The Hopkins County Long Term Recovery Group – founded in the wake of last December’s deadly tornado outbreak – recently celebrated the completion of a new storage building which will be used to store donations before they can be given to people impacted by the disaster.
The new structure was funded by the United Way Foundation in Hopkins County. Hopkins County Long Term Recovery Group co-chair Mike Duncan said the building is a solution to a long-standing problem the organization had been dealing with involving storage space for large donations like household appliances.
“There wasn't any space to store anything. We had people that were going to provide us with donations,” he said. “But in the Dawson Springs [and the] Barnsley area, places were blown away. They already had people that had survived and stored things in a lot of these places.”
Duncan said the group had previously leased out an old Dollar General and pharmacy in Dawson Springs to hold donations for helping those impacted by the deadly December tornado outbreak. But, now, the new 60-by-100 foot metal building boasts strong concrete foundations and two 20-foot doors. Duncan said the new space will serve their needs even better.
“It's a great opportunity to get stuff, and we've got stuff already,” Duncan said “We've already got several truckloads of appliances… we have refrigerators and stoves and washers and dryers.”
Duncan said most of the large home appliances were donated by a Virginia-based charity, Good360, that offers help by donating consumer products to families impacted by disasters. He said the donated items are delivered to those in need with the recommendation of a case management worker.
Duncan said the group has received almost 2,000 requests for assistance since the start of the year.
“We've eliminated a bunch of those down that weren't even in the tornado area,” Duncan said “But, we've got caseworkers that are working on a bunch of those [requests], and as we go through them ... they become eligible for appliances”
Duncan said the group hopes to continue working with those in the region attempting to rebuild and rebound from the disaster.
More information about the group can be found on their Facebook page.
