UPDATE: Ellicottville to Kentucky
UPDATE: Ellicottville to Kentucky
Local volunteers planning second trip to assist tornado victims
Volunteers arrived at the donation center in Benton, KY just in time for Christmas
It started with a Facebook post. J.P. O’Connell saw a photo of a man who’s family lost everything in the recent tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky. The man is thankful that he and his wife and two kids survived, although one daughter was taken to the hospital.
They have no home to go back to.
O’Connell reached out to this man on FB Messenger, asking what he could send them to help. “It all just spawned from there,” O’Connell said. “I put a post up on FB asking for some donations, and they started pouring in from the community.”
Because that’s what our community does. It doesn’t matter if we know these victims or not, Ellicottville has the reputation to band together and help out anyone in need. And right now, Kentucky needs all the help they can get.
Efforts were organized by O’Connell and his wife, Jenna, to gather as many items as possible - houseware items, linens, toiletries, and even toys. “With it being the holiday season and all these families losing everything, we wanted to do what we could to make sure that some of these kids at least had some new toys to open up on Christmas morning,” said O’Connell.
Filling a 26-foot box truck with donations from the community, O’Connell hit the road in the early hours of Wednesday, Dec. 23rd with fellow friends Tui Osborne and Paul Aswad. The team arrived at the Elks Lodge Donation Center in Benton, Kentucky around 1:00pm that day, and what they felt when they arrived was nothing short of overwhelming.
“You could tell who had lost everything. There were lines of people slowly walking around, waiting for their turn to receive supplies.” O’Connell said. “It was such a somber tone. But at the same time, it was really cool to see everyone coming together to help these people. So many trucks from all over the country were there. Even convicts from the jails were helping alongside law enforcement officers. Everyone was there to lend a hand, and that just gives you such a great sense of hope, as a country. We are all here for each other.”
The three Ellicottville volunteers took their places to help out as much as they could while there, unloading trucks and organizing inventory. “We stayed for awhile and helped distribute items to people, including toys to kids. Any extra cash donations we had leftover after paying for the truck and gas, we actually handed out to families waiting in line.”
The Ellicottville crew returned home late the following night, and the impact made on them has fueled O’Connell to keep local efforts going. “We’re planning another trip back down there,” he said. “Once families are settled into their new places and the donation centers have a better idea of what items they still need, we plan to do another drive to collect those supplies and take them down.”
O’Connell anticipates a late January/early February trip. EllicottvilleNOW will provide updates as details come together.
And as for that man who’s Facebook photo initially sparked O’Connell’s desire to help … his daughter suffered a collapsed lung and broken finger, but has since been released from the hospital and is back with her family, recovering.
