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Helping Hands From Near And Far Converge On Cameron

CAMERON -- News of the difficulties the city of Cameron has faced following damaging floods has traveled well beyond the borders of Marshall County. People from all over the country have heeded the call to help, which Cameron Mayor Greg Galentine said has been amazing to see.

Volunteers from near and far have turned out in large response to assist Cameron and its residents following the heavy flooding in different parts of Marshall County early last week. Between 2¼ and 5 inches of rain pelted Marshall County on June 21, flooding homes, municipal facilities and school buildings.

Since the waters receded, many local residents have pitched in with cleanup efforts. But Galentine said disaster relief "mud out" teams from southern West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and even New York have come to Cameron to lend a hand. Galentine said the local Baptist church worked to bring in those relief teams from around the country.

"They're helping the families that have been hit the hardest," Galentine said. "We've had a huge response. We've made huge progress, but we couldn't have done it without the volunteers. "Everybody has pulled together," he added, "so it's been great."

Galentine said local high school students, as well as dozens of volunteers with different churches have turned out to help. The city also has gotten plenty of monetary donations, which the mayor said will help buy some needed building supplies.

"We still have companies reaching out to us asking, 'What do (you) need? What do the residents need?'" Galentine said. "So we're kind of focusing on the people who have been hit the hardest."

Some companies have even sent drivers with dump trucks to assist with clearing debris and removing trash, Galentine said. He added that the city is also focusing on alleviating several clogs in their community's sanitary sewer line.

Volunteers from several local churches are helping beyond just cleanup, Galentine said. They also have been serving daily lunch and dinner "since day one" to the dozens of flood victims and volunteers at the community's Blue & Gold Christian Center. According to volunteers at the center, everything has been supplied by local donations.

Roger Whitehead, a team leader with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief organization, said their group sent five "mud out" crew members from the eastern Kentucky area to assist several families hit hardest from the floods. That crew helps homeowners in getting their house ready for repairs.

The crew tears out any flooring or walls affected by flood waters and removes any damaged debris as part of the process. Whitehead said they get the house to a point where they can pressure wash and sanitize it to kill mold spores.

Whitehead said they expect to spend a week in Cameron before returning back home to Kentucky. He said their organization will go to any location in the country affected by disaster, whether it's from hurricanes, flooding, snow storms, tornadoes — anywhere there is a need for their services.

"We've been all over the country," he said. "We go in the morning of or the day after and see nothing but devastation."

He said their crews can be on location at a disaster site anywhere from a few days to weeks or months.

"We go pretty much self-contained and prepared to stay anywhere," he said, adding that, in this case, the Cameron Baptist Church provided the group with accommodations.

"We just respond as the need presents itself," Whitehead commented. "We're just here to serve the Lord and be his hands and feet."

The group presents a bible to each of the homeowners they work with once the job is done.

Cameron resident Amy Furbee said it would have taken her family a lot longer to recover from the flooding if they didn't receive help from the church volunteers who pitched in to help clean and restore their home along High Street.

"Everything on our first floor got destroyed," Furbee explained. "They were in and out in like two or three days, and they had everything done. They have been tremendously helpful. It was amazing."