As she listened to Hurricane Helene’s howling winds from her bed on Sept. 27, 2024, Claudia Davison felt a chunk of her ceiling fall on her. Her daughter-in-law quickly went into Davison’s bedroom pulling Davison out of bed, putting her into a wheelchair and rushing her down the hallway.
Those actions likely saved Davison’s life as a massive pine tree fell lengthwise upon her west Augusta home only minutes after her rescue.
More than a year later, Davison’s home is still under repair, with the work coming at the hands of volunteers coordinated through the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
“I knew about UMCOR,” said Davison, a lifelong member of St. Mark United Methodist Church. “I never thought I’d be the one needing their help.”
The Rev. Scott Parrish, mission specialist in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church’s Office of Connectional Ministries, said UMCOR began working with Davison in June. She was still without power and only had one usable room in the house.
“There was so much damage. It basically meant tearing it down to the skeleton structure and rebuilding around it,” he said.
The tree sliced through the middle of the house; the exterior brick wall which held Davison’s bedroom window lay in rubble.
The day after the hurricane, Davison recalled motorists stopping and gawking. Drivers got out of their cars and took photos of the massive destruction.
Four months after work began, it’s close to completion with much of the remaining work on the home’s interior.
Parrish said many of the people his organization has helped include elderly uninsured or underinsured. So far, they’ve helped with rebuilding about 35 homes, but he has a list with more than 200 requests for help, and they are still coming in. About one-third of the requests are for fencing or decks. The rest are for more extensive repairs.
“We want to focus on the ones where people are living in a storm-damaged home.
On Wednesday, Oct. 15, a group of volunteers from Simsbury, Connecticut traveled to Augusta to work on Davison’s house. This is the second time this year that a team of volunteers from Simsbury United Methodist Church came to help with the long-term relief efforts. Another group had its visit cut short in January because of the snow.
“This team tries to do volunteer missions at least once a year, sometimes two,” said the Rev. Craig Fitzsimmons, the Connecticut team leader.
In January, his team helped rebuild a roof, build fencing and a deck and other smaller projects, he said.
While in Augusta, volunteers stay in the former classrooms inside Advent Lutheran Church on Washington Road, which became a makeshift dormitory several months ago.
The Connecticut volunteers pay more than $750 to take the trip to Augusta, said Cassandra Broadus-Garcia, a Mississippi native who now lives in Connecticut. She started volunteering with disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina in her home state.
Broadus-Garcia handles much of the logistics for the team as well as prepares the meals.
The group from Connecticut will be in Augusta until Oct. 22.
Other denominations have joined in UMCOR”s efforts in Augusta.
A group of Mennonites arrived in the area Friday. They are currently setting up a base camp and will start working in early November and remain for several months. A group of Presbyterians will arrive Oct. 26.
Parrish didn’t put an end date on the long-term recovery efforts. He anticipates requests for assistance will continue to trickle in over the next several months. To apply for help, go here.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
