Jun 28, 2016 4 min read

While surfing Facebook late Saturday night and looking at countless photos and videos of historic flooding that decimated parts of West Virginia last week, Autumn Lee and her husband, Alex, felt compelled to help the families who lost everything.

The Waynesburg couple prayed for the victims before going to bed, but they wanted to do more.

While attending Sunday morning service at Waynesburg Bible Chapel, they asked for the congregation’s help and, in just a few minutes, hundreds of dollars in donations streamed in, Autumn Lee said. That spurred a major donation drive collecting supplies at four locations in Waynesburg this week with the much-needed supplies expected to be trucked Friday morning to a temporary collection center in Morgantown, W.Va., before being transported to towns most affected by the flooding that killed at least 23 people and left hundreds homeless.

“We just got to talking and had this desire in our hearts to do something to help the victims,” Autumn Lee said. “The response has been awesome, and we are so grateful to Greene County. This is what it is all about. God expects us to give our best and it is being proven by the outpouring we are seeing.”

That generosity and caring attitude is going beyond Waynesburg as others in Washington and Greene counties are stepping up to help the flood victims.

Kopper Kettle Manager Rebekah Johnson started a collection effort at the restaurant and tavern along Route 40 in South Strabane Township.

“They know quite a few families from the area,” she said of the restaurant’s staff. “I lived in West Virginia and the owner grew up there. There are people starving down there. I couldn’t imagine myself being in that position. I would hope someone would do that for me. It’s close to home for a lot of us.”

They are collecting money, nonperishable food, water, clothing, toiletries, pet food and cleaning supplies through Saturday at the restaurant at 2 Kopper Kettle Road. Johnson is also looking for volunteers to transport items Sunday to Kanawha County, and those interested are asked to call 724-225-5221.

A similar drive is being organized at Bobtown Market, just a few miles north of the West Virginia state line. Brad Myers, who owns the market on Main Street in Bobtown, said they’ve done similar donation drives for local people who lost homes to fires or flooding, so it was an easy decision to help again after the tragedy.

“People around here have always been really interested in helping out and donating things for other tragedies,” Myers said. “We didn’t realize how bad the flooding was until a couple of days ago. So I wanted to try to do what I can to collect supplies for the people who have lost their belongings.”

Myers said they’re accepting donations until Friday before taking the supplies to Morgantown, although he expects to organize more drives in the future.

The collections are ending sooner in Waynesburg to get the supplies to West Virginia faster.

They include First Baptist Church, 303 W. High St.; First National Bank, 1 W. High St.; Baily Insurance Agency, 55 S. Washington St.; and Waynesburg Bible Chapel, 800 E. Greene St. The pickup date for those four locations is Thursday so supplies can be taken to Morgantown the following day.

Autumn Lee said other churches are offering to help as the effort grows. She said they’ve received several offers for the use of box trucks to get supplies to the distribution center.

“It’s become a God-sized project,” she said. “We never anticipated it would become so huge.”

Two volunteers from American Red Cross of Southwestern Pennsylvania, which serves Washington, Greene and Allegheny counties, left for Charleston, W.Va., Tuesday. Red Cross spokesman Kevin Brown said people can make a monetary donation by visiting www.redcross.org or calling 1-800-REDCROSS.

“They’ll be working wherever they’re needed,” Brown said of the volunteers.