Community Corner

Community Saves Soldier's Home!

Thanks to an outpouring of love, support and money by the Paulding County community, SFC Jeremy Powell, his wife Wendy and their three children will be able to stay in the home they love.

"Our house is SAVED!" Wendy said in an email to Patch. "Amazing isn't it. Eleven days and our house is SAVED."

In just 11 days the Powells would have lost their home.

The Powells first posted a yard sale notice on Dallas-Hiram Patch on Sept. 30.  It was the birth of 'Operation Save a Soldier's Home.' The family simply stated that they needed $5,500 to save their home from foreclosure by Nov. 5. It later turned out that they actually needed $6,280.64 before Oct. 30. 

Upon returning from the attorney's office, Wendy Powell reported today that her family, including children Victoria, James and Jacob, are currently up to date on their house payments and will be staying in their home.

After a series of yard sales and fundraisers, the happy ending occurred Tuesday night at the Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Hiram. On Tuesday morning the family still needed $1,580 before October 30 to catch up on house payments and the Paulding community pushed them over the top on that night.

"Can you believe it? WOW! We raised $2,049.63 last night in JUST donations," Wendy said in the email about Tuesday's Chick-Fil-A fundraiser. "That is NOT counting some donations that are already in the mail and donations that others still have to give us. And we still don't know how much we raised at Chick-Fil-A last night. 

"We are totally OVERWHELMED! When we walked into Chick-Fil-A at 4:45 p.m., we needed $880 to reach our house goal. Within 20 minutes it went to $380. Not long after that we stopped counting and just started crying and praising the Lord. We had 100 names at 6:42 p.m. At 8 p.m., our final count was 173 who had signed. When I woke up Tuesday morning we needed $1,580 to meet our house goal. At around 1:32 p.m. my mom texted me to say she had a $500 check for us. I cried. That meant we only needed $1,080 to meet our goal.

"When I got home from homeschool baseball I checked the mail and received a check for $200," Wendy continued. "I remember saying, 'Lord, I am overwhelmed,' out loud. That meant we only needed $880 to meet our house goal.

"God was in everything last night," Wendy said. "From the people we knew who came to support us, to those who just walked in to eat, and those who had heard of us some way or another and wanted to help. "

Editor's note: Come back to Patch in the upcoming days as we detail some of the heartwarming stories of the people who helped. Those stories include a trip to Walmart, a sweatshirt that says 'Faith,' and a college student who donated her wedding savings in a skittles can.

Related Dallas-Hiram Patch stories:

Soldier Still Needs $1,580 to Save Home, Help at Chick-Fil-A Tuesday

'Operation Save a Solder's Home Yard Sale' Again Saturday

Help Chick-Fil-A to Help A Soldier

Community Turns Out to Help Soldier in Need, But Family's Still Short of Goal

Operation Save a Soldier's House Garage Sale


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Dallas-Hiram