The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C., Andrew Dys column [The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.]

Nov. 30--ROCK HILL -- In response to the Nov. 16 tornado that destroyed several homes and left three people dead, Rock Hill'sOakdale Baptist Church is challenging the people of York County.

Raise $400,000 by Christmas to rebuild at least three of those homes.

"We are looking here at people who don't have anything left -- nothing," said the Rev. Jerry Devinney, senior pastor at Oakdale, a church near the tornado scene that since the storm has collected and delivered emergency supplies to victims.

"This is beyond helping people eat and have warm clothes. This is rebuilding entire homes. I am calling it York County's version of ?Home Makeover,' and I am challenging every Baptist church and Evangelical congregation in this county to help.

"Actually, I am challenging everybody to help."

Devinney and his team of pastors and followers met with the Courtney, Neely, and Hudspeth families Monday night to go over plans that include contractors who have offered to rebuild the houses at cost.

"We have people willing to do the work, we have people who need the help, what we need now is the money," Devinney said. "We will not turn our backs from these people. They need us."

Details and an account for the building fund are still being finalized, but are expected to be announced at noon Wednesday at the tornado site.

Steve Courtney, 60, died when his chimney fell on him during the tornado -- but not before he saved his daughter and granddaughter.

Barbara and Kenneth Charles Hafner, who lived in a rented mobile home, died in the tornado.

The Hudspeth family mobile home nearby on Williamson Road was destroyed.

Janet Neely, who survived the tornado in her bathtub as the storm destroyed her home around her, has been living with her husband, Jerry, in a camper behind a family member's home across the street.

Insurance paid the Neelys for some losses, but Neely said the family was under-insured and still owes a mortgage company almost $20,000, with the ax ready to fall for non-payment.

"There was a tornado, everything we owned in this world is gone, and still if we don't pay the mortgage we will lose what we have," Janet Neely said Tuesday. "We don't know what we are going to do.

"This nice gesture by these wonderful people might be our only hope."

Joey Deas, youth minister at Oakdale and one of the leaders in storm cleanup and helping the victims since the tornado, said the passage of two weeks shows that the pain and damage from the storm cannot be fixed without the community reaching out to help.

"These families out here are in a position where they need those with something to give to offer it," Deas said. "It is that simple. Without others, these people will never be able to recover."

The storm destroyed eight homes and damaged at least 20 more.

Janet Neely -- rescued from under the bathtub by volunteers as her husband raced to the tornado scene from work to find his life destroyed -- still has bruises and wounds from the tornado.

Strong winds and rain -- like those Monday night -- terrify her.

"I am still trying to heal from all this," Janet Neely said, "and it is not easy when you don't know if you are going to lose all that you worked for all your life."

A cousin of Janet Neely, Yvette Young, said to look at the spot where the Neely and Hafner homes used to stand, "just breaks your heart. These people didn't do anything wrong. They were in the wrong place when a tornado ruined their lives.

"We all need to help them."

Family pictures and papers from the homes of the Courtneys and Neelys were blown by the 135 mph winds as far away as northern York County and into North Carolina.

"This storm literally took lives, everything, and blew it away into a raging sky," said Devinney. "This is devastation unlike York County has ever seen."

So, to try to mend those broken hearts and broken homes, Devinney and Oakdale plan to raise money the best way they know how -- donations, especially through churches.

"We can do this, we can raise it from these hundreds of churches," Devinney said. "I come from the mill hill in Rock Hill. When times got tough we collected for neighbors. Nobody went without a roof or a house.

"Well, we are off the mill hill, but there is not going to be a family down here without a home, if I have anything to say about it."

Check back Wednesday for updates from the announcement.

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