Aiken County churches offer relief for Kentuckians dealing with catastrophic flooding

Aug. 25—The catastrophic flooding that hit eastern Kentucky in late July is drawing a response from a variety of Aiken-area residents, and plans are for several more months of involvement.

Midland Valley Community Church of the Nazarene has been on board, having had a team of 17 volunteers spend several days this month in the city of Hazard, working in partnership with Appalachia Reach Out, a ministry based in the town of Inez.

"We were there to clean out the muck and the debris created by the flood," said the Rev. Wayne Cheselka, the Nazarene congregation's outreach pastor, recalling the Aug. 14-19 effort. "We worked on several homes and a distribution center for a poor community."

Cheselka, who is also his denomination's disaster response coordinator for South Carolina, said he got a phone call from his Kentucky counterpart, asking for help, and a request also came from Appalachia Reach Out, which was already familiar to his congregation.

Volunteer Ricky Miller, a unit leader with a disaster relief team from the Edgefield Baptist Association, was also in Kentucky Aug. 14-19.

"Most of the area that got affected was already in a depressed state, so it's trouble on top of trouble," he said.

July's deluge was "at least a 100-year flood," he said. "A lot of that area got flooded last year, in March, and some of the guys that went with us actually went there last year to help, and they're working in the same area that we're working. It's re-flooded, but worse this time."

Diane Giddings, a member of Cheselka's team, recalled, "Four counties were completely under water, and people will freeze and starve this winter. It was already getting cooler."

"This area had been particularly hard hit with flooding and thousands of people lost homes, property, and family," Giddings wrote. "It was heartbreaking to hear the stories and see the absolute devastation. Hundreds of homes had piles of debris on the front lawn, their lifetime memories scraped out of their houses and discarded. The mud and filth was knee-deep in basements and living spaces where water as deep as 40 feet or more poured through. Quiet creeks had turned into raging torrents dragging everything including trees, mobile homes and vehicles to clog riverbanks."

Another organization, Gloverville-based Walking Tall Ministries, is gathering relief supplies to help flood victims. Donations are being accepted at the ministry's headquarters — 2195 Augusta Road, a few yards from Gloverville First Baptist Church — and plans are to establish other drop-off locations, to be announced via the organization's Facebook page.

Requested for donations are diapers, wipes, 5-gallon buckets (with lids), water-resistant storage containers (with lids), Vienna sausages, tarps, cleaning supplies (especially bleach) and peanut butter and jelly.

A collection is also being gathered at Sweetwater Baptist Church in Edgefield County. Emphasis is on such things as brooms, mops and cleaning supplies. The church's office is at 198 Sweetwater Road, North Augusta, and donations are being received during business hours (ideally from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays).

John Morgan, who is helping with the Sweetwater effort, summarized what he has heard from people in the disaster area.

"You leave and you come back, and everything you've got is gone. People had gone in there four or five years ago after a flood and helped them re-do. They're so poor, they've only got that little plot of ground; and they went and built back on it," he said.

Relief is now harder to find, because the Federal Emergency Management Agency "will not come back a second time," Morgan noted, "so they're living under tarps."

People who are looking to make major repairs in some areas are also frustrated by not being able to find drywall without driving 50 miles or more. Supplies are largely exhausted, so in spite of receiving gift cards from donors, homeowners are still left without some essential repair items, Morgan said, adding that he plans to include a load of drywall in the Sweetwater shipment.

Giddings added that her role was to work in a distribution center (a former JCPenney building) in Hazard that offered "food, clothing, pet food, tools, cleaning supplies, hygiene items, bedding and other stuff."

Donations came in big and small trucks alike, and "they never knew what was coming in," she wrote, adding that during her four days in the distribution center, the food supply ran out and clothing had been picked over, leaving stiletto shoes and fancy dresses.

"They need sneakers, work boots and work clothing. These people are lower middle class and don't attend many ballroom dances. We would take the sheet that they were given, indicating what they needed, and we took them around filling their shopping carts. Most said they didn't want much, as others needed it more. The two ladies behind the desk were sort of monitoring the people so we didn't get overwhelmed," Giddings added.

Cheselka noted that the Nazarene congregation has plans for a return trip, possibly in October, and has left a major resource in place to help Hazard residents and relief volunteers. The church, in 2021, bought a shower trailer with two stalls — each containing a toilet, shower, sink and mirror, to "provide for the basic needs of volunteers and displaced residents," as described in an Aiken Standard article. It is stationed in Kentucky for a few weeks to help with efforts there, Cheselka said.