“I hid in the middle hallway, the strongest part of the house, and still thought that I was going somewhere,” he said.
At the end of the storm, the home he and his fiancee, Jenny Wagers, live in still stood but sustained major damage to the roof and windows. Their insurance settlement only covered the electrical damage, so the home remained in a similar condition until Thursday afternoon when Rebuilding Together Dayton and volunteers from Shiloh Church arrived at the Oneida Avenue residence and got to work.
The group, funded by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati and its partners, is replacing the entire roof, putting on new aluminum siding, installing new windows and painting and flooring three rooms.
“They are in here redoing my entire home, I did not expect this at all,” Wagers said.
“They are doing so much, working so hard,” Thomas said.
The couple is working along with the volunteers to repair the home. Thomas said there is a lot of work to get done to complete the project by Saturday, but that he, Wagers and the volunteers are ready to do it.
“We just can’t wait to have a normal house again,” Thomas said.
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