PERRY COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) – Some of the actual buildings used in the initial recovery efforts for flood victims in eastern Kentucky, mainly schools, need to revert back to their intended use.
With that, the former home of a big retailer is now the new home for help in Perry County.
The place where JCPenney once stood, is now the place where flood victims from across the area can get what they need.
“Essentially we have consolidated several of the distribution centers across the county into one hub and this is considered a regional hub,” said volunteer Bailey Richards. “We want this to go out to all of the communities.”
If you go to this new center, here is what you can expect.
“Families come in, they fill out a form saying how many are in their household, what their needs are,” Richards said. “Then we pair them with a personal shopper that takes them around and helps them find everything because while we are set up like a store, it is not exactly the same type of organization that you’d find with a store so it is really nice to have someone go around with them.”
The overwhelming amount of items donated have been extremely helpful according to Richards. With that said, however, there is still a need for more.
“We need box fans, we need extension cords, we need mold-specific killer,” said Richards. “We have been told by our friends that do a lot of disaster recovery that bleach is great for surfaces but it does not kill the mold. So for flooded properties, we got to get mold-specific killers.”
With long lines filling the building from the moment the center opened on this opening day, there is one thing the distribution center needs the most.
“Really right now we need volunteers,” said Appalachian Regional Healthcare representative Jonathan Collins. “Obviously we are getting in lots of donations which we greatly appreciate. We’ve got a lot more donations than we have manpower to be able to help. So if folks were to come to volunteer their time, we’d really appreciate it.”
We were told that currently there are 100 or so volunteers, if you are interested in volunteering, you can find it here.
Richards said you can pick the day or days you are available to volunteer, from there you will get a text before volunteering with all the information.
For more information on flood relief efforts in Perry County and how you can help, you can find it here.