LOOKOUT, W.Va. — Some citizens in Fayette County found an excellent use for the high school turned community center that once belonged to the community of Nuttall.
“Right now we’re a hub for everything in this area,” Center director John Jones said. “Right now the help, we do need volunteers. We’ll take them, and we’ll find them something to do.”
Jones bought the building, which sits on Rt. 60 about 12 miles from Rainelle, from Fayette County two years ago to turn into a community center to rent out to others for events. Now, and for the foreseeable future, it will operate as a major hub for donated goods for flood relief victims.
“All the supplies and everything that’s been coming in are donations from people who don’t have hardly anything to major corporations,” he said. “It’s coming in from all over the country, all over the state, fire departments, and churches.”
It wasn’t just West Virginians who met the call. Jones said in addition to Mountain State residents coming in to lend a hand, volunteers from Virginia and Ohio rushed to the area to lend a hand. As of Monday, between 400 and 500 volunteers had assisted in creating and maintaining the supply hub.
“It’s overwhelming the support,” Jones said. “And not just from our community and the surrounding area, but from other states. It’s awesome.”
Donations of clothes have come in at breakneck pace, and Jones said they are now hoping to transition to other essential items–particularly baby formula and diapers.
“It’s awesome that people come in and you don’t even know who they are,” he said. “And they just want you to give them a job to do.”
The hub is coordinating with other counties, 911 centers, and towns to determine exactly what needs to go where.
This is part of an ongoing effort to consolidate and organize the supply operation in Fayette County as they provide relief to flood victims in their county and neighboring counties of Greenbrier and Nicholas.