Individuals, businesses, clubs, and churches interested in donating to help with flood relief can double their contributions by giving to the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation. The W. Randy Smith Family Fund recently pledged up to $10,000 in matching funds to assist with flood recovery efforts in southern West Virginia. The goal of the dollar-for-dollar challenge is to provide a total of $20,000 to the organizations that will be “working in the trenches” helping folks rebuild their homes and lives. When issuing the challenge, Randy Smith stated, “What is going to be needed more than anything else in the coming weeks is cash to help those who have lost everything.”
Flood relief donations to the Community Foundation will be matched (up to $10,000 total) and all of the funds be sent to two groups working in the region. The first is WV VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), a collective of churches and charities focused on disaster relief for the victims of last week’s flood. “We’ve spoken with our sister Community Foundations in the region and they feel strongly that this is the best way to impact the most people who have the greatest needs,” stated EWVCF Executive Director Michael Whalton. WV VOAD is coordinated by the United Methodist Foundation, and they take no fee for administering gifts to support the flood relief work being done by all of the partner agencies (more than a dozen churches, a food bank, Habitat for Humanity, Legal Aid, Salvation Army, and others). This group will have the greatest impact since it serves all the counties that were affected by the floods.
A smaller portion of our donation will be directed to the Nicholas County Community Foundation to help teachers and schools replace books, supplies, and materials at several Nicholas County schools which were heavily damaged by the flood. The Nicholas County Community Foundation is also not taking any fees for distributing 100% of flood relief donations.
