By SARAH THOMACK
St. Joseph Post
The United Way of Greater St. Joseph is working to find out the needs in the area after the flooding and how to help.
According to United Way of Greater St. Joseph President Kylee Strough, their staff is reaching out to contacts in the surrounding counties impacted by flooding to find out what kind of help they need.
“We know that with flooding, there’s an immediate help that is needed, which, often agencies like the Red Cross are responding to with opening up shelter and things like that,” Strough said. “But additional needs arise as the waters recede and dissipate and people try to get back into their homes and their businesses. We want to make sure that these communities know there are willing volunteers all throughout the Midwest region that are ready to come help them when they’re ready.”
Strough said they are also trying to identify what kinds of supplies are needed. On Tuesday, they learned from contacts in Atchison and Holt counties, there is a need for muck boots, black rubber gloves, buckets, Clorox and more. Strough said they will soon have more information about how people can help and donate items.
There will also be some upcoming fundraising efforts that United Way partners will be putting on to support a flood relief fund. Chick-fil-A will be donating a portion of their day sales on April 6th to the United Way Flood Relief Fund.
Strough said the fund was created to be a channel to get help to families where there is an unmet need because of the flood.
“There are so many excellent resources that come into play when a disaster is declared… but once in awhile there will be needs that a family experiences that there’s just no program already set out to help with or the help they receive didn’t quite cover the impact,” Strough said. “We know we won’t be able to meet all the needs, we have no idea how much funding is going to be raised through these efforts, but we’re going to try to fill in some of those gaps for individuals and families as they not only recover from the flood but move forth in that long process of recovery and rebuilding.”
For more information on resources for those impacted by the flood, dial 2-1-1 or to keep up to date on how to help with flood relief efforts, go to stjosephunitedway.org/2019flood.