Savannah Woman Thanks Refinery Employees for Helping Build Home

After the Imperial Sugar Refinery Explosion, many of you stepped up to help victims. Employees wanted to thank the community for support and found a way to give back.

About a month after the explosion, more than 30 employees teamed up with the Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity. They helped build two homes on Essex Avenue in Savannah.

“We felt like doing something for the community is our way of giving something back for what’s been given to us,“ Imperial employee James Cuthbert told us in March 2008.

As we approach the anniversary of the explosion, families are now living in those two houses. Vickie Williams moved into one of the homes last summer and thanks all the volunteers for their help, especially the sugar refinery employees. Though Vickie tells NEWS 3 “thanks” is not enough.

“I’m going for an Asian feel in here. I don’t know if it’s going to work,“ says Vickie, who still has lots of decorating to do at her new home.

She moved in about eight months ago but worked for nearly two years to get it. “Coming out with a hammer, using muscles you forgot you had. And when you go to use them the day after, not pretty,“ jokes Vickie.

At first she didn’t know sugar refinery employees helped build her house. “There’s no words to express just what they gave on those cold afternoons or mornings they came out,“ says Vickie.

“I was working for something I wanted. They didn’t have to be here, especially under the circumstances with everything going on. So thank you in so many ways,“ says Vickie.

Vickie admits if it weren’t for volunteers like them, she’d still be renting. Habitat for Humanity gave Vickie a photo album after she moved in, filled with all the memories from the months of building.

“I was supposed to be holding the ladder for her but I was laughing so much I was shaking her ladder,“ says Vickie, describing one of the pictures.

The pictures go from start to finish, and now Vickie’s looking ahead at her new life. “Thank you is not enough. I have to say it again. Thank you is not enough to try to express to someone what coming home is,“ says Vickie.

Anyone who wants to volunteer with Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity can call (912)353-8122.