After people in western Kentucky were devastated by an EF-4 tornado earlier this month, one group of Dawson County individuals are pitching in to bolster rebuilding efforts amidst so much acute need.
Harmony Baptist Church is collecting monetary and material donations for the Kentucky tornado victims through a donation drive. People can drop off supplies at the church, located at 1575 Harmony Church Road in Dawsonville, between 4-7 p.m. daily. The collection efforts will continue until January 6, 2022.
Money can be donated by going to the church’s website, hbcdawson.com. There is a specific button at the bottom of the homepage for donations. Alternatively, people can write and mail a check to the church address listed above. People may also drop off Home Depot gift cards.
Anyone with questions about donating can contact Harmony Baptist Church Pastor Tony Holtzclaw at (706) 974-9688.
The specific building materials requested by Kentucky organizers are:
OSB plywood
Synthetic underlayment
1 ½” and 2 ½” torx head screws
Tarps-any size
4x4x8”
2x4x8”
2x6x8”
¾” and ⅝” plywood
Tar paper
Pastor Holtzclaw explained that helping the Kentucky tornado victims came up during a sermon a couple weeks ago about what the church’s next project would be. For example, the church offered aid to those affected by Hurricane Katrina and sent volunteers to help run a bible school there. A former pastor still helps with those efforts.
The pastor of The Church at War Hill, Don Allen, gave Holtzclaw contact information for The River Church in Nortonville, Kentucky. When Holtzclaw and others presented the idea of helping the tornado victims to the congregation at Harmony Baptist Church, they agreed to help.
Holtzclaw said The River Church pastor is using that congregation’s property, which is three miles away from the tornado’s ‘ground zero,’ as a hub for distributing supplies. Items will be sent to places like Dawson Springs, Kentucky.
Holtzclaw was told that the problem now with tornado recovery is that there’s almost nowhere to store dry goods. So, the supplies will help with building and reinforcing such areas.
Blue Marlin Logistics of Dawsonville donated a 53-foot trailer to Harmony Baptist Church, who’s been loading it with building materials. Harmony Baptist will take the trailer to Kentucky after collection efforts end and leave it up there for storage.
Holtzclaw added that his church’s volunteers are going to make multiple trips up to Kentucky and hopefully get a better idea of what individual Kentucky families need in the future.
“It’s not a ‘one-and-done’ type thing for Harmony [Baptist Church],” he said. “I thank the (Dawson) community for their involvement and help so far, and I’m looking forward to making an impact…that’s the only impact we can have is on the kingdom of God.”