I live in Martinsburg, which is in the eastern panhandle of the state, about an hour and a half north west of Washington D.C. The past two weeks I have witnessed something amazing. Local businesses and churches have become staging areas for a relief effort and ordinary folks have responded to the call for help in droves. I work for and am a member of St. Leo's Catholic Church in Inwood, WV. Carla Hopkins, one of our parishioners, is an angel here on earth. She has worked tirelessly to get the word out for what is needed, has coordinated with other volunteers in the area, and has driven all over Berkeley County helping to deliver donations. Today (Saturday) she and her husband Charlie were at St. Leo organizing, with the help of volunteers, all of the donations that people had been bringing to the church all week. This situation has touched her heart so powerfully that anything she can do to help she has done.
Other angel is Marti Hersom. She is a member of Mt. Zion Episcopal Church and very active in the community. She has also put the call out for what is most needed in the affected areas, used her church as a staging area, and she and her children have gone down to some of the affected areas to help out in whatever way they can. She shares her stories and photos on Facebook when she can.
Both of these women, and countless others all over West Virginia are true life heroes in my book, motivated only by their love and concern for their fellow human beings. These are not government agencies or large charitable organizations. These are simple folks all over the state that want to help in whatever way they can. Whether it is donating money to buy ice, bringing cleaning supplies, baby items, or whatever else is need to a staging area, or driving down to the affected areas to distribute items or help clean up, so many people have been moved by this disaster to help in any way they are able. It is truly humbling to see this response from so many people.
If anyone would like to donate towards the relief effort, please visit: http://catholiccharitieswv.org/ The front page describes the devastation and has a simple Donate button so that you can help.
To read about and view some photos about the relief effort, you can like this page: https://www.facebook.com/blessclaycounty/?pnref=story.unseen-section or you can go can like the page I manage for our church: https://www.facebook.com/stleoinwoodwv/. I try to share stories when I can.
Thank you for reading this. And thank you to everyone who has helped in any way.
