LONDON, Ky. (FOX 56) – The help for eastern Kentuckians impacted by floods continues.
On Sunday, Wildcat Harley-Davidson in London hosted a benefit ride that saw over 100 motorcycle riders take the over 80-mile ride from London to the Knott County Sportsplex to bring donations for flood victims.
“Well it’s such a great help to the people who really need it,” said ride participant and Leslie County native Nancy Mininard. “People who have just had such disasters. It’s just gonna be a real big help to everybody.”
For the folks at Harley-Davidson, the idea to help flood victims came about almost instantly.
“Well it’s funny, our ownership group the day the flooding happened before I even had a chance to think we should do something I already had an email from the owners saying ‘hey we should do something,'” said Chris Minton, marketing coordinator for Wildcat Harley-Davidson. “Which to me was super cool that they were thinking about this region as fast if not faster than we were.”
Seeing the damage the floods caused is something for some that are still hard to wrap their heads around.
“Thankful it didn’t do any more to me than it did compared to all these other people,” Mininard said. “It is terrible. Not only their houses are washed away but the land their house was on is gone. There is just nothing. It’s really unbelievable.”
The amount of support eastern Kentucky has seen in the aftermath of the floods shows the unity among Kentuckians.
“It just shows the strength of our people here in the Bluegrass,” said Mininard. “Everybody pulls together during things like this. It is just so important everybody helps everybody.”
And despite county lines being drawn, they are rivals during high school football season…
“There is no Clay County, Knott County, Perry County,” Minton said. “It’s just eastern Kentucky. It is a singular mindset regardless of what county and that has really shown itself in this situation.”
As for the goal of Sunday’s ride, as Minton puts it, it is more than making a simple donation.
“You know Knott County especially, it has changed forever and so hopefully at the very least if we can just do this to keep it fresh in peoples minds where they remember it is not just a one time thing. We got to keep it up.”
