"Glad God Sent You All My Way": Impact Kentucky Brings Hope in Wake of Tornado Damage

Some 1,000 volunteers from across Kentucky worked to bring hope and restoration to residents of eight tornado-damaged counties on August 25.

The Impact Kentucky sites were in Grant County, Johnson County, Lawrence County, Magoffin County, Menifee County, Morgan County, Pendleton County, and Wolfe County.

Projects included roof replacement in Grant County and home repairs in Salyersville. Volunteers cleared many pounds of debris, painted, moved items to storage, replaced windows, planted flowers and shrubs, and put siding on a trailer. They built a ramp on a home, they served lunches, and they prayed. The New Hope Festival in Menifee County drew 1,200 people to enjoy inflatables, music, and other fun activities.

Among the volunteers were site coordinators who put many hours of work into preparing for this day. These dedicated individuals are Jamie and Sue Brunk (Morgan County) Jim Doughton (Wolfe County), Susan Elkow (Menifee County), Deb Massengale (Johnson County), Guy Moyer (Lawrence County), Barry Robinson (Grant and Pendleton Counties), and Jamie Slone (Magoffin County). Angie Cunigan from the Red Bird Missionary Conference was the coordinator for the entire Impact event.

“I've seen people's spirits so lifted,” Rev. Massengale said. “You could see the hope being raised in these people.”

Those receiving help expressed gratitude for the volunteers’ work.

Anita Williams’ home was destroyed by the March tornadoes. Impact Kentucky volunteers worked on her porch on Saturday. She said, “I don’t know what we would have done without the churches.”

Ella Bailey of Salyersville remarked, “I want to thank everybody, and I'm sure glad God sent you all my way.”

Impact Kentucky: Hope Reigns was sponsored by the Kentucky Annual Conference, the Red Bird Missionary Conference and United Methodist Communications.

Volunteers work on a home in Johnson County.