One Stop Shop: Disaster Resource Recovery Fair in Hopkins County Assists Tornado Survivors

HUD Disaster Housing Field Coordinator David Railey and FEMA Federal Disaster Recovery Officer Sandra Bowling look on as Community Foundation of Western Kentucky Executive Director Tony Watkins (center) draws a housing raffle ticket to participate in the opportunity to win a brand-new home.

Kentucky Legal Aid and Catholic Charities serve survivors at their tables during the Hopkins County Disaster Recovery Resource Fair event.

Six months after the tornadoes, disaster survivors from Hopkins County and neighboring areas visited the Hopkins County Career and Technical Center on Saturday, June 4th, 2022 and found valuable information. The Center was the site of a free Disaster Resource Recovery Fair planned by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Providers brought with them much needed resources to families still trying to recover from the December tornadoes.

Designed as a "one stop shop" for attendees to glean information and guidance from several agencies involved in disaster recovery, participant agencies also included the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Small Business Administration (SBA), state agencies, the Kentucky Housing Corporation, and several not-for-profit service providers. The event was sponsored by the Community Foundation of Western Kentucky.

"HUD is happy to assist the Community Foundation of Western Kentucky in the planning and execution of this event. We brought 26 unique service providers together to assist 40 survivors today, in addition to hand delivering 10 packets of resource information to a Dawson Springs church, a resource center and nearby state park where a few families remain temporarily housed. We are making sure everyone affected by the tornadoes is aware of all programs or organizations that can help them rebuild their homes and heal their individual situations," said HUD Kentucky Field Office Director Ahsaki Thurman.

This is the second event of this kind being held in two of the top hardest hit Kentucky counties. In late May, many of these same partners assisted Graves County residents. The majority of those served there were renters. However, on this day in Hopkins County, it was mainly affected homeowners who were searching for repair and rebuilding solutions.

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