ISOM, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Christon family who owns Isom's IGA is celebrating the reopening of their store after last summer's floods in eastern Kentucky.
Summer of 2022, the store took on around 6 feet of water during eastern Kentucky’s flooding. It is the only grocery store in the community for 12 miles. After months of work, the family is reopening its doors.
Store owner, Gwen Christon, says, "I am very excited and very thankful and just hoping that it will encourage people and hoping that other people who are in the community can get back on their feet as well."
Christon started working at this store when it opened in 1973. 25 years later, she and her husband bought it. After 50 years working here, she says working here is more than just a job.
She says, "They're my family. We have phrases that we call our family which is family at home and then we have another phrase that says work family and I could really drop the work family and just say they're my family."
Last summer when Isom’s community needed food, Gwen partnered with World Central Kitchen to continue to feed them. Community partners helped Gwen and her family get funding through FEMA, grants, and small business loans to help reopen the store and at least $180,000 of local and national donations.
IGA’s CEO John Ross says, "When local stores prosper, so do the communities. So, it's a really cool job. A store like this is not only just the center for where people get their food, it's not just transactional, right? It becomes a community hub."
All of IGA's employees have come back to the store now that it's reopened. Gwen says she wanted to take care of her employees first.
Christon says, "It was just great because we were able to take care of our employees. That's the one thing I’ve always wanted to do. I've always felt like, I feel like that God gives everybody a responsibility in this world, and my responsibility is to take care of the people here, and Isom, Kentucky."
Now, this family is looking forward to continuing to serve this community.
