- Hands Across the Hills
Front Line for Flood Relief
Hands Across the Hills member Gwen Johnson spoke to Robin Young of NPR's "Here and Now" about the losses suffered in the recent and continuing flooding in eastern Kentucky. She and other HATH members are on the front line of flood relief in their home region. https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/08/01/kentucky-flooding-rain
Gwen Johnson of Hemphill Community Center
HATH's Ben Fink, who lived in Letcher County for several years, writes:
Gwen Johnson's Hemphill Community Center has become a hub for recovery efforts in many parts of Letcher and Knott Counties that haven't gotten the aid that's been coming to the county seat Whitesburg. The situation is dire, as Gwen described yesterday on NPR's Here and Now. Lots of neighbors have lost their homes, including one of the Black Sheep, and they may not have running water for weeks or even months. They are cooking, washing dishes, and showering with bottled water in a pan.
What they need most is money -- to get much-needed food and cleaning supplies, to get gift cards so people can by the clothes and boots they need (they have piles of donated clothes but no time to sort through them), and to get mobile shower units and hand-washing stations. People can contribute (501c3 tax deductible):
By credit card: https://hemphillcenter.org/contribute
By check: mail to Hemphill Community Center, 2514 Hwy 317, Jackhorn, KY 41825.
Also here are two other local grassroots relief efforts run by people we know and trust (NOT 501c3 tax deductible):
Lonesome Pine Mutual Aid: https://www.samsva.org/swva-and-seky-flood-response (based right over the border in Virginia, working closely with Letcher County folks)
East Kentucky Mutual Aid: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ekymutualaid
