'He has a big heart': Why Cody Day is Eastman's hometown hero

Cody Day, electrical planner at Eastman Chemical Co., has learned a lot about the nonprofit world in the last year.Several of his family members lost their homes in Hurricane Helene's flooding. There was never a question about stepping in to help in those following weeks. As those weeks went by, those efforts to help turned into its own operation: 72: The Mission."It's become a much larger endeavor than what I would have ever guessed," Day said.Day remembers driving through Washington County and its surrounding areas the morning of the flood before bridges were washed away, and the chaos that came when the flood waters lowered. Within five to six days afterward, about 15 people came together and decided to formalize their work under 72: The Mission.The group fundraises money, applies for grants and coordinates donations of goods like furniture and toys for anyone who might need it.Day had expectations for what he wanted to see the group do for flood victims in the community. He wanted to raise some money — at least a few thousand dollars — and help people replace furniture they lost.One year later, 72: The Mission has raised almost $1 million dollars in donations and grant money. Part of that funding was awarded by the Governor's Response and Recovery Fund.Day said the skills he uses for his job as an electrical planner at Eastman are transferable to the work he does at 72: The Mission."It's the same thing, it's organized chaos to some degree," he said. "It's looking and saying, three weeks from now, we're going to have these issues. Let's try to get a hold of it now."72: The Mission has been able to similarly task people with work that corresponds with what they typically do for a living. Assembling a team just happens, according to Day, when you have people coming in and willing to help."What I'm really big on is not asking people to do stuff. I let them ask to help first, and then what we do is we try to cater towards their strengths," he said.When recovery work was just getting started, 72: The Mission was working out of a 16,000 square foot warehouse with semi-trucks full of supplies rolling in and out every day. Day saw where the puzzle pieces could fit together."One of the guys just happened to be a manager at Walmart distribution. So, [we gave] him that role," Day said. "Finding those people that we can trust and rely on is everything.""It's not all on my shoulders, by any means. It's a huge team effort."Day's shoulders, though, can bear a lot, according to his supervisor Marvin Dockery."Cody has a big set of shoulders, no doubt. Juggling work, juggling his nonprofit, helping others and taking care of his family at the same time. To carry that big set of shoulders, he has a big heart, and you can see it quickly," Dockery said.Dockery met Day when Day was about a year and a half into the position he has now. His first impression of him? Energetic."He does an excellent job in the role that he's in [at Eastman]… it took a lot of faith on his part to be able to jump into that role, knowing that it's gonna be a tough position," Dockery said.Day makes sure craftsmen are prepared with the skills, materials and schedules to get their work done. Dockery said with Day's ability to coordinate teams at Eastman, it makes sense that he can mirror that kind of work at 72: The Mission."It doesn't take long after you meet Cody to know that he has a desire to help people," Dockery said. "I noticed that within just a few weeks of working with him."When Helene devastated the area, Day said his team at Eastman, including Dockery, was flexible with him, to make sure he was able to help his family and community get back on their feet in the immediate days after the storm."To have somebody that wants to step up and help outside of work is, to me, phenomenal, and I'm supporting that 100% any way I can," Dockery said.The group is now managing two home rebuilds in Washington County. They're connecting with contractors to do the work and funding construction materials."In the nonprofit world, we absolutely could have went to some other organization and said, 'Hey, can you be our physical backer, and we work under you, and they manage the finances and all that stuff. But to me, it just didn't make sense to ask somebody to take that burden when we had the capability of doing it," Day said.Day's grandfather, Buddy, is one of the people who he looks up to the most. Buddy was a contractor for 47 years and passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic."He really, truly cared about the community. He didn't care if he lost all the money he had to help somebody. Seeing that in action, firsthand, it kind of just instills that in you," Day said.He encourages anyone who wants to get involved in recovery efforts to make that desire heard."There's 100 different ways [to get involved]. Not all of them take 80 hours a week. Some of them just simply take phone calls and text messages, or going into Lowe's and asking for lumber."Jorgelina Manna-Rea is a Report for America corps member covering environmental issues for Six Rivers Media.