Kentucky Wildlands taking care of devastated area at core of its mission

Sep. 3—The Kentucky Wildlands organization was created to promote the vast cultural resources and economic potential of eastern Kentucky. Now, they're simply trying to help the area get back on its feet.

Heavy flooding devastated much of the region to the east of Pulaski County a little over a month ago. Around a dozen counties were impacted, with homes flooded or even washed away, lives lost, and entire communities brought to a halt. The damage drew national attention and a strong immediate relief effort.

But Farrah Dobbs, Marketing Director for the Kentucky Wildlands, knows that while it might be easy for some outside that region to eventually forget about that tragedy, eastern Kentucky's needs are ongoing — and Kentucky Wildlands has been continuing to make sure those needs are met.

"We have put our heart and soul into helping out eastern Kentucky," said Dobbs. "Right when we first got our mobile service unit, the western Kentucky tornadoes happened and we immediately put a team together. Jennifer Bates from ProTrade Hardware and some Southwestern High School students (and a number of others) jumped in and took grills over there and all kinds of food and set up camp at one of the elementary schools and handed out supplies.

"But that was such a freak disaster, it was over and done with, and I know they're going to have clean-up for years, but this eastern Kentucky flooding affected 12 counties, five in such a disastrous manner, and it wouldn't stop raining," she continued. "As of this week, people are still living in tents, and people are still walking 30 minutes to an hour to get to food supplies. There are still people who are stuck in their homes with bridges ... that were washed away. There are still people missing. It's just such a disaster."

Dobbs has been impressed by the "love" shown by other counties and states to those in need. She mentioned an Alabama company, Torch Technologies, which sent a "very substantial" check to help out. The company's ownership had connections to eastern Kentucky, mentioned Dobbs, and felt compelled to help out via Kentucky Wildlands.

Additionally, Kentucky Wildlands has been a big part of the effort to send actual people, "friends of the Kentucky Wildlands," to that area to assist with cleaning up, providing food, and serving as a "middle man" to connect people with organizations that can help.

"We've taken over so many supplies," said Dobbs. "We had a whole parade of (sport utility vehicles) that went to Oneida ... and helped people clean up their homes. We made sure that up in some of these hollows that they had food and water and their medication."

"The entire month of August, we've spent at least one to two days a week going to eastern Kentucky to either take supplies or just help with clean-up," she added.

But in addition to what they're doing on the ground, Kentucky Wildlands is helping in more big picture ways as well. The organization is starting a grant program for families who can apply for $500 per family to get relief for their home, whether that's in the form of reconstruction or daily needs like groceries — whatever is needed most.

Applications from the Kentucky Wildlands Flood Relief Grant Program will be available at www.exploreKYwildlands.com starting September 21.

Kentucky Wildlands is connected with local environmental organization Eastern Kentucky PRIDE, with a longstanding mission to keep the area clean and in attractive shape.

That's been a particular focus of Kentucky Wildlands, a branding initiative started in 2020 meant to enhance the rich tourism potential within the region and help overcome the barriers smaller communities in the area face when trying to attract visitors by giving a boost to marketing, hospitality, and entrepreneurship.

They're also trying to help the region become Kentucky's first National Heritage Area, so that the area would receive technical assistance and funding from the National Park Service, beneficial in building key tourism infrastructure and sustaining marketing efforts — and, maybe most crucially, creating jobs.

"We want to ... showcase eastern Kentucky in a more positive light, to bring economic development with the downturn of the coal industry," said Dobbs. "Eastern Kentucky needed to find new revenue to just be able to survive, so we came in and wanted to help them showcase everything they had, and we could do some marketing nationally to put eastern Kentucky on the map."

Now, to help empower the area as the Kentucky Wildlands was created to do, that means more than marketing and development — that means just helping people survive.

"Most of us have never seen such devastation in our lifetime," said Tammie Nazario, Kentucky Wildlands Director and PRIDE CEO and President. "We, as Kentuckians, naturally come together to help our friends and neighbors in time of need. This will be ongoing and the rebuild will take years. I'd just like to stress that we can't forget about them."

It's a cause near and dear to Dobbs' heart, as the current Pulaski Countian is originally from Letcher County, one of the areas hit the hardest by the flooding.

"All of my family, except for my mom and dad and sister, still live in Letcher County, so they were highly affected by the floods," she said. "Luckily, there were no lives lost (among) my family or friends, but they had homes that were destroyed. They're still in the rebuild phase, still in just the clean-up phase. They're still waiting on insurance and FEMA to tell them if they're going to get any money back. I've had friends tell me that they've been denied for both insurance and FEMA. They don't know what they're going to do."

As an organization, Kentucky Wildlands is continuing to collect supplies for eastern Kentucky families. Those wanting to donate can contact Kentucky Wildlands through their Facebook page (@ExploreKyWildlands) or on Instagram, or can message via www.explorekywildlands.com (or use PayPal via the account on the website), or contact The Center for Rural Development and Eastern Kentucky Pride at 606-677-6150.

Nazario noted that anyone looking to personally volunteer can do so on any number of online registration sites, and that more bodies are welcome to help ease the burden on those who have been already working in eastern Kentucky, some since "Day One," as she put it, and are exhausted.

For those unable to volunteer, Nazario urged a monetary donation to pride@centertech.com. She said that the majority of the donations will go to the Kentucky Wildlands Flood Relief Grant Fund, but some are being used to purchase food as well.

People can also purchase "Kentucky Wildlands Strong" t-shirts for $20 each to benefit the Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief.

Among the volunteers, Dobbs thanked local individual Keifer Adkins for sending an email to organize a group to go help. The Kentucky Wildlands was able to work with him in this effort, along with others like David Sparks, J.S. Flynn, Doug Parkey, South Kentucky RECC, and others.

It's a small step forward on what's going to be a long journey, but the Kentucky Wildlands came along at the right time to help the region it calls home, and Dobbs wants to make sure as many people are possible are there every step of the way.

"This is going to be years of rebuilding and help for eastern Kentucky," said Dobbs. "We're going to continue relieving some of these volunteers, because they're absolutely worn out. We're going to continue going over and just helping them, just calling and checking on people, just to let them know they've not been forgotten.

"We don't want (this cause) to be the shiny new object in the room ... that's going to be put back in the corner whenever people start forgetting about it," she added. "We want this to stay on everybody's minds."