Gathering donations for flood victims
Greene County residents donated items, from clothing to cleaning supplies, for flood victims in Hundred, W.Va.
Greene County volunteers load donated items Tuesday into a trailer to take to flood victims in Hundred, W.Va.
Greene County volunteers load a dresser for West Virginia flood victims into a trailer Thursday in Waynesburg
WAYNESBURG – Roy and Shirley Negley and their son, Shaunn, have been through fire and floods at their Waynesburg home. That’s why when they heard about the destructive floods in Hundred, W.Va., they started collecting donations for the victims.
“We’ve been through it all, so we know what it’s like to lose everything,” Roy said Tuesday.
The Negleys first heard about the destruction from friends of theirs, Bill Wise and Wendy Phillips, of New Freeport. Wise runs an excavating business and said that seven of his employees were affected by the flooding, with four of them losing their homes.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency Saturday after heavy rains flooded parts of the state, including Wetzel County, required many citizens to be evacuated from their homes, according to the governor’s office. The West Virginia National Guard was called out to assist emergency responders as some homes were filled with 4 to 5 feet of water.
MetroNews in West Virginia reported that the Hundred Volunteer Fire Department’s new fire hall, which they moved into just last month, was severely damaged by flooding while their members were out performing water rescues to residents in the area. The department lost at least two fire and rescue vehicles to water damage, according to MetroNews.
“You don’t have to be from that county to give back,” said Shaunn Negley, who started collecting donations Monday and advertised his efforts on Facebook.
Within 24 hours, he said his parents’ front yard was full of donations from over 24 people in the community who wanted to help out. People gave more than $600 in monetary donations and truck loads of furniture, cleaning supplies, food, pet supplies and clothing.
Shaunn said he and his coworkers took off of work Tuesday to make runs to people’s houses to pick up donations and to later fill a box trailer belonging to Bill Wise.
Phillips said that she and Wise have a garage to store the furniture donations until the flood victims are ready to refurnish their homes. Food, clothing, diapers and cleaning supplies will get there sooner, as Phillips said community volunteers in Hundred are feeding about 500 people per day at a local high school, which has been set up like a shelter.
It was not known to what organization or specific flood victims the furniture and monetary donations would be sent.
“Right now they’re still doing a lot of clean-up work,” Phillips said. “Everybody’s life down there is sitting on the curb right now.”
Phillips said she was shocked and encouraged by the outpouring of support from Greene County residents.
“It’s more emotional than anything,” she said. “It started out small and got big.”
Not all of the donations fit in the box trailer Tuesday evening, so Shaunn said they would be making more trips in the next few days.
Roy said that collecting donations is something they have always done as a family, like helping with Toys for Tots during the holiday seasons.
“This area – Greene County and West Virginia – we’re pretty resilient,” Roy said.