Last month we released a video on our website, facebook, and on our Youtube Channel documenting the needs of a family in a rural area of Paint Creek (you can still see the video here). This situation really illuminated the needs of people in the most remote areas of central West Virginia.
Jason Quintrell, President and CEO of Union Mission, presented a plan to his leadership team of creating an emergency response team. This team would be tasked with assessing the immediate needs of people in rural, hard to reach locations often overlooked. The response team vehicles would be stocked at all times with critical need items like shelf stable food, water, clothing (coats, undergarments, etc), and hygiene products.
This service will rely heavily on the relationship between our ERT leader and notable leaders in rural communities to help identify the ideal candidates for help. Jason explains the details.
“Our first step was to find someone with the right experience, skills, and dedication to take the lead of this ongoing project. I am glad to announce that Kurt Higginbotham, one of our board members, has elected to take this leadership role. Kurt will work with police, fire departments, pastors, mayors, etc of rural areas in the surrounding counties to establish a network to properly identify the needs of individuals. This will help assure appropriate assistance will be provided to specific family situations.”
Jason and Kurt have worked diligently to identify service regions and have already started building the relationship network. The goal is for the ERT to be fully operational this spring.
“This is a totally new ministry that will always need specific funding,” Jason says. “I encourage anyone who is interested in supporting ERT to consider making an additional gift above their normal general fund giving to help see this effort hit the ground running. There is a huge amount of need we are discovering already.”
If you would like to donate to the ERT, click the button below and designate your gift to ERT. Your support can really help us reach people in the most remote areas.
