Gatlinburg woman who lost everything in wildfire gets new home
GATLINBURG - Glenna Ogle fought back tears Tuesday morning as she stood in the spot where her home used to be and looked out at a small crowd of people gathered before her.
"I just want to thank everybody that's helped me," Ogle, 76, said. "I appreciate and I praise God for all this. I know everything comes from him."
In November, Ogle lost the home she had lived in for 11 years, all her belongings, and her dog, Rachel, in the Sevier County wildfire.
For the last five months she's been staying with a friend, although she was recently surprised with the news that she was chosen to receive one of 25 new homes that will be built for fire victims via a partnership of local and regional nonprofits.
The Appalachia Service Project, Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church and Mountain Tough Recovery Team are heading up the effort to construct 25 homes for low-income fire victims that were either uninsured or had minimal insurance, said Walter Crouch, president and chief executive officer at the Appalachia Service Project.
"A lot of people don't know there are families here who struggle," Crouch said. "Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville — when people hear those, they think of the tourism industry. We forget there are people cleaning hotel rooms, working in the restaurants waiting on tables, doing a lot of the maintenance work, or retired people like Glenna on fixed incomes. In a lot of situations like this it's those very people who fall through the cracks."
On Tuesday the groups broke ground on Ogle's new home, which will be in the same location where her family has had a cabin for decades.
Ogle, who attends Banner Baptist Church in Gatlinburg, said her faith has helped her get through the last few months. One of the first items she lists when asked what she will bring into her home once it's built is a new Bible.
"The night of the fire, I told (God) I was ready to go, but I raised my hand and said, 'I don’t want to go this way,'" she said after a short ceremony at the site Tuesday. "He kept me here for some reason, maybe to meet you all."
READ MORE
► Photos: Looking back at the Gatlinburg Fire
► Year of Recovery: Construction begins for Gatlinburg family who lost home
► Rangers called heroes for work to clear Spur during Gatlinburg wildfire
The three groups have raised about $1.5 million for the construction of the homes. Funding includes a grant from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, other grant money and donations. Most of the labor will be done by volunteers.
The 25 individuals and families scheduled to receive the homes were identified through the American Red Cross and were required to come from low-income backgrounds with little or no insurance and who also had a buildable site where a home could be constructed, Crouch said. Ogle's home, estimated to be completed in four to eight weeks, is the first of the 25 planned, but Crouch said he would like to see even more be built.
The Appalachia Service Project is also working right now to complete 50 homes in West Virginia for victims of the 2016 floods there that killed 23 people.
Each home in Sevier County will be given to the individual or family with no financial obligation, as long as they agree to not mortgage or sell it for five years.
Fourteen people were killed and more than 2,400 structures were damaged or destroyed in the wildfires that swept through the Gatlinburg area in November.
"It's been a group effort of everyone doing everything they could to move on and get past the tragedy that happened," said Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner. "Today’s an excellent opportunity for us to have new beginnings. We’re just thrilled that this is happening. It’s a great thing for Gatlinburg and for Sevier County."
Ogle, meanwhile, said she's looking forward to having someplace to sleep, pray and have her family visit.
"It's great, exciting," she said. "I don’t know how to feel. I just feel good, full of the Lord’s work."