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As winter approaches, local flood relief effort gets new leader and greater urgency

CLAY, W.Va. — The organization helping people get back on their feet after last summer’s devastating flooding has a new director and renewed resolve to prepare vulnerable residents for the cold weather ahead.

“Our goal is to help as many people as we can get warm shelter for winter,” said Rhonda McDonald, the new director of the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee. “They just need help.”

Even before last summer’s flooding, Clay County had some of West Virginia’s most vulnerable populations.

The county’s per capita income is $16,487, only about two-thirds of the average in West Virginia. About a quarter of the county’s population lives below the poverty line.

Those are some of the numbers that matter for the long-term part of the recovery committee’s mission.

“This is a chance to kind of reinvent communities and look to the future — look at where you want to be 10 years from now,” said Gen. James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard.

In the short term, there are more pressing numbers, according to the requests people have made with the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee.

Some Clay County residents are living in homes that are inhabitable but which lack heating, insulation or power.
Some Clay County residents are living in homes that are inhabitable but which lack heating, insulation or power.

About 12 families were still in need of appropriate housing as of this past week. But this weekend, two of those families were moving into homes considered adequate for winter, leaving 10 still with unmet housing needs.

There were still 34 case files of people who need weatherization and heating sources to shore up their housing situations.

That means the focus right now is on insulation, underpinning and hot water tanks.

“As winter comes on, do we have the appropriate level of support to deal with the things that come with that?” Hoyer said. “We want to make sure we’ve got the vulnerable population taken care of for the winter months.”

The Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee, the nonprofit organization set up to help people, experienced some infighting through the early part of fall and just went through a leadership change this past week. Now the goal is to move forward efficiently and effectively.

“People are not getting the services and resources that they need, and winter is coming,” said state Senator John Unger, who organized the establishment of the eight long term recovery committees in West Virginia.

During the turmoil, another organization began with the support of the Clay County Commission and the Catholic church in Maysel.

“We formed our own because we were getting all these reports from different agencies saying they weren’t going to work for them,” said Clay County Commissioner Greg Fitzwater. “We figured we needed to do something to try to capture that too.”

Fitzwater hopes the two groups can now work together to help Clay County residents.

“We never told them they couldn’t. If they get money, that’s great. Hopefully it’ll be twice as fast with two groups working together,” Fitzwater said. “I’m hoping they can get straightened out to where they can get going too because it will definitely take all of us.”

That hope is shared by Hoyer and state leaders.

“What we’re hoping they’ll do is they’ll work together,” Hoyer said. “My sense is, we’ll continue to see it move in the right direction. When you get into smaller communities, you get factions to begin with but you also get frustrations about the problems we have. We are moving in the right direction.”

Unger is alarmed by the creation of a second group. He thinks that setup is likely inefficient and might contribute to continuing divisions.

“Why would you have two committees?” Unger asked. “Clay is a small place.”

Rhonda McDonald is the new director of the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee.
Rhonda McDonald is the new director of the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee.

Rhonda McDonald, the new director of the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee, is a Salem native and a professional business consultant and leadership trainer. She said cracks in the organization appeared, in part, because people have been under such stress.

“You’re dealing with a lot of trauma,” McDonald said. “They’re dealing with your own personal losses. It does weigh on you. It takes its toll.”

McDonald moved to Clay County five years ago. Last May, she bought a 100-acre farm and raised chickens, goats and ducks. When the flooding hit in June, she was surprised to be affected at all. Only a small stream runs through her property. But as the waters rose, they washed out her gardens and orchard.

She also lost the unlikeliest of her animal trio.

“Can you believe that? The ducks got lost in the flood.”

She added, “But my chickens are thriving and doing well.”

One of her projects was building a shell home on her property for her mother to move into. That plan didn’t work out, but after the flood she still had the structure and wanted to provide it for a recovering family.  Her idea was to get it ready for a family to live there for two years, rent-free.

Now, with the inside fully renovated, a single mother and her 12-year-old daughter will move in next week.

That project put McDonald in touch with the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee, but she didn’t get fully involved at first. Some of the initial infighting led her to offer her leadership counseling for free. And then when a new director was needed, she stepped into that position, which, like all the others with the organization, is voluntary.

“Everything rises and falls on leadership,” McDonald said.

The goal now: “Just setting a plan to follow; setting it up like a business.”

Also: “Try to mend broken relationships.”

One immediate problem was that case files for flood victims were taken in the organization’s split. Now McDonald and remaining organization members are trying to get the case files back but also trying to put out the word to people that they should re-file or file for the first time to make sure their needs are met.

“If you haven’t heard from us, we haven’t forgotten you. We don’t have your file,” McDonald said. “Please come reapply.”

Winter clothing remains a need in Clay County -- but even more is a need for insulation, underpinning and hot water tanks.
Winter clothing remains a need in Clay County — but even more is a need for insulation, underpinning and hot water tanks.

Some flood victims did not go through a full process with the Federal Emergency Management Agency because they weren’t actually property owners, McDonald said. But those people still lost their belongings and their clothing and the places they were staying, she said.

So organizations like the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee can help those people too. They don’t need official recognition from FEMA.

Some items, like winter coats, bed frames or head boards, are available just on the honors system.

“You take what you need,” McDonald said. “We’re trying to help as many people as we can.”

While McDonald spoke, a group of community members from the Garrett County, Maryland, area had arrived with donations of winter coats and clothing. This was at least their third or fourth visit to help West Virginia flood victims, and they plan to come back again soon.

Those volunteers said that when the call for a need goes out in their county, donations begin to flow.

“It’s just rolling in to us,” said Tina Ferry, one of the volunteers who made the trip to Clay County.

McDonald said that’s the kind of support she’s happy to get from other individuals or other organizations.

“The more the merrier,” she said. “The more people we can help.”

Because the Greater Clay Long Term Recovery Committee is a registered nonprofit, donations are tax deductible.

You can donate by mail or online. By mail, make your check payable to: Greater Clay LTRC. Mail to: 4086 Ivydale Road,  Clay WV 25043.

To make a secure online donation, go here: http://www.greaterclaywv.org/donate/

 





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