Located at the old Staples building, 98 Madison Square Drive, you will find anything and everything that is needed for all those who were affected and/or displaced by the December 10 tornado.
The problem now, which is a good problem to have, is that there is such an outpouring of love and generosity from people all over the country, there are not enough space, or places to store all of the goods while the affected areas now attempt to get the cleaning and rebuilding process started.
“We needed a place to house everything that was ‘out of it’ but not too far away,” Ruthann Padgett, VP of Operations for Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation said. “ Madisonville is the perfect location as we are just close enough to distribute things to our neighboring communities, but we are not in the way.”
Property owner, Don Ershig, was gracious to let the city and volunteers use this space, free of charge, to take in all of the donations coming in.
“We are inundated with stuff, but that is a good thing,” Ray Hagerman, President of Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation stated. “ We have put a pause on donations for now, to regroup and organize, but that doesn’t mean that the need isn’t still there.”
Open every day, 8 a.m.- 4 p.m., since December 15, there are been hundreds of volunteers coming to dedicate their time and equipment to help those in need. This distribution hub has a daily list of trucks that are expected for arrival each day, however, not everyone calls or contacts those in charge. Monday, there was a list of eight expected trucks, and 35 showed up, according to Hagerman.
The way this hub is operating as of now, is as a distribution center that is extremely organized. The donations are given to organizations and small or large groups, not individuals. Items range from cases of water, clothing, baby items such as diapers, wipes, bottles, to blankets, socks, shoes, the list goes on. All of the volunteers are learning as they go, how to best organize, where to place items, how to best communicate what has been received. Everyone is figuring out best ways to help.
Members from Fort Campbell were on-site to share and provide a free app for volunteers to use on their phones as an easier means of communications. The app is called, Signal Private Message, and it is essentially an organizational messaging tool that all of the volunteers can download and use to chat. Volunteers can send photos of specific items stating how many are “in stock”, what size, what color, etc. and it can be checked off the list if a certain area is in need.
For example, an organization from Morton’s Gap reached out stating they needed blankets, volunteers at the distribution site jumped on the app, started a conversation to see how many there were, what color, how many were needed. Volunteers in the store were then able to pull the blankets, place them in a cart, label the items for Mortons Gap, and it was then scheduled to be distributed to the specific area in need.
“All of the donated items are 100% for the victims, we are simply the vessel to get the items to where they need to go. Everything is for those in need,” Padgett said.
“Our world has been consumed with the intake hub at the old Staples building,” Melanie Tapp, Business Relationship Director for Madisonville -Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation. “Our office alongside the Fiscal Court Office and City of Madisonville have coordinated this site and have been staffing it every single day since December 15. We are currently needing 50or more volunteers every day to make things happen.”
If you are interested in helping in any way possible, please reach out to Melanie Tapp at 270-821-1939.
