We delivered necessities to the McRoberts community August 30.
How We Helped Flood Victims
In late July many parts of Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Southwest Virginia were awash in historic flooding. Many people’s homes were destroyed, and many communities lost entire school buildings. When the devastation occurred, it was clear that the community of First Presbyterian in Bristol desired to help.
We were fortunate to have a contact, Cassie, who lives in Eastern Kentucky and had direct knowledge about the communities most affected. After consulting her, our team made our first trip to deliver bottled water and other necessities to Pike County on August 8. We did not see much of the areas damaged by flooding during that trip, and in retrospect it was probably safer that way, since many roads were still severely flooded. We took supplies to a local volunteer fire department that had itself been flooded back in January. They were very thankful for these supplies, and we continued our relief project throughout the month of August.
Back in Bristol, we continued to collect supplies and monetary donations. I reached out again to Cassie for her thoughts on how the money could best be used. After exploring the question, she responded that Letcher County schools were hit hard by the flooding. Many school buildings were lost, and many families were displaced. Cassie said that there was a specific need to help rebuild a couple of school libraries. Our team thought that would be a wonderful way to help this community. We planned a second trip for August 30.
We drove to meet Letcher County Public Schools Superintendent Denise Yonts, and in our conversations with her, we learned that 40 employees of the school system lost everything they had and 80% lost something. It was clear that this area was in need. We donated $5,000 to help rebuild two school libraries.
We also delivered supplies to the community center in McRoberts. In this area our team saw firsthand a small part of the destruction that had taken place. I remember riding with Pastor Sam and saying to him, “This looks like we’re driving through a set of the show The Walking Dead.” Buildings were abandoned and some had completely fallen over, bridges had collapsed, and marks showing where the water had been were still visible a month later. Here we met a few community members, one of whom was an elementary school teacher whose school was completely destroyed in the flood. They were glad and grateful for our donations, and they expressed their sincere thanks to the First Presbyterian community for all our assistance during their trials.
About a week after our return, we learned that the FPC community had continued to give to this cause. It is such an encouragement to see a church so willing to help those in need! We again have just over $5,000 to donate. The remaining donation will be sent to the Letcher County Board of Education specifically to aid and assist displaced families and employees of the school system.
On behalf of those we met, and our delivery team, thank you First Presbyterian for your generous support of our brothers and sisters in need!
Grace and peace,
Justin Miller
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