Blown Away in Henryville – How Louisville Can Help

Life goes on for many of us in the Louisville area, but for those in nearby Henryville and Maryville, IN, whose lives were blown apart by recent tornadoes, it won’t ever be the same.  Henryville, the birth place of KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders, was heavily damaged on Friday by a tornado, while nearby Maryville was destroyed.  Though the tornado struck Henryville High School, miraculously, no one in the school was injured. Only two buildings in town remain standing. The current death toll is currently stands at 3 in Henryville, with an estimated total 14 in Indiana and 19 in Kentucky.

These two little towns were caught in a group of at least 44 tornadoes that cut through the south and the Midwest, leaving a  path of destruction  in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio.  As 2012 enters its third month, the year could rival 2011, when over 550 died and damage exceeded $25 billion in insured losses.  So far, the storms this year in the US are unusually powerful and long-lived, according to Greg Corbin, the warning coordinator meteorologist Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Storms like this make you think. Especially in Louisville, where tornados have been part of our history, you realize that had the winds blown in slightly different direction, you might have gotten caught up in them too.  Even as you emphasize with the victims, now coping with homelessness or at least great loss, you feel gratitude that you or your family were not affected. All you can do is reach out to the victims.

So what can you do? If you have money to give, the Red Cross will put it to good use to help victims.  You can donate today by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. However, according to Pastor Phil Cheek of the Henryville Community Church, people are in great need of “survival items,” such as food, blankets, paper products, plastic ware, diapers, etc.  The Voice-Tribune collected and delivered supplies from the community on March3.  You can contact Managing Editor Angie Fenton at angie@voice-tribune.com or 502.551.2698 to see if they are still accepting them.

Cheek’s church has been a leader to in helping those in need in the community and beyond. The members work with Dare to Care to feed the hungry in Louisville, and last year travelled to eastern Kentucky and Alabama to help tornado victims. This year, with no power from the storm, Pastor Cheeks and his congregation will fire up grills to cook food donated by Wick’s Pizza, The McMahan Group, and others and will help distribute donations.

The disaster has caused another problem that also concerns me deeply.  Many people with pets either lost them or are unable to keep them in the shelters or other temporary housing they have.  The Eastside Animal Hospital has stepped up to offer shelter to animals whose families without a home after the storm. (You can reach them at (812) 282-3855.) However, their space is limited, so if you can volunteer to board a few pets, call Eastside or any local shelter.

Shamrock Pet Foundation and No-Kill Louisville have stepped up with free pet food that will be distributes at St. Francis Church, U.S. 31 and Ind. 160, Henryville, and Pekin United Methodist Church, 244 S. Shorts Corner, New Pekin. If you would like to donate food, contact these organizations, and watch for news of other businesses and organizations who are collecting food for distribution.

If you have lost your pet in the storm, checkout http://www.facebook.com/KyInOhLostAnimalsFromFromTheTornadoes, which seeks to matchup owners and finder of missing pets.  The page is also a forum to match up other needs, such as burial of animals killed by the storm.

As Henryville rebuilds, there are plenty of ways to reach out to your neighbors. Based on the past, I know Louisville citizens will again show the generosity and compassion that has matched their response in past disaster.

For information about buying and selling homes in this neighborly area, contact me, Jessica Gaines, your Louisville real estate resource, today.