they’re doing for this community,” Dotts said.

Max Gilley, one of the seniors taking the class, said he’s grateful for the experience of building homes for this purpose.

“I’ve always enjoyed building. Me and my brother used to get out and build in the woods when we were little and now this is just the next step,” Gilley said.

Gilley said he had never built a house until now. He never thought he would get an opportunity to build someone a home by the time he graduates high school.

Another student, Jaten Wilson, said he took this class for the first time his sophomore year and found his passion.

“I just kept with it and then the hurricane hit, and we got this opportunity to build these houses, and I was like, ‘let’s do it’,” Wilson said.

Wilson said he takes a lot of pride in being able to help his community in this way, as well as having this type of skill and experience for when he goes out into the real world.

The first home they’re working on is about 670 square feet. it’s a one-bedroom, one-bathroom with a loft.

“That’s what you’re seeing taking place, we’re able to mass produce a floor system, wall system, relatively quickly because we’re in a facility that’s heated and comfortable and we’re able to control the environment,” Dotts said.

In his 15 years of teaching, Dotts said while he never saw the storm or this house-building program coming, he’s glad to be a part of it.

He said their goal is to try and make two to four houses a year for Helene victims to try and get as many residents as they can back into a home.

“What we’re doing here is just a small portion,” he said.

Rebuilding will be a years-long process, but Dotts said giving up isn’t an option.

“We don’t quit, we know what needs to be done,” Dotts said.

They’re hopeful to have the first home completed by the end of this semester.

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