Locals Provide Support to West Virginia Flood Victims
The deadly flash flooding of June 14 and 15 in parts of Ohio County, including Triadelphia, Valley Grove and Wheeling, claimed lives and left residents with damaged homes.
Barnesville community members stepped up to help. People donated more than 20,000 pounds of items that filled a semi trailer and collected $6,400 in cash donations.
Local resident Dean Wehr, a driver for Belmont Mills, came up with the idea. He coordinated with other Barnesville residents, Travis Kaiser and A.J. and Becky Corder, owners of Chestnut Lanes, on the project.
After Wehr asked Kaiser what they could do to help, the planning began. Kaiser asked Belmont Mills owner James Lewis to borrow a semi trailer to fill with donated materials. The organizers parked the semi truck at Chestnut Lanes where community members dropped off items including cleaning supplies and necessities.
Kaiser said the power of social media is the reason the trailer got filled.
“When we got done at the end of each day, we would take a picture showing how full the trailer was, but the pictures just never did it any justice,” Kaiser said. “You can’t fathom how much stuff it takes to actually fill a semi trailer.”
Next, Kaiser contacted head football Blake Allen asking if members of the football team could help unload the trailer when it arrived at Wheeling. Players went through a grueling hot practice Monday morning and helped unload all of the materials afterwards.
The donations drop-off location ended up being Wheeling University after the team experienced difficulty finding a place large enough for the drop. A joint effort between WesBanco Arena, Wheeling University and the City of Wheeling resulted with the selection of the college location.
Kaiser happily recognized the Barnesville community and the many donors who made the project a success. He added the community emptied the shelves in Barnesville from the hardware stores all the way to the dollar stores.
The list of donors
“It’s a sense of pride that Barnesville has, and they’re always coming together,” he said. “They will always be there for each other. And there’s the very famous quote that, ‘It takes a village.’”
Kaiser thanked everyone involved with the donation collection, including the Corders at Chestnut Lanes to Lewis and Wehr of Belmont Mills.
“It’s awareness to get the word out that these people really, truly need help, and this isn’t going to be solved in a week or two,” he said. “It is going to be months down the road that these people are going to be rebuilding. So we’re just trying to help out in any little way.”
Another Barnesville resident who organized a donation collection was Dr. Amanda Fisher who is also the Belmont County Coroner.
Last week, Fisher partnered with the Flushing Fire Department, which served as a drop-off location as did Fisher’s private office in Barnesville and the Belmont County coroner’s office.
Flushing resident and coroner investigator Lori Mann picked up donations from individuals who were unable to drop them off in person and collected $1,600 in cash donations from individuals and community groups. Fisher also received $500 in monetary donations at the coroner’s office.
Fisher made two deliveries to Ohio County last week with each a full box trailer and pickup truck bed packed with supplies. The items went to families who had lost their homes or loved ones.
“One of the most moving aspects of this effort was seeing so many people give so generously, even those who clearly didn’t have much to spare themselves,” Fisher said. “I think that speaks volumes about our community. People here understand what it means to struggle, and they showed up in a big way to ease the burden for others. It has been truly humbling and inspiring to witness the valley come together like this.”
The donation efforts stretched to the Union Local School District, too. The school accepted donations last Thursday at the middle/ high school parking lot.
Some of the items donated included bleach, gloves, paper towels, baby wipes, gift cards and more.
The school’s Facebook post said, “What an amazing community we have. Thank you to all who have donated items and money to our neighbors in West Virginia. We are so proud to have such a generous and caring community.”
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