Volunteers tear down tornado-damaged home

SUFFOLK

It seemed like nothing was going right.

There was no equipment to tear down the Chappell family's damaged house on the corner of Burnetts Court. No food to feed more than 60 sailors who turned up on a rainy Wednesday morning to help.

The Chappell home is one of dozens that fell victim to the Suffolk tornado nearly four months ago. The storm left cracks in the walls big enough to stick your arm through, lifted the house next door off its foundation, slammed a vehicle into one across the street.

There was the battle with the insurance company, which at first offered to repair the house rather than replace it, said homeowner Barbara Chappell. She and husband Ben hired a structural engineer to convince the company otherwise, and still their policy came up $50,000 short of what the family says it needs.

They said they'd spent two months in hotel rooms. They used up leave time from jobs, hunted for a temporary house in a safe neighborhood and collected receipts from countless meals out. They grew sick of fast food.

"It's been a long haul," Chappell said.

T he family eventually found a landlord willing to rent for six months. They'd salvaged most of their belongings from a house that, though now structurally unsound, kept Chappell's mother and the woman's caretaker safe through the tornado. Gift cards from churches and organizations bought many of the things they'd needed while living in a hotel.

Then a man named Don Handyside heard about the family at Celebration Christian Church in Suffolk.

"They needed help," Handyside said. "It was going on four months. You just don't know. They're still struggling. There are still a lot of people who need help."

Another church member, Max Pino, heard about the Chappells. Pino, an officer aboard the carrier Harry S. Truman, recently returned from a seven-month deployment.

"Max called me," Handyside said, asking if he could do something.

With a nonprofit called the Fuller Center for Housing, a group of sailors would remove the house free of charge. Dozens drove to the battered neighborhood early Wednesday. They ripped up carpet and tore down walls and pulled out windows, bathtubs and the fireplace to ready the house for demolition.

But the equipment and the food Handyside was counting on didn't show up. He decided to ask a construction crew working across the street if they would provide the demolition. They did. Several restaurants donated food.

By noon, as volunteers took a break under a tent at the end of the driveway, the home was gutted and ready.

"It's coming," Chappell said. "You know, God is good. Just like with this crew. Who would have thought a ship of men we don't know from Adam would show up? We will be able to have another new beginning."

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5555, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com