BOONE, N.C. — It's a moment Joe Sherwood has waited six months for — a chance to see the walls of his home going back up. The walls to the basement, which he says will have a stove where he can sit and enjoy, are up.

"When it comes to long wintry days, I will find myself reading or sleeping," Sherwood said.

      What You Need To Know

  • A man who was pinned by a piano during Hurricane Helene has gotten a fresh start and a new home

  • Samaritan's Purse, a Christian group that provides disaster relief, is building a house for Joe Sherwood

  • The organization based in Boone also provided a new car to replace one damaged by the storm

He's so excited that he jokes about sitting in the unfinished basement with a tent just so he can move back in his home in the Vilas community of Watauga County, North Carolina. It's a light at the end of the tunnel, he says, that began in September when Hurricane Helene blew through.

Sherwood's home had a lot of damage. The building was leaning sideways, all his belongings were on the floor, and his bedroom was destroyed. During the storm, a landslide pushed a piano from the garage into the bedroom, pinning him. 

"I panicked in the first few minutes under the piano but after the first few minutes, I said this isn't the time to panic — prayer," he said."I panicked in the first few minutes under the piano but after the first few minutes, I said this isn't the time to panic — prayer," he said.

When he left the house he had lived in for 55 years by ambulance, he had no idea that night that it was destroyed.

"He's the reason I came out from under that piano, and I was most grateful to Him," Sherwood said as he twisted a wristband printed with "Thank you God."

Now, he is getting a new home, thanks to Samaritan's Purse, a Christian organization with headquarters in Boone that provides disaster relief.

"Two bedroom, one bath," Sherwood said.

They moved it forward a bit both to protect it from trees and for other reasons.

"Sort of a sentimental. I didn't want to be where the other house was," he said.

The storm changed his life, he said, but it also restored his faith in humanity.

"We will be having remnants of this for 10 years and then I can have my grandchildren sit on my lap and I can tell them what I know about it," he said. "I doubt if I will ever put it behind me." 

Samaritan's Purse also gave him a new car. It's a gift, Sherwood said, he couldn't say thank you enough for, so he's working hard to keep it clean.

"So help me, I washed it twice," he said.