The flooding in eastern Tennessee is all too familiar for Kentucky Serves team lead Brian Butler.
“It reminds me of eastern Kentucky,” Butler said, “in that it’s just utter destruction everywhere you look. From roadways gone to the utility poles that are laying down.”
Butler and his team left from Garrard County at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning to travel to Newport, Tennessee, with a mission.
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“Our primary goal right now is to get first responders back in their houses since they helped their communities so much,” said Butler. “We’re just focused on getting them back in their houses with their families as well.”
Much of the Kentucky Serves team is made up of current or former first responders. From his own experience, Butler said he knows first responders have a hard time pausing to ask for help for themselves.
“I know the ones that I’ve dealt with this morning, it’s just hard to swallow that you need help in a time like this as well,” shared Butler.
With the goal of helping local first responders, Butler also had a specific reason for bringing aid to the Newport community.
“All of the response that we have seen through the footage of Samaritan’s Purse, the American Red Cross, FEMA, everybody’s been focused on North Carolina and the Asheville area,” Butler said. “A lot of these other small communities are actually being left behind.”
Butler and Kentucky Serves plan to help “until the need is gone.”
Kentucky Serves is accepting donations, and they are hosting a fundraising event at Oak Factory Outlet on Nov. 2. Learn more about Kentucky Serves here.
