BIRCH RIVER, W.Va. — Wheeling native Amy Hutchison could not believe the images, the stories, and the uncertainty emanating from southern West Virginia following the June 23 floods.
But Hutchison, who is the President of a Parent-Teacher organization for Ritchie Elementary School in Wheeling, had no intention of standing idly by while thousands of people struggled to rebuild their lives.
“The kids are going to have to re-frame their lives, and I really believe that school can provide the stability and the consistency that they so need,” she said.
So Hutchison, joined by Wheeling Middle School Teacher Renee Marchese, decided they needed to do something to help teachers and students in the flood ravaged areas.
“[Renee] said there were a small group of teachers at Wheeling Middle School who would like to donate their personal stuff,” Hutchison said. “We looked it up and found that Birch River only had about 100 kids. We decided to adopt the whole school instead of just the teachers.”
In fact, they also adopted Trinity Christian School. The donation drive provided more than 250 backpacks and a range of supplies in those backpacks to students in the two schools in Nicholas County, which was one of the hardest hit by the June 23 floods.
“It was just all word of mouth,” Hutchison said. “Connections with people.”
Hutchison announced the drive on Facebook as her starting point. With a little help from local media in Wheeling, Hutchison and her co-coordinators exceeded their wildest expectations.
“Four solid hours we had vehicles lining up at the sidewalk delivering school supplies,” she said. “We have an entire room. I can’t even put into the words the amount of stuff that we’re bringing into town tomorrow. It’s phenomenal.”
Hutchison has a piece of advice for other people who were not impacted by the June 23 floods. Any contribution, no matter how big or small, is going to help.
“I would say that between myself and my friend Renee, it was just two people who said, ‘Hey let’s do this,” she said. “And then we just started spreading the word around.”
“I have a 12 year old and a 9 year old. I cannot imagine my daughters having to spend every day of their summer cleaning up for the rest of their lives.”