Stranger gives flood victim shoes off her feet

CLENDENIN, W.Va. — Ruby Hackney lost everything she had when her Clendenin home was ripped apart by last week’s flood. The 89 year old woman has encountered several people who’ve been willing to help her — including one woman who gave her the shoes off her feet.

“I noticed this lady looking at me. I said ‘Honey, I’ve been in a flood.’ I said ‘That’s why I look like I do.’ She wanted to know what size shoes I wore and she pulled them off her feet and gave them to me and then gave me a $20 bill,” Hackney told MetroNews.

Ruby Hackney, 89, stands on a neighbor's front porch in Clendenin.
Ruby Hackney, 89, stands on a neighbor’s front porch in Clendenin.

Hackney was with a friend during the time storms started to roll in last Thursday. She stayed with that friend whose home was also flooded. “The next morning when we woke up, it was ankle deep,” she said.

The two went to another neighbor’s home Friday to get something to eat. It wasn’t until Friday evening when Hackney finally arrived back to her house on Spencer Road.

“The door wouldn’t come unlocked. I had to call the friends off the street to come in and get my door open. It’s terrible, but I’m still alive,” she said.

Hackney said she was out of medication from Thursday morning to Friday evening. When she came home to the place she’s been at for 13 years, she said her medication was gone. The flood inside was nothing compared to what she’s seen before.

“It’s been in the basement before, but nothing like this,” Hackney said.

People have been extremely kind, she said, with helping her move furniture and other items out of her damaged home. When speaking to MetroNews, she said the clothes on her back were all she had.

“I didn’t even have no clothes. These are clothes given to me,” Hackney said. “People’s been so good to me. I’m so thankful.”

“I just hope I can hold up to get through this,” she said.





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