Churches, care groups help victims of flooding
West Virginia's June flood left its evidence everywhere. Cars floated. Waves left deep mud and piles of rock and rubble. Some houses washed away entirely.
People died.
Graceway Community Church members consider West Virginians neighbors and wanted to help.
Bill Corbett of Oakland Township said church members called everyone they could think of but reached West Virginia fire departments and churches already overloaded with voice mail.
With a little success and a plan to go to Elkview, W. Va., the church and the Butler Hot Dog Shoppe organized a fund drive in the Sam's Club parking lot in Butler. They filled the Hot Dog Shoppe's truck and a 24-foot trailer with gloves, batteries, flashlights, garden hoses, shovels, buckets, mops, paper towels, brooms, disinfectant and drinking water.
In addition to the Hot Dog Shoppe and Sam's Club, they received donations from Bonniebrook Chiropractic, Home Depot, Lowes, Emigh Jewelry, Hey Electric, Johnson Tires, Fenelton Firearms and Brad Young-Distributor.
“The people in Butler County poured their hearts out,” Corbett said.
On Aug. 2, Corbett and his wife Patty and Hot Dog Shoppe owners Eric Hulick and Ryan Covert left to drive about 500 miles on their one-day trip.
Then, on their phones again, they looked for help for unloading. It was dead ends until they called the Sam's Club near Clendenin, W.Va. They gave up on an Elkview delivery when they learned the United Methodist Church in Clendenin was accepting donations.
But, it was deserted.
“It was a pile of rocks in front of the church. The side door was open and covered with mud,” Corbett said. “So we went to the fire hall.”
A referral there sent them to the Church of the Nazarene where they unloaded most of the trailer.
“The people came out with wheelbarrows and shopping carts,” Corbett said.
When that church couldn't take more supplies, the next stop was Calvary Baptist Church where they unloaded 150 cases of water.
“The Dairy Queen was completely gone. The post office was boarded up. All the businesses on the main street of Clendenin were closed and had yellow tape,” Corbett said.
“One house had spray painted on the side of it, 'You loot, we shoot,'” he said.“We came home and we were so tired but it was a good tired,” Corbett said.Back in Butler, another trip is in the works.The Rev. Fred Neal, executive pastor for Harvest Community Church ministries in Kittanning, Petrolia, Freeport and Indiana, said congregation members have been to West Virginia four times.Harvest Community has experience from the Joplin tornado, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.“We try to go for this stuff as fast as possible. It's too early for the big agencies and they're stuck,” Neal said.Through word of mouth and Facebook, Harvest Community filled a 24-foot trailer with cleaning supplies, water, cots, fans and other household items.Five men left for Elkview Baptist Church June 28.“They were becoming a staging area for relief supplies,” Neal said.“That Baptist Church was really starting to bulge,” he said. “But they had people just as fast coming to pick things up.”Later they drove through Clendenin on the other end of the valley from Elkview.“That valley just filled up with water,” Neal said. “It was well over 20 feet.”The damage was severe in small Clendenin and he said, “Everything was just totally unusable.”For their July trips, six and eight people worked with Samaritan's Purse. Harvest Community's team took a skid loader and a dump trailer with them.“It is just amazing what all has to happen,” Neal said. “Half of what was in the house was washing out into the front lawn. All you can do is haul it away.”He said Samaritan's Purse is well-organized. It receives community work orders. It also provides meals and housing for volunteers.Harvest Community's next trip will be different.“Now it's going to be rebuild. That takes a little more craftsman skill,” Neal said. “We're letting it settle and make sure we get the right people there at the right time and the supplies to work.”As the communities rebuild, there is a demand for household furnishings. Helping with that is the CARE Committee of The Doubletree by Hilton Pittsburgh-Cranberry, which started a hotel renovation Aug. 1.“(We sent) the beds that were left over from the renovation — full beds, mattresses, box springs, linen packages, pillows and lamps,” said Lance Rihn, hotel general manager. “We wanted to make sure they got put to good use.”Rihn said the CARE Committee gives to the community through its projects. One of the hotel's sales force had a contact in Richwood, W. Va., about a two-hour drive from Clendenin and Elkview.On Aug. 10, the Happy Trucking Co., working with Rebuild Richwood, took about 120 beds to West Virginia. This week 120 more will go. Rihn expects another trip after that. Families will receive the beds from the local armory.Neal said, “You always go with a heart to help the people there but you come home being blessed more than you were able to bless them.”
