‘Today is a good day’: Another home built from ‘Housing Can’t Wait’ initiative

CHAVIES, Ky. (WYMT) - George and Sherry Mullins, a Breathitt County couple who lost their home in the July flood, will now be living on higher ground.

“We’re starting again at our age, but we’ll do that,” Sherry Mullins said.

Their new home is the seventh built from the ‘Housing Can’t Wait’ initiative, which was created by local non-profits to address community needs after the flood.

Each one built is a milestone for success.

“This is somebody’s house, and to that person, it’s their house. Even if we are working with hundreds of other people to get them their house, and so, you celebrate this victory and it inspires you to move on to the next person and hopefully build the next house a little bit faster,” Housing Development Alliance Assistant Director Chris Doll said.

Another 60 houses are in the process of being completed, but none of them could be done without the strong partnerships between local organizations.

“I think it does bear mentioning that you go faster when you go together, and I think that alignment is making a difference in ‘Housing Can’t Wait,’” Fahe Senior Vice President of Membership Vonda Poynter said.

Although they are now on higher ground, George and Sherry Mullins are hoping their previous neighbors can benefit from those partnerships too.

“Even though we live on a mountain now and out of the flood zone, my friends, and my family and my people, they still live in that flood plain, and I care about them,” Sherry Mullins said.

HDA, Fahe and other non-profit leaders thanked Joe and Kelly Craft as well as the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association for their donations toward the initiative.