2022 Christian Appalachian Project Annual Report

ANNUAL REPORT 2022

Impact

Christian Appalachian Project

FROM THE PRESIDENT

When COVID-19 struck, I witnessed employees and volunteers rise to the occasion and daily find creative ways to serve our participants. I was so proud of the commitment of our staff to CAP’s mission. So, when we ended 2021, after nearly two years of pandemic measures, my heart was full of gratitude for the impact you made during that time because of your continued support.

We started this fiscal year in what looked like a return to some normalcy, but little did we know that FY22 would be bookended by natural disasters. In December 2021, tornadoes struck the western part of the state. Your generous support made it possible for our Disaster Relief team to manage a distribution center to provide critical essentials to families in need. We ended the fiscal year with historic floods in late July that left hundreds of families with homes so badly damaged that they were unsalvageable. And yet again, you opened your hearts and provided the financial resources to help many families recovering from the devastation.

I saw our employees, volunteers, and supporters go above and beyond to adapt to the changing needs as we went from the first phases of disaster relief to the longer phase of recovery. I was overwhelmed by your generosity of charitable support, as well as the many who joined in efforts as volunteers. And we know that these families will need help for the foreseeable future, CAP will be there to help them put their lives back together because of you.

And though natural disasters loomed large over this fiscal year, we also were blessed to see our Home Repair and Groups programs lead the celebration of 30 years of hosting WorkFest, CAP’s alternative spring break program for college students. You made that possible with your prayers and support. Thank You.

We also welcomed Appalachian youth back to the place they call home each summer at Camp Shawnee and Camp AJ. We had not had in-person camp at Shawnee since 2018, when you made it possible to repair the road to camp and contributed to facilities upgrades. Neither location had overnight camp for the past two years due to the pandemic. But your generosity never waivered and provided the opportunity to continue to invest in the young people in the region. Thank You.

Second Corinthians 4:8-9 says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” You have provided hope to families, transformed the lives of children, and shared Christ’s love to seniors in need. Thank You.

In Gratitude, Guy Adams President/CEO

God’s Perfect Timing

By Tina V. Bryson

It was more than 100 degrees, but nothing could dampen the spirits of community members from Dawson Springs waiting for the arrival of essentials from Christian Appalachian Project’s (CAP) Operation Sharing. The tractor trailer emblazoned on the side with the words “We Deliver Hope” felt like hope personified in a town where seven months prior nearly 75% of homes were destroyed by an EF-4 tornado.

“The tornado was horrible. It came through and destroyed one side of the town. When I arrived at the church that morning, the whole roof was peeled back and I just stood there and wept,” said Jeff Winfrey, pastor of the Dawson Springs Primitive Baptist Church. “The Holy Spirit said it’s a building, go check on your people.”

He did just that and said he found some miracles of people who survived, and stories that broke his heart, like the sisters whom he’d known all his life. Their home was just flattened. They were found together about 80 yards away. Their sons were devastated that their mothers had not survived the storm.

Early after the tornado, the church used the donated funds to buy building materials for a warehouse to keep the truckloads of donated food that had been sent to Dawson Springs. The Amish provided the labor to rebuild some homes and the much-needed warehouse. Then, the church financed the building of a food bank in the downtown area, so that people in need would have easier accessibility to the food.

is awesome and CAP is a blessing.”

– Pastor Jeff Winfrey

“When Operation Sharing called with a donation of bathtubs, kitchen sinks, and vanities, we had just moved the food,” Winfrey said. “Now we had this warehouse to house those essential household items that could help families when they are ready to rebuild. The timing was perfect. God is awesome and CAP is a blessing.”

The community developed a Long-Term Recovery Committee to determine how to help families when they get to the point of rebuilding. Local leaders and volunteers help coordinate donated items and funds, and work with groups outside the area on logistics to get building supplies, furniture, and other household essentials to help families get back on their feet.

In many cases, when there is a natural disaster, Operation Sharing is the first CAP program to respond bringing in water, cleaning supplies, and other necessities. Wesley How-

ard, a CAP tractor trailer driver, has been on the frontlines making sure that these items make it to people in need immediately following a disaster and months later when families may be still struggling to put their lives back together.

“Items brought in by Operation Sharing helped many families and individuals,” Winfrey said. “We coordinated with the Long-Term Recovery Committee to organize distributions to the community.”

Construction has begun on several homes, and a few others have been completed, but Dawson Springs is still a long way from a complete recovery.

“The building for our new food bank downtown was built with donated funds, but it is now operational,” Winfrey added. “We thank the Lord for that. Our town needs many more rebuilds, but things are moving ahead slowly.” n

“God

Church Dedication Dec. 2022

– Barry Ballew

“Being a part of the mission and bringing hope and joy to people in Appalachia is amazing.”

Seeing the Need

By Brianna Stephens

He listened to stories of families who faced immense loss after the tornadoes. He heard a man retell his family’s history as mud-soaked photos were shoveled into a dumpster. With each story he heard, it seemed as though all hope was lost. In a year where natural disasters were one after the other in Kentucky, Barry Ballew, a Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) donor and skilled volunteer, continued to come back to hard hit areas to help pick up the pieces and build hope in the lives of children, their families, and seniors.

“Seeing the need makes you want to come back,” Ballew said. “The Bible says we are to encourage one another and build each other up. It really is about giving them hope. We are helping to build back their lives. As devastating as these disasters were for the people, CAP is doing its best to help

them recover. Being a part of the mission and bringing hope and joy to people in Appalachia is amazing.”

In response to deadly tornadoes that tore through Western Kentucky in December 2021, CAP was asked to manage the logistics of getting essentials to families in need through the Bowling Green Distribution Center. Ballew and his team of volunteers served at the center to distribute items as well as process the abundance of donations from generous donors across the country being received in nearby warehouses. Ballew worked with Robyn Renner, CAP’s Disaster Relief director, and Becky Neuenschwander, manager of CAP’s Groups program, to create a seamless daily process to restock the distribution center with items from the warehouses twice a day to meet the needs of tornado victims.

“When I was in Bowling Green, I saw the great devastation and the needs of the community after the tornadoes,” Ballew said. “I talked with families who had lost everything to the disaster. Thinking about my own family, it is tough for me to imagine the amount of loss they faced.”

As Western Kentucky continued its recovery into the summer, unprecedented flooding impacted Eastern Kentucky in late July, damaging and destroying 16,000 homes across the region. When flood waters receded and CAP’s relief response began, Ballew brought a team of skilled workers to begin mucking out and cleaning up homes.

As a skilled volunteer, Ballew led his group of volunteers under the guidance of Ron Morrow, a CAP Home Repair crew leader, during disaster relief and recovery efforts.

“I’ve never seen flooding like what we had in July,” Morrow said. “We were on the ground trying to help get homes mucked out and cleaned up, but it seemed like there was no end. There was no shortage of work to be done.”

In the fall, during his fourth trip to CAP in 2022, Ballew and his team helped Morrow make progress on an extensive recovery project. An elderly woman’s home of more than 40 years was crippled by floodwaters, shifting it from its foundation, buckling the floors, impacting the electric and plumbing, soaking insulation, and damaging flooring throughout the home. At the peak of the flood, 2 feet of water was standing in her home.

Volunteers like Ballew, his crew, and others who have responded for flood relief efforts have been instrumental in building back Eastern Kentucky communities. Because of volunteers, CAP’s crew leaders can accomplish work in as little as a week that would typically take them a month to complete. This allows more homes to be repaired for people in need.

“We said we would come to help make a difference in their lives, and we did that. But we had no idea the difference it would make in our lives,” Ballew said. “If you are willing to come and serve with CAP, there is a place for you, no matter if you have few skills or are highly skilled. You can make a difference.” n

This year, CAP celebrated 30 years of WorkFest, an alternative spring break experience for college students. Students serve alongside CAP Home Repair crew leaders for a week to help address substandard housing in Appalachia. Through the helpful hands of volunteers during this event and throughout the year, CAP's crew leaders are able to address more home repair projects to ensure children, their families, and seniors in the region have safe, warm, and dry homes. CAP was able to repair or rebuild a total of 226 homes this fiscal year.

Toys for Tots distributions

For the third consecutive year, CAP partnered with Toys for Tots and Good360 over the summer to distribute toys to children in Appalachia. More than 40,000 toys were received and distributed by CAP through this partnership, putting a smile on the faces of 5,492 children and 1,840 families. The partnership between the three agencies began during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which put a strain on many Appalachian families who already faced poverty and other challenges. Each year, the toy distributions bring a moment of joy to children and their families in the communities CAP serves.

STANDING

in the Breach

By Brianna Stephens

Children were still scared and confused about what happened as they filed into the distribution center. Their families tried repeatedly to explain to them that their home was gone, but they were going to find help. But through their words of affirmation, Chris Griffith could see that even the adults were still afraid and in shock about what happened.

Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) operated a distribution center at its Foley Community Center campus in Martin to distribute basic essential items to children, their families, and seniors impacted by the catastrophic flooding in Eastern Kentucky. Griffith, manager of CAP’s Family Life Counseling Services, and his team were on hand at the center to listen to the survivors.

“What happens during natural disasters is people focus on their basic needs first, which is understandable, but they

tend to put their mental health last,” Griffith said. “Mental health should come alongside the other pressing needs because it can impede people’s ability to do what they need to do, it can eat away at mental energy as they are fighting off negative feelings, and it can rob the joy from the successes toward reestablishing their lives. Mental health is crucial.”

At the distribution center, Griffith and his team had several impromptu conversations to help people debrief and process the depression, anxiety, loss, grief, trauma, or other emotions they felt after living through the flooding.

He remembered a conversation with one woman who was trapped in her home with the rising floodwater. Her nephews were able to escape to the roof, but she physically could not. In the dark outside her large bay window, she could see two cars that had been picked up by the rushing waters coming toward her home. She watched the cars slowly ap-

proach her and anticipated she would die because of the collision. At the last second, the cars missed her home by a mere foot.

“One of the primary things that causes a traumatic stress reaction is a natural disaster,” Griffith said. “You can’t experience something like this woman did and not be deeply impacted. Post-traumatic stress will impact this community just based on the flood and nothing more. All of this is on top of the challenges people in Appalachia face because of poverty.”

In addition to the flood victims, Griffith and his team had daily conversations with CAP employees and volunteers from across all programs to help them debrief and process their experiences, too, to help combat vicarious trauma. Day after day, they saw the devastation firsthand and relived the horrors of what happened with the families they served as they heard their stories.

Paige Kirby, CAP’s director of finance, said the devastation she saw on TV and social media following the flood led her to volunteer with CAP’s disaster relief efforts in addition to her administrative duties. She drove through flooded areas

to collect information from families who needed help and complete damage assessments on their homes.

“The experience was an emotional rollercoaster,” Kirby said. “I was happy to be there and to be going out and helping. Seeing what happened in person is not what I expected. It was hard to think that water did that. It strengthens my faith to see what the people in this area went through and that they are still resilient. I am thankful our counseling staff was there to help us process the things we saw and experienced.”

Just as a focus of recovery is rebuilding homes and lives, Griffith and his team of counselors at CAP are working diligently to listen and meet the mental health needs of the people of Eastern Kentucky as they try to find a new normal after the disaster.

“As counselors, we have to be attentive and provide care to each person we meet,” Griffith said. “We are present in their conversation. We are willing and able to stand in the breach with them as they relive their experiences. We are here to listen to the people in this region who need help.” n

By Tina V. Bryson

When we first met the Hunters, their belongings lay in piles on their porch and driveway. They had salvaged what they could from the flood waters and mud and were living on their carport. Jerry had wrapped it with plastic to keep out the elements.

The night of the floods, Sherry was awakened by her husband, who was monitoring the storm. A mobile home belonging to her late father, which sat a few feet behind their home, had already begun to fill with water. She frantically gathered belongings to store on the bed and higher levels when the water reached her ankles.

“It just kept getting higher and higher until it was up to our knees,” said Sherry who is 61 and has problems with her back. “We decided to go up on the roof. It was still dark, early morning, but we stayed [on the roof] about three or four hours.”

Her nephew and his wife live behind them and had come over to help; their home received significant flood damage as well. They all stayed on the roof together.

“There was mud everywhere. I just felt awful, it was ruined so bad that you couldn’t even live in it,” Sherry said. “We slept in the bed of our pickup truck, but it made our backs hurt and it continued to rain. We decided to put our bed on the carport.”

Their kitchen table and chairs sat in the middle of the aluminum-roofed carport surrounded by boxes of miscellaneous items saved from the floodwaters. Jerry, who is a bit handy with wiring, ran electricity from the house so that they could power the microwave and washer and dryer to wash their mud-caked clothes. There was no such luck with plumbing and a hospital toilet chair sat off to the side of the carport.

“I knew if the water got in the house we’d be in trouble,” said Jerry, whose brother’s mobile home came off the foundation and floated about 300 feet away with his brother still in it. “I felt miserable, homeless. I told her we’d better get out because the electric was still on, and we’d all get electrocuted.”

They found out about Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) when volunteers came to pull out wet insulation from underneath the house and made plans to replace the floors which were buckled in every room.

“I didn’t even feel like it was safe to have people in there at the time,” said James Akers, a crew leader with CAP’s Home Repair program. “The floors could really give way at any time and you’d find yourself under the house.”

With temperatures steadily in the 80s during the day, mold was an issue. But the temperatures created other challenges at night. “It started getting cold and we had to put extra quilts on the bed,” Sherry said. “We were just going to have to get some kind of heater out there until they got repairs done.”

Akers worked to secure plywood to make the home safe to enter initially, even though he knew more extensive repairs would be needed in the future.

“I don’t know how we would have gotten these repairs done if it wasn’t for organizations like CAP,” said Jerry, who's 67. “It took me and my wife 15 days to get all of our belongings out that we could. She’s down in her back and I just couldn’t do it myself.”

When the waters finally receded, the mobile home, that belonged to Sherry’s father and once sat behind their home, had been washed right off the foundation. Another family member drowned when his home washed away.

“We needed a lot of help, especially the elderly,” Jerry said. “It would be very difficult for me and my wife to try to replace the floors ourselves. I don't think I could have done it. I’m really grateful.”

It took CAP about two weeks to finish repairs. “It’s good that people come to help you. Volunteers were so busy trying to help so many people,” Sherry added. “It’s taken about a month and half to move back in, but we’re still working on it. There are people that don’t have the money. Probably would have been impossible for us to do all of the work and get back in it. We just want to thank everybody that helped us. We appreciate it.” n

“It’s good that people come to help you. Volunteers were so busy trying to help so many people.”

– Sherry Hunter

Welcome Home

Over the summer we welcomed children in Appalachia back to Camp AJ and Camp Shawnee. CAP had not hosted an in-person camp at Shawnee since 2018 because of needed road repairs. The following two summers neither location had overnight camp because of the pandemic. The summer camps give children a chance to be themselves for a week and participate in activities like swimming, arts and crafts, hiking, and a talent show. For some children, camp is a place where they will be provided nutritious food and snacks that they may not have at home. And even more importantly, staff at AJ and Shawnee take care of campers like their own children and shower them with unconditional love.

The mission of CAP’s annual Hunger Walk is to raise awareness about food insecurity and collect food and financial support to provide nutritious meals to children, their families, and seniors in Appalachia. September is Hunger Action Month and Hunger Walk takes place each year on the third Thursday of the month. This year's event collected 18,240 pounds of food for CAP’s pantry network which includes Grateful Bread Food Pantry in Rockcastle County; Eagle Food Pantry in McCreary County; and our partner pantry, Water Into Wine in Magoffin County.

“The repairs are great, but it’s our way to share hope and Christ’s love.”

– Avery Ford

Not Just a Home

By Brianna Stephens

After completing an extensive home repair project that took him and other Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) employees and volunteers several months, Avery Ford, a one-year volunteer and AmeriCorps member in the Home Repair program, was looking forward to his next project and the relationships he would get to build. However, no one could have guessed what the rest of the summer had in store.

In July up to 14 inches of heavy rain fell in a short amount of time which caused significant flash flooding and damage and destruction to thousands of homes. CAP’s Home Repair crews were immediately reassigned from their daily projects to help families in desperate need following the flooding.

“The historic floods were a waking nightmare for many, many families in Eastern Kentucky,” said Jamie Conley, manager of CAP’s Home Repair program in Johnson, Floyd, and Martin Counties. “CAP crew leaders and volunteers mucked out 94 homes in six weeks and then immediately transitioned to recovery efforts where we are helping with repairs and getting families back into their homes after the devastation. These efforts are powered by our volunteers, like Avery. We are so grateful for them.”

The first disaster relief muck out Ford did was for a family of six, which included a bedridden grandmother, Nettie, and three children, living in a mobile home. Water from the nearby creek rose and flowed through the home, picking up and scattering the furniture and other belongings inside. The water continued to rise, and with no place else to go, the family all climbed on top of Nettie’s bed. The water finally stopped rising when it reached the top of the bed.

Everything was soaked with flood water, including Nettie's nightgown. An assessment team from CAP came to document the damage to the home and the needs of the family. Staff also bought Nettie a new gown and the hospital provided a new bed.

“Our crew began with the extremely difficult and heartbreaking task of bagging up and throwing away all their soiled possessions,” Ford said. “If you haven’t experienced something like that before, think of it like this. Walk through your house. Everything you see that’s less than 3 feet off the ground, imagine you had to throw it all away.

That’s probably a lot of stuff. For some, the water was much higher than 3 feet.”

After removing the belongings, the CAP crew cut out the wet paneling and insulation and pressure washed the mud out of the walls and floors. One moment that stuck with Ford during the work was when they had to move Nettie outside to power wash the inside. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for the area that day. It wasn’t long before Nettie started to show signs of heat exhaustion. Luckily, work was able to be done quickly and the power was turned back on so Nettie could move back inside and cool off in the air conditioning.

“This incident gave me a renewed sense of urgency and purpose as I realized just how critical a home was to her and others like her,” Ford said. “A home is not just a space to live in. It’s essential in maintaining life.”

In his experience with CAP, Ford said he realized his service is about more than home repair. It is about the communities he serves and the hope that is given to children, their families, and seniors in Appalachia.

“Several participants have told me how lonely they often get but having us out there each weekday gives them someone to talk to, cry with, and laugh with,” Ford said. “Some participants thought they were forgotten, but when we showed up to muck out their house, it meant that they still mattered, that there was still hope. That’s why we do it. The repairs are great, but it’s our way to share hope and Christ’s love.” n

All of Us Together

By Tina V. Bryson

Six months ago, the quiet creeks and rivers that make Appalachia so beautiful, turned on the residents with a torrent of water that tore through lives, homes, and memories. When the water receded, it left in its wake heartache, trauma, and loss of all kinds across 13 counties in Eastern Kentucky, many in the primary service area of Christian Appalachian Project (CAP).

Robyn Renner, director of CAP’s Disaster Relief program, activated staff and volunteers to discern needs and strategize how to leverage existing and new partnerships to serve families immediately as well as ongoing needs that become more apparent during recovery. It was evident from the extensive damage that families would have ongoing needs for weeks and months to come, and hard-hit communities may well be looking at years before full recovery would be

possible. Some communities may never be able to recover, with homes on entire streets flooded, along with schools, businesses, churches, even local emergency agencies.

“We have had crews on the ground doing assessments and muckouts since the first week of August,” Renner said. “The devastation was so widespread. Many families continue to live with no source of heat since the flood waters took out their HVAC units. As the temperature has been dropping, many families are asking for electric heaters just to stay warm.”

For families already struggling with the economic hardships of poverty, space heaters only contribute to rising electric bills. Many families also still need repairs including insulation, drywall, and flooring.

“The critical repairs they need will become even more essential,” Renner added. “It will be difficult to heat homes during the winter months which will make for some very cold nights. Many of the families impacted by the flooding are elderly, so there is that added urgency as winter approaches.”

The floods have been devastating on so many levels and the extensive impact has created a long-term situation that will need to be addressed by organizations like CAP.

“Families in Eastern Kentucky have had to deal with mudslides from the mountains behind their homes, as well as the power of the water from flash flooding,” Renner added. “This was just another addition to the daily struggles of people in the community. Many families also lost their vehicles in the flood. They live far from a town or grocery store. Now, they can’t even get to the doctor or the pharmacist. In some cases, cancer patients are having difficulty getting to their treatments.”

CAP hosts groups each year until mid-November. Around that time, nearly 100 homes were still on the list needing repairs, but there would be no more groups until March. Crew leaders have been working non-stop since the floods and are physically and emotionally exhausted.

“We need skilled leaders from the community who are willing to lead volunteers for a week at a time and additional funds to be able to hire contractors to complete HVAC and electrical work,” Renner added. “Most of the local contractors are booked solid for months and even years.”

CAP continues to work with numerous community partners to help alleviate suffering for families in Eastern Kentucky. “Our current goal is getting the families that have homes that are reparable back in a safe, warm, and dry environment. We will utilize our Home Repair crew leaders to supervise volunteer groups in both regions for Floyd, Knott, and Clay Counties. We can’t do this alone; it’s going to take lots of agencies, communities, dollars, and physical labor to get these communities back on their feet.” n

“We can’t do this alone; it’s going to take lots of agencies, communities, dollars, and physical labor to get these communities back on their feet.”

– Robyn Renner

Feeding EKY has already distributed more than 80,000 hot meals door-to-door since they started in July.

We Will Be There

By Tina V. Bryson

Volunteers with Feeding EKY shared laughter and conversation as they prepared hot meals to deliver to flood survivors. They have partnered with Christian Appalachian Project’s (CAP) Foley Mission Center to utilize the commercial kitchen to help more families in the region.

“We started the day after the flood, we were just trying to help people,” said Brent Handshoe, founder and director of the organization which has been in existence since July. “I was just trying to help my friend clean up after the floods. What was he going to eat? The refrigerator was gone, the freezer, the stove. All the restaurants were closed. There was nothing you could do to find something to eat.”

Handshoe went to his own home and gathered up a few items. He called his friend, Tanya Shepherd Hatfield, to determine how they could partner to help the community.

“I knew that if we were in this bad a shape here, people were going to starve to death because this was such a massive event,” he said. The next day he put a barbeque grill and a turkey fryer on his carport and cooked 600 hot dogs to take door to door to people still cleaning their homes that were caked in mud and debris.

“You saw the need when you got out there, with people up to their knees in mud trying to muck out homes, and they didn’t even realize they were hungry until you showed up with food,” he recalled.

Handshoe said time and again they encountered proud people who didn’t want a handout, but always tried to encourage him to help someone else that might need it more. “And they would be standing there in rubble, with nothing, but we came back,” he said. He and his team were committed to the work day in and day out to reach people in hard to reach places. In some communities where bridges had washed out or residents had lost their vehicles to the flood, Handshoe and his dedicated volunteers walked on foot, used four wheelers, and even horses to get food to people.

“We came across a little boy who had not eaten for four days. Another day we met a lady eating peanut butter out of a jar with a stick that she had found in the flood,” said Handshoe, who has only had two days off since Feeding EKY began. “If we can just take this one burden away. That’s why we’re here.”

In using this hands-on approach, Handshoe quickly saw that people had a variety of needs, and so they started the Blessings Carport. They collect items such as appliances, clothes, shoes, household items, bedding, anything that can be provided to families who have lost everything. It’s stocked and staffed 24 hours a day.

Volunteers gather each weekend to package about 1,000 meals. Feeding EKY has already distributed more than

80,000 hot meals door-to-door since they started in July. Increased prices will continue to be a challenge, but Handshoe is not deterred. Local partnerships like Grace Mountain Medical and CAP help, but he is also looking toward long-term assistance in the area. He has been in conversations with World Central Kitchen about how to scale up.

“You can’t just sit in a location and say to the people come to us,” he said. There is no public transportation here. No buses. No taxis. Folks have lost their vehicles in the flood. They have to walk. These areas are very secluded, long distance, very rural areas hidden away in these mountains. They are the most vulnerable, but we will be there to help.” n

“If we can just take this one burden away. That’s why we’re here.”

– Brent Handshoe

There for the

Long Haul

By Shannon Holbrook

Much of Eastern Kentucky was already struggling with extreme poverty. Then massive flash floods swept their homes, their neighbors, their lives, away instantly. Now they’re working to regain a sense of normalcy, dependent on the kindness of others and their own tenacity.

From day one of the chaos until the last families are settled back into their homes, Christian Appalachian Project’s (CAP) Operation Sharing program will support their recovery.

Operation Sharing works in tandem with CAP’s Disaster Relief program to provide immediate assistance to Appalachian areas hit by major catastrophes like floods, winter storms, and tornadoes. When disaster strikes, the programs work together to bring food, water, emergency supplies, and other essential items to people in need.

“Our warehouses were two-thirds filled with essential items provided by our long-time partners like Feed the Children, Good360, and Feed the Hungry,” said Aaron Thoms, who

manages the Operation Sharing program warehouse in Paintsville. “We have systems in place to ensure we can secure essential items needed in times of disaster.”

Staff have also built relationships with local schools, social service agencies, churches, fire and police departments, and other community organizations to help distribute supplies. Operation Sharing has received and redistributed more than 130 tractor trailer loads (3,100 pallets) specifically designated for disaster relief aid.

“We have distributed $13.5 million worth of disaster relief gift-in-kind donations to affected counties, and we couldn’t have done it without our partners and donors,” Thoms said. This fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31, Operation Sharing broke their all-time records due to disaster relief donations. “This is the most donations we’ve ever received and distributed in a given year. By the end of our fiscal year, Operation Sharing had received gift-in-kind donations valued at $137.7 million.”

Thoms operates in sync with Ben Ridner, who manages the program’s warehouse in Corbin. Together Operation Sharing’s two warehouses serve partners across Kentucky, as well as partners in all 13 Appalachian states, Missouri, and Arkansas. “We communicate daily between our warehouses and we’re good friends and colleagues. Aaron and I are almost like brothers, that’s part of what makes us work so well together to benefit people who need help,” Ridner said.

The Eastern Kentucky floods geographically occurred between their warehouses. “New relationships and partnerships happened here seamlessly afterward because we’re so invested in the communities,” Thoms added.

One relationship developed from a need to transport supplies to areas where roads had washed out which prohibited vehicles from getting through to residents. Ridner and his staff had to think creatively to meet the needs of families who were cut off from disaster relief aid.

“Our truck drivers tell me when they pull up, people are in tears, and they get this feeling like they’ve never felt in any job anywhere, before trying to make this world better.”

– Aaron Thoms

“Early on, the only way we could get critical resources into areas like Buckhorn was by horseback,” Ridner said. “We loaded a regular pickup and took it in to Buckhorn. Supplies from Operation Sharing were then loaded onto horses with packs to get people what they needed to survive.”

Thoms echoed the commitment of CAP to continue to assist families long after recovery has fallen out of the news cycle. “With disasters in our region, we’re there for the long-haul,” Thoms said. “In Western Kentucky, even though the tornadoes happened in December, we were still working to help families in June six months later, in-

cluding sending a load of appliances to areas impacted by tornadoes.”

Ridner added, “We’re still dealing with disasters three to four years later. We do whatever we can to continue to send essential items years after a natural disaster.”

Operation Sharing has 18 full-time staff who work with donors, partner organizations, and volunteers. “I believe God put us here to help people especially in disasters,” Thoms said. “Our truck drivers tell me when they pull up, people are in tears, and they get this feeling like they’ve never felt in any job anywhere, before trying to make this world better.” n

FY22 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Each member of Christian Appalachian Project's Board of Directors contributes significant amounts of time, talent, and charitable support to ensure we stay focused on our mission of building hope, transforming lives, and sharing Christ’s love through service in Appalachia. We are grateful for their service.

Jackie Collier Chair

Berea, KY

Jonathan E. Lett Vice Chair Ashland, KY

Guy Adams President/CEO Lexington, KY

Deann Stivers Allen Manchester, KY

Mona Baker Lexington, KY

Mark Barrens Louisville, KY

Alan Cornett Lexington, KY

Joyce Taylor Cummins Mt. Vernon, KY

Lula Bowling Ford Pikeville, KY

Bob M. Hutchison Staffordsville, KY

Holly James Lexington, KY Rob Lawson Lexington, KY

Marty Preston Lexington, KY

Chris Tackett Ivel, KY

Tina Terry Pikeville, KY

Liz Toombs Lexington, KY

Andrew Wegrzyn St. Louis, MO

Judge B. Wilson, II Berea, KY

CAP Legal Counsel

John Rhorer Lexington, KY

Corporate Officers

Anita Seals

VP of Human Services Mt. Vernon. KY

Phyllis Caudill VP of Philanthropy Lexington, KY

Gloria Jordan

VP of Administration Paintsville, KY

Brian Stiefel

Chief Financial Officer Mt. Vernon, KY

Recording Secretary

Carolyn Schlappi Mt. Vernon, KY

Thank You!

DONATIONS OFFICE OF PHILANTHROPY

Christian Appalachian Project P.O. Box 55911 Lexington, KY 40555 1.866.270.4CAP (4227) capinfo@chrisapp.org

VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

Christian Appalachian Project 310 Beiting Lane Mt. Vernon, KY 40456 1.800.755.5322 volunteer@chrisapp.org groups@chrisapp.org

christianapp.org