BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo native Steve Tybor has lived much of his adult life in Tupelo, Mississippi.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, his father called, wanting to gather six to eight people to help someone rebuild their home.

That effort ballooned to 684 people from 30 states.

"In eight days, from a Saturday to a Saturday, we rebuilt 84 homes for free," he said. "Now, we're not that good, but He's great, and when we saw that door that He opened, we decided to form a non-profit called Eight Days of Hope."

Fast forward to today and Eight Days of Hope has done more than $45 million worth of work, remodeled, rebuilt or worked on nearly 2,800 homes, logging well over 1 million volunteer hours.

Tybor quit his job last year to focus full-time on Eight Days of Hope and is set to open a new satellite facility in Buffalo on August 18.

"There's 969 disasters last year in America. We went to 30 of them," Tybor said. "Well, how can we go to 60 or 90 and be the hands and feet of Jesus? And that's why we're going to be launching in Buffalo."

The 100,000 square foot building was recently bought by the William and Diane Hein Foundation and Eight Days of Hope will pay $1 a month in rent.

Tybor says they only need 40 percent of the space, but he has plans on utilizing the rest of it.

"We want to be an incubator for other non-profit ministries and so we will help them launch if they're just launching with some free space for a period of time," Tybor said.

Tybor also wants Eight Days of Hope to be good stewards in the community by making its supplies available to all local churches.

They have a tool trailer, a laundry trailer — even a shower trailer.

He says they are constantly receiving building materials, furniture, mattresses and appliances and if a church says they need it, that satisfies his vetting process.

"If there's a church in Western New York that wants to utilize any of the equipment, man, reach out to us. I'd rather it be used, and even if it breaks, versus sitting here in a warehouse, because it's about building relationships," Tybor said.

Eight Days of Hope is also preparing for its next mission trip, which will take place in Houston, to continue rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Harvey.

They also went to Houston in March, where they rebuilt more than 800 homes with 4,700 volunteers, including 200 from Western New York and Southern Ontario.

"When people see you bringing a glass of water to someone thirsty, when someone sees you bringing a sandwich to someone who's hungry, when someone sees you on a roof, fixing a roof for free that would cost $8,000 or $10,000 that they don't have. The greatest sermon I ever heard was the one I saw. People need to see, our children need to see Jesus in us," Tybor said.

Eight Days of Hope will host a breakfast on Saturday, August 18 at 9 a.m. at First Shiloh Baptist Church on Pine Street.

Please RSVP by August 13 by calling Chandler 662-844-6934.