Ministries organize disaster relief as Kentucky’s death toll rises to 26.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
A tractor-trailer rig full of groceries and emergency supplies was more than the 40-member Lothair Church of Christ in Hazard, Ky., could fit in its building.
So church members — eager to help struggling neighbors in flood-stricken Appalachia — unloaded the truck Saturday morning at nearby East Perry Elementary School.
By midafternoon, the congregation had given away most of the roughly 300 food boxes provided by Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., minister Larry Hendrix said.
“They brought wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, clothes for men and women, personal hygiene stuff,” said Hendrix, the Lothair church’s preacher since 2002.
“Everybody was so appreciative and happy,” the minister said of those helped. “It’s a sad situation.”
The rapid distribution illustrates the extreme need after torrential rains that led to flash flooding claimed at least 26 lives in eastern Kentucky.
“That number will continue to grow and to be refined,” Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday. “Remember, we don’t have cell service in some areas, so please be patient as we get new information or as it changes. We continue to pray for the families that have suffered an unfathomable loss.”
This story appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.
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