Checks for Kentucky emergency responders affected by last year’s tornado are officially in the mail.
On Dec. 10, 2021, a tornado ripped across 200 miles of western Kentucky, and at least 74 lives were lost. Because of the scope of the tragedy, and our own area’s familiarity with natural disasters, the Greenbrier County First Responders Association decided to help Kentucky first responders with a Fill-The-Boot drive.
The final total raised was $43,217.29, with Lt. Bart Baker of the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Office mailing out checks to recipients on Mar. 8.
“As usual, the people in Greenbrier County not only meet your expectations, but absolutely exceed them,” said Baker. “[They] dig deep and help their neighbors and help strangers – they don’t care who it is. Some folks from other counties, Monroe and Summers, donated as well – we don’t want to forget those guys.”
The drive was held by local emergency service departments on Jan. 14 and 15 in several locations throughout Greenbrier County – Ronceverte and Alderson’s drives took place in their respective towns, Smoot and Clintonville’s on the Sam Black Church exit bridge, Tri-County EMS and Williamsburg set up on the Alta exit bridge, and several organizations stood near the entrance of the Greenbrier Valley Mall on Rt. 219.
Rather than donate the funds to a foundation, money was sent directly to Kentucky first responders affected by the storm.
“What we ended up doing was contacting police chiefs, fire chiefs, and EMS leaders,” Baker said. “[They submitted] a list of names that were affected by the tornadoes. Then we sat down and went through those names and decided on a case-by-case basis. Some got more than others, depending on the needs of that particular individual. We got them personal checks or cashier’s checks and sent it down to them [directly]. That way we can account for you know, every dime.
Every cent collected went directly to the storm victims.
“Not a dime stayed in Greenbrier County. It all went to Kentucky,” said Baker.
Baker shared some of the storm victims’ stories:
“There was a deputy sheriff that lost his home with his grandmother in it. She was killed, and we helped that guy out as best we could,” Baker said.
“There were four firemen that responded in their personal vehicles. [They came] to their firehouse [to] help people [during] the tornado; then [the tornado] destroyed all their vehicles. Their vehicles were their personal property that, most likely, weren’t covered by insurance, or liability insurance only, or the insurance wouldn’t have been enough to cover it all,” he continued.
“We had a fireman who lost his house [around] Bowling Green. He ended up finding his wedding pictures in Cincinnati, Oh. It was just story after story after story. We went through it here in 2016, with the flood. [Imagine] when you come home from work, there’s an empty lot where your home used to be. It’s pretty defeating. Luckily, we were able to help some of those folks out,” he said.
Baker thanked the American Beer Company, Tim Dolan at Moco Shirts Signs & Embroidery, City National Bank, and the vast number of emergency responders that volunteered for their help with T-shirts, signs, banking, and volunteering. He also thanked Greenbrier County residents and travelers.
“When folks would come up to one of our checkpoints, they’d be holding a couple bucks out,” Baker said. “They’d ask ‘what’s going on here?’ We would tell them, then a bunch of them would go back into their purses or their wallets and say, ‘let me get some more.’ The generosity of the people out here was just overwhelming.”
Baker said that he and his colleagues were surprised by the large amount of money raised.
“We thought that, you know, we had high hopes of between $10,000 and $15,000,” he said.
Baker also stated that throughout the past few years, there has been an ongoing concern about the small number of emergency responders in the Greenbrier Valley, with the total number of volunteers falling in the last decade.
“If you’re interested in becoming a firefighter, reach out to a local fire department,” Baker said. “If you’re interested in becoming law enforcement, reach out. We’re glad to talk to anybody that wishes to maybe pursue this as a career field. Anybody that [is looking at] EMS, then go to the fire departments or one of their local EMS units to find out how to become one. You know, the world’s not getting any better, and we could use the help.”
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.