Building homes, building bonds

Helen Thacker used to wear three layers of clothing indoors during the winter to try to stay warm.

The Thackers’ heating bill for their home in Pikeville, Kentucky, regularly topped $600. But there was no way to keep the heat from escaping through the rotted holes in the floor and the gaps where the walls didn’t meet the ceiling.     

While the family tried to make some repairs themselves, the extent and cost of the work was overwhelming. “I didn’t know how long I could do it,” Thacker remembers. “I just couldn’t go on like this.”

People encouraged them to move. But like many in Appalachia, Helen and her son CJ feel a deep connection to their family land. “I didn’t want to move, because this is my home,” she says.

“I’ve been here since I was a baby,” adds CJ Thacker. “My mamaw and papaw had this house, and I was not going to ever leave this place.”

In December 2020, the trailer where he and his fiancée, Linda Mullins, were living near the family house caught fire. CJ Thacker was able to escape, but his fiancée was trapped inside. Helen’s husband, Arnold Thacker, tried to help, but both he and CJ’s fiancée were killed.

CJ and Helen Thacker, both distraught, decided to live together in Helen’s house.

Helen Thacker is radiant as she describes the cookies and peanut butter balls that she has resumed making at Christmas now that she has a new kitchen — for years, she had lived with a non-working stove and only had a microwave to cook.

And she loves returning home each day. “As soon as I come home from work, the animals are there meeting me. I sit down, me and CJ sit and talk about the day and have supper.” 

This June, Dottie Fleming, a lifelong resident of Pike County, Kentucky, was just beginning to envision life in her rebuilt home.

As a first group of Appalachia Build volunteers from Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church in Goessel, Kansas, built additional tiers under the foundation to lift and stabilize the structure and installed insulation, she pictured where her kitchen would be, along with the living room, bathroom and small bedroom.

“I think about a bed,” she says. “It’s been almost three years since I’ve actually slept in a bed.”

In 2021, she was with her husband, Timothy Fleming, who had been in the hospital for several weeks, when she got an early morning call that their house was on fire.

Their home was destroyed, and her husband died the following day.

In the midst of her grief, she gathered the insurance money. A local contractor promised to build a small house for the amount she had received, but after constructing a very basic shell of a building, the money ran out. The price of building materials had skyrocketed during the pandemic, and some supplies were stolen from her property.

The new building had structural issues. Walking from one end of the building to the other, she could feel the unevenness of the floor. With her insurance money depleted, she didn’t have any choice but to move from family member to family member, sleeping on couches.

Connecting with Appalachia Build, she says, was an answer to prayer. “It’s been a long three years,” she says. “God brings you through it. He brings you through a lot of things. You think you can’t make it, but He provides the way.”

And she is so thankful for the volunteers who have given their time and traveled from long distances. “To think that they’d give up their time and that much of themselves to go and help someone they don’t even know. It’s amazing.” 

And she savored the chance to get to know the groups that worked at her house and to cook for them.

“It’s my way of giving back,” says Dunn. “Cooking is giving love and letting people know that you love them.”

Dunn knows that Appalachian people are often portrayed negatively and that people come to the region with stereotypes. She’s found that sharing with one another is key. “You bond and you hear other people’s stories. And then they take back what they learned, and what I learned from them and their culture.”

Over a decade later, she still gets letters and postcards from some of the volunteers. Several women have helped one another through tough experiences, including Dunn’s heart attack and the recent death of her husband. 

And she’s continued to cook for groups that come to repair other homes in the area. Volunteers rave about the cakes, pepperoni rolls and other food that Dunn prepares.

“I figured, if I can help someone, I will. I’m on a fixed income, but I can cook. I’ve been blessed, so why not bless someone?” 

And she’s continued to cook for groups that come to repair other homes in the area. Volunteers rave about the cakes, pepperoni rolls and other food that Dunn prepares.

“I figured, if I can help someone, I will. I’m on a fixed income, but I can cook. I’ve been blessed, so why not bless someone?” 

Jennifer Steiner is MCC Great Lakes communications director. Christy Kauffman is multimedia producer for MCC U.S.

Header photo caption: Appalachia Build volunteers from Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church’s youth group join Dottie Fleming outside of her home in Pike County, Kentucky. MCC photo/Christy Kauffman