Mayfield families have new hope as 8-home neighborhood rises from devastation
MAYFIELD, Kentucky — As Milton Sampsen trudged through the darkness amid the rubble of the ironically named Windhaven Apartments in the aftermath of the violent EF-4 tornado that killed 22 local residents and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, he kept hearing cries for help and barely made out the silhouettes of desperately outreached hands.
With his one good arm, Sampsen pulled neighbor after neighbor to safety into the wee hours of the morning. As daylight shed light on the devastation, only then was he able to assess his own situation. He was homeless, like so many others in the community.
Unable to find an affordable place to rent, the now 56-year-old employee of the Graves County Restricted Custody Center was forced to relocate to Murray, Kentucky — about a half-hour from his job.
“The commute was a little more than I expected, but at least I still had my job,” he said Friday as he stood behind his nearly complete new Fuller Center home that is less than 100 yards from his place of employment. It is one of eight homes between Tice and Jenkins streets in Mayfield built by the Mayfield-Graves Fuller Center for Housing, which was formed shortly after the disaster.
Since June 10, dozens of Blitz Home Builders have been in town using their personal time and spending their own money to help families have simple, decent places to live. Four that are mostly complete were dedicated Friday. The volunteers got a big start on four more houses, including Sampsen’s, that the local Fuller Center will complete with support from the local community.
“When you see the walls go up and a roof on it and now you’ve got windows and doors, it’s just happiness to see something that’s actually yours coming to life,” Sampsen said. “It’s finally going to be mine — something that the Lord blesses me for for all the people I helped that night.”
Four white houses line Tice Street, while four more line Jenkins Street behind them. The homes are cozy but beautiful with each homeowner selecting a unique color for their front door. LaShanta McNeal, who lost her home and her car in the tornado, chose green.
“It’s been a long road,” she said. “I kinda felt that I was almost forgotten about. But, as you see, God didn’t forget. So, I’m thankful. We’re all thankful.”
The eight homeowners and their families have vowed to make this eight-home a sanctuary. They are more than neighbors. They share a bond of turmoil and of restoration. They also share a bond with dozens of strangers who came to help them.
“It’s been great,” McNeal said. “I’ve met a lot of people from all over who came to help. They’re such wonderful people to really give their time and energy to come and help out people they don’t know. To give that, that’s just a blessing.”
As a fledgling covenant partner formed just two years ago, The Mayfield-Graves Fuller Center had built homes here and there, but they had never hosted a multi-home build of this magnitude. They brought in an energetic leader from afar, Dave Diffendal. Diffendal began volunteering on Fuller Center projects a few years ago and has a knock for infusing work sites with positive energy. Yet, when he was approached during the 2023 Millard Fuller Legacy Build in Alabama about organizing this blitz as a monthslong endeavor, he had to think about it.
“I’m in Opelika putting siding on a house and managing a team, and (Fuller Center Vice President of U.S. Programs Stacey Driggers) comes up to me and says, ‘We have this project, this opportunity, and we need someone to help.’ And I like to help. We’re all here to help, right? I said, ‘Boy, that sounds like a big project.’ She said, ‘We’re gonna support ya. We’re gonna make it happen.’”
With local churches and businesses stepping forward to support hosting the Blitz Home Builders and the preliminary work, it has indeed happened.
“With wonderful people, a wonderful community, wonderful homeowners, we put together eight houses,” Diffendal said. “It has been a spectacular experience for me. It’s been life-changing. To get the chance to really have an impact on others, on a community and yourself, man, it has been special.”
When Mayfield-Graves Fuller Center’s Mel Doughty heard about the opportunity to host the massive crowd of volunteers, he visited the Blitz Home Builders at their 2023 build in Columbia, Missouri.
“We went to Columbia and saw what they did and then realized that we had to get ready,” he said, noting that they relied upon Driggers and the team at The Fuller Center’s international headquarters in Americus, Georgia, to tackle the massive feat. “Dave showed up and showed out, and we’ve been able to get this thing ready. It’s been a fantastic couple of weeks.”
However, this is hardly a one-time event. Fuller Center President David Snell, who was in Mayfield for Friday’s home blessings and dedications, said this should be a springboard to even more building for families in need.
“I think they’re going to be doing a lot more work now that they see that they can do it and know how,” Snell said. “There’s ongoing work. Mayfield will continue to build houses. So, they’ll need help building and raising funds and feeding the volunteers and all the things that go along with having a building project.”
The Mayfield-Graves Fuller Center’s project has been warmly received by the local community, but they will need to harness that positivity to keep the momentum going in the months and years to come.
“There’s a number of things that people can do right now,” Snell said. “Several of these houses need to be finished up, so there’s work to be done. Coming out and helping with that would be a great, great asset.”
“The need for affordable home ownership is always going to be there, forever,” said Diffendal, whose months of service in Mayfield are coming to a close. “So, come out and support it. Come out and get after it! There’s land, there are people, there are needs. It’s exciting. The future’s bright, and The Fuller Center is going to be here for generations to come.”
If you or your church or business is in the Mayfield area and would like to help, contact the Mayfield-Graves Fuller Center by calling 270-705-2743 or emailing kingsplayers@aol.com.
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