MARTIN, Ky. – (August 31, 2022) Families impacted by floods that struck Eastern Kentucky over a month ago still need help to put their lives back together. Employees and volunteers from Christian Appalachian Project’s (CAP) Operation Sharing, Disaster Relief, Mission Groups, and Home Repair Programs are working daily to identify and meet those needs. 
 
“The flooding that occurred in Eastern Kentucky is like a nightmare. It’s unimaginable,” said Aaron Thoms, manager of CAP’s Operation Sharing Program in Paintsville, Kentucky. “Our communities have lost everything, but hope, and that’s what I hear over and over again.”
 
The program has distributed 57 tractor trailer loads of vital items to impacted individuals and families across Eastern Kentucky. Operation Sharing staff continue to work with local partner agencies as well to provide basic essentials to families in poverty who were not impacted by the floods. In August alone, the program has received 115 tractor trailer loads to help people in need in Appalachia.
 
Thoms and the Operation Sharing staff in both locations, including Corbin, Kentucky, have already started the process to receive 20 additional tractor trailer loads to meet the continued need in the community. 
 
“We know that this flood has been particularly devastating,” Thoms added. “We are going to do everything we can to make sure people have what they need. We will continue to work with our existing partners and welcome new partners to make sure we are ready in the recovery stage when people are going to need building materials, furniture, appliances. Those things will be hard to come by.”
 
Even as Thoms and the Operation Sharing staff secure critical donations, CAP’s Disaster Relief and Home Repair Programs are coordinating on the ground efforts through the organization’s Disaster Command Center, based at the Foley Mission Center in Martin, Kentucky. CAP’s Mission Groups Program is also working to organize volunteer efforts.
 
“The volunteer response is blowing my mind. People really are sharing Christ’s love through their service,” said Becky Neuenschwander, who is also the manager of CAP’s Mission Groups Program. “We have seen nearly 400 volunteers join in to meet the need including nearly a third of CAP employees. I am overwhelmed and grateful for the response because the need is that great.”
 
Since July 29, there have been 13,830 volunteer hours completed which included 178 assessments of damaged homes and 80 jobs completed thus far. In addition, in those four weeks, 724 families have received assistance through the Distribution Center. That number includes nearly 1,500 adults and 800 children. 
 
“I just thank God for His provision and His grace,” she said. “This recovery is going to take time and it will take all of us working together to make sure people have what they need. I know CAP will be there.”