Meeting planned today for companies that want to help in wake of explosion 

Published 1:58 pm Thursday, August 1, 2019

 

Dep. Director Trish O’Quin, with Lincoln County Emergency Management, says the community has really come together in the wake of this morning’s natural gas pipeline explosion. In order to ensure some organization in how families are helped, there is a 5 p.m. meeting scheduled today at New Hope Baptist Church, located on Ky. 1194 in Moreland, for any companies or corporations who want to help assist. 

“Corporate groups can send one or two representatives to New Hope, and we’ll figure it out there,” O’Quin said. She said the displaced families will also be at the church during the meeting. 

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So far, she said the church has “more food than we know what to do with.” 

As far as private citizens, “We don’t know what we need yet, but we’ve been inundated with food, everybody’s been so awesome. But for private citizens, please just stand by and as soon as we know what we need, we’ll put that information out there.” 

She said several organizations and groups are helping out at the church now. “If we have a gap in care of coverage, we’ll put that out there, for private citizens to start helping.” 

O’Quin said the Salvation Army, Red Cross and Enbridge Inc., the company that owns the gas in the pipeline, will also be on-hand to talk to families. 

Sally Higgins, a Red Cross volunteer, said they arrived at the church around 7 a.m. with food and water. The Lincoln County School system brought lunch to the church today, she said, and the Red Cross will stay and support families at the church for as long as needed. 

Higgins said later on, the Red Cross will start case work with the families who lost their homes, once they find out the extent of damage to the area.