Nelsonville residents collect donations for Eastern Kentucky flood victims
By: Claire Schiopota
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NELSONVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) – A group of Nelsonville residents are collecting donations for relief as they travel to Eastern Kentucky this weekend.
For the past several weeks, Kentucky has been struggling to cope with severe flooding and heat. The extreme weather has left hundreds of people displaced and emergency service workers are actively searching for missing people.
When Lori Crook and her friends heard about the conditions in Kentucky, they decided to help out.
“[We] were sitting around looking at all the pictures and videos,” Crook said. “We all decided to take a bunch of stuff down there … we’re not taking truck loads down. We’re just filling our vehicles to the brim and going down there for one day.”
The group has been advocating on Facebook for friends, family and community members to donate whatever they can to help the effort. Brooklyn Spangler – daughter of Jessica Pyke, another collection organizer – made a giant banner to hang on Crook’s house to notify residents about their collection.
The group plans on going to the store Friday to buy more donation items and then leave early Saturday for Kentucky. They are going to prepare some food, but are packing supplies to cook once they’re down there.
“If we could connect with a specific family then we can really help them recover,” Crook said.
She also said the group doesn’t have any formal plans for the future or next steps, but they are optimistic.
“We live in a very similar area … we were just picturing this is kind of like Buchtel, Murray City, Glouster, Nelsonville, times a hundred, all getting wiped out,” Crook said. “The families on the news, you could just imagine, those could be your neighbors here. Because it’s so close to home and a lot of people here have family from there.”
If anyone wants to help out or donate, connect with Lori Crook on Facebook.