The Rays were left homeless by Hurricane Helene. Now, they have a place to call home thanks to the Samaritan's Purse rebuild program.
The scars on Howard’s cheek and eyebrow still bear witness to the terror and pain of the morning Hurricane Helene struck. Those reminders will not soon fade, but, now, he and his family have a new marker of God’s faithfulness and grace on their lives: a mobile home provided by Samaritan’s Purse.
On Tuesday, June 3, in Burnsville, North Carolina, Howard and Lisa Ray, along with their teenage daughters, gathered with friends, family, and Samaritan’s Purse staff and volunteers to dedicate their new home to Jesus Christ. The Ray family cried tears of relief and joy as the group prayed over them and presented the family of four with the keys to their house.
The group gathered to pray over the Ray family and dedicate their new home to God.
“There just aren’t words to describe it,” Howard said as he looked at the double-wide, specially upgraded home. “When you think God is only going to do this little thing for you, He does so much more. We’ve been staying in different places the last eight months, but not tonight; tonight we are home for good.”
The Rays are among the first families to receive a mobile home through the Samaritan’s Purse long-term rebuild program in western North Carolina. As part of our continued work after Hurricane Helene, we are now repairing damaged homes and providing entirely new homes (both stick-built and mobile) for families displaced by the storm across the region. In recent weeks, we praise God that four families, including the Rays, were given keys to new homes through the program with hundreds of families expected to follow in the coming months and years.
The Ray family is happy to be living in their new home.
“Going from about dying—like right where I’m standing—to come home to this, it’s amazing what God will do,” Howard said to the crowd. “I thank each and every one of you, and thank you to the people who aren’t even here. It’s a blessing like I’ve never seen.”
A Story of Survival
Through the windows of the Ray’s new home, Howard and Lisa can see clearly the red barn in the distance that saved them when Helene nearly took their lives.
That late September morning, the couple were sitting on the couch with their dog, Sadie, and their daughters were away at friends’ houses. Before Howard could get up to open the door and see the storm, a jolt shook the house off its footings as flash floods and fallen timber came crashing down the mountains around them. Suddenly, they were floating down the street.
Lisa clung to Sadie as Howard attempted to find a way out. Water seeped through the walls and floorboards; windows busted and the door bulged from the pressure of the water against it. After floating a few hundred feet, the house lodged onto a piece of debris, launching Lisa and Sadie through the rear wall and into the torrent outside. Howard was thrown into the floodwaters, too, where he managed to grab the fabric flap on the bottom of the couch where Lisa still sat—his body submerged hitting loose debris and timber underwater. For a moment, Howard managed to look up.
Lisa shares a moment with her mother as she tours her new home for the first time.
“As far as you could see each way, there was nothing but water,” he recounted. “We heard people screaming and calling for help, but we didn’t know from where and we couldn’t help because we were fighting for our lives too.”
As a volunteer firefighter in the area, Howard knew trouble when he saw it.
“I’ve dealt with rescue, but when you’re the one that needs rescued—it’s a whole different ball game,” he said.
As with every Samaritan’s Purse home dedication, the Rays were presented with a Billy Graham Training Center Bible and a bill that says “PAID IN FULL”— reminding them that the house comes free of charge, and that our debt was paid in full through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Eventually, they made it to their neighbors red barn. With blood dripping down their clothes, Lisa and Howard hobbled into the dry shelter. They waited for hours until a friend rescued them with his side-by-side. It wasn’t until five days later that they first saw their children safe.
“It ain’t luck because that’s all God,” Howard said. “We should be dead, but God saved us.”
Called Back to God and Family
Howard refers to the day of Sept. 27, 2025, not as a tragedy, but as a way God called him back.
“Always trust God,” he said, recounting what he’s learned from Helene’s chaos. “I know a lot of people who don’t really know what that means and I was one of them. But when you get really close to death and you still survive, it brings a whole new meaning to things. Take nothing for granted; take one day at a time; don’t worry about things you can’t change. I can promise you, none of these material things matter.”
Lisa, who lost her best friend in the storm, felt God teaching her something, too.
“Sometimes, I’ll just sit and cry about my friend being gone. And the Lord will come by and say, ‘I’m still here.’ He never leaves us. He really is our best friend,” she said. “God’s taught me not to worry, to have faith and hold onto Him.”
Now, deep in a hollow of western North Carolina, the Ray household overlooks the valley where the Lord saved them. “There is nothing more important than God and my family,” Howard said.
Please pray for the work of Samaritan’s Purse as we continue to help people recover from Hurricane Helene.
