Neighborhood comes collectively to take pleasure in a day of enjoyable | Information, Sports, Jobs

Enjoying colourful snow cones on a scorching Saturday afternoon through the occasion are, from left, Andrew Keirs and Ella Furman.

WHEELING — Members of the Triadelphia and Valley Grove communities have saved a relentless concentrate on flood restoration since mid-June of this 12 months, however on Saturday, everybody got here collectively to set worries apart and easily benefit from the day.

Scores of volunteers and quite a lot of sponsors helped arrange “Come Hell or High Water — Giving Help Beyond The Emergency” on Saturday. The occasion happened at two completely different places — a household pleasant daytime extravaganza on the Triadelphia United Methodist Church, adopted by an grownup gathering at B&B Sports Bar in Triadelphia.

Saturday’s occasion kicked off by volunteers gathering collectively for a prayer provided by Pastor Mike Palmer of Triadelphia United Methodist Church, which has remained on the frontline of the restoration efforts because the June 14 flood catastrophe ravaged the neighborhoods alongside Little Wheeling Creek.

Chef Matt Welsch of Vagabond Kitchen and CPA Jeff Yourkovich of Yourkovich & Associates helped arrange the particular occasion.

“Originally I just wanted to feed people, but Jeff and I combined forces, we got all of these other great people to come together, and this is a true community effort,” stated Welsch. “It’s a true convergence of a ton of different people who have brought all of what they’re good at together to make this amazing thing happen.”

The gathering featured inflatables for kids, a dunk tank, music, free occasion T-shirts, a smorgasbord of free meals, faculty provides for college students, and an array of things collected as donations for giveaways to these readily available. Gift playing cards and reward baskets had been out there for households affected by the disastrous June 14 flood.

“The main purpose is to bring the community together,” Yourkovich stated. “It’s free to the community — to the affected flood victims and families and residents of these communities of Triadelphia and Valley Grove. It’s just a chance for those people to just enjoy themselves all day long and leave everything else behind today — leave their worries about building their homes, their finances and all that other stuff behind.”

While the festivities had been designed to place worries about flood restoration efforts on maintain Saturday, the occasion provided alternatives to deliver assist for many who proceed to be in want.

Kim Fuller, public info officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was readily available to assist folks in want of restoration help, because the flood was declared a federal catastrophe final month.

“We’re 30 days from the application due date, which is Sept. 22,” Fuller stated. “But between now and then, FEMA and the Small Business Administration are going to be going to community events like this all across the county so we can see people face-to-face in case they have questions about their status, their application, if they’re somewhere in the process or if they haven’t even applied yet, we can do it right there on the spot.”

Monica Myles, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration, was additionally readily available through the occasion Saturday. She stated the SBA’s deadline is similar as FEMA’s deadline subsequent month. That is excluding the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for companies and nonprofits, which continues via April 22.

“We’re hopeful that people who have still not fully recovered from the disaster — if they need some additional funds and their insurance or grant from FEMA is not enough, they can come to the U.S. Small Business Administration for low-interest rate disaster loans,” Myles stated.

As restoration efforts are anticipated to proceed for the foreseeable future as impacted residents rebuild, these readily available throughout Saturday’s “Come Hell or High Water” occasion obtained an opportunity to take pleasure in a worry-free summer season day for a change.

“It’s very nice,” stated Darlene Philabaum of Valley Grove. “It’s much bigger than I thought it would be. I think I expected it to be a fundraiser, not just like an event for the community. It’s really cool.”

Organizers described the collect as being like “a community reunion.” Even these from neighboring communities who weren’t affected by the flood had been welcome to hitch within the enjoyable on Saturday, and whereas the occasion was not organized as a fundraiser, donations had been collected from guests wishing to assist out.

“We’re going to put it all back into the community,” Yourkovich stated.

It was extra of a “fun-raiser” than it was a fundraiser, the volunteers all agreed.

“Let’s come together and feel good,” Welsch stated. “I simply needed people to have an opportunity to show the web page, get an opportunity to create some good recollections and hopefully supplant among the destructive ones that we’ve had via this tragic flooding.

“We live there together, we’re working together and we’re coming together. I hope that’s a message that we can carry on long beyond this event. There’s nothing more West Virginia than helping out your neighbors.”

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