Breathitt County community launches recovery initiative with help from Riverside Christian school leaders

LOST CREEK, Ky. (FOX 56) — As people in Breathitt County work to rebuild after severe flooding, a recovery group is stepping in to help.

Riverside Christian School is no stranger to flooding, which is why in 2023 it was moved to a new building. Its old gym has been repurposed for something with a much broader reach across the county.

“The flood in ‘21 was at the top of the door, as you see here, the green doors,” Shane Neace, Administrator for Riverside Christian School, said. “The ‘22 flood was, as you can see, the sheetrock at the top of the–over top of the backboards. Then it was about three foot in the gym this year.” 

School leaders said they decided to leave the old gym as a space for the community. It’s currently a donation center for Breathitt County community members who were hit by the recent floods. The Breathitt County Long-Term Recovery Group and Planning Team is leading these efforts.

“Instead of everybody worrying about us, now we can help the community out with projects like this,” Neace told FOX 56.

Cody Jones, donation distribution site manager, described the site as a “strategic donation collection” where recovery group staff can provide exactly what is needed where it needs to go, rather than accepting mass donations that may not be as useful or organized.

“In disaster recovery, there’s ‘4-C’s. There’s collaboration, cooperation, coordination, and communication,” Jones said. “So, we want to make sure that we’re doing all those things well within our county and to make sure that, again, we’re not duplicating services.”

There’s one more ‘C’ that Jones said is the driving force behind why he and other recovery group members do this work when disaster strikes—commands—the commands of his faith and his belief in helping others.

“Christ’s greatest commands are to follow his commands,” Jones said. “And he says the greatest two commands are to love God and to love your neighbor. And we’re doing this to make sure that we are loving our neighbor to the best of our ability.”

After everyone in Breathitt County is taken care of, Jones said the group hopes to reach out to surrounding counties to distribute whatever inventory remains at the old Riverside Christian School gym.

Jones encouraged those in Breathitt County who would use the help of the recovery group to visit its Facebook page for information on how to get in contact with them.