Fueled By Local Hands: Kentucky

FUELED BY LOCAL HANDS

Eastern Kentucky’s Community-Powered Recovery

Washed-up cars under bridges; a 2×4 entangled 25 feet high in a telephone pole; roofing scattered on the highway; a trailer “that looked like a piece of twisted aluminum foil”. These gut-wrenching scenes remain vivid in memory for Malva Gorman, CORE Kentucky’s former Area Director, even two years later.

Torrential rainfall in July and August of 2022 triggered catastrophic flooding in central Appalachia. Residents of Eastern Kentucky were severely impacted; the area was mostly poor, rural and hard to reach, with many homes set in “hollers”, or rugged, mountainous terrain. The disaster, the first of its kind to hit the region, caused dozens of deaths, injuries, and destruction that left hundreds of people without their homes.

CORE immediately responded, distributing hygiene and cleaning supplies and food and water to those impacted in Letcher County, even amid continued flooding. But with so many people displaced from their homes and work opportunities scarce, finding ways to support their long-term recovery was essential.

CORE partnered with EKCEP to hire a local team of case managers dedicated to connecting flood-affected families with vital housing resources. Our resilient team handled over 1,100 cases—more than any other organization in the area—helping community members apply for FEMA grants and coordinating over $5.6 million in building materials, furniture, and home goods.

Get to know more about our amazing Kentucky team who made it all happen below.

Malva Gorman

Malva joined CORE as the Area Director to guide our case management operations while we transitioned out of the acute emergency phase. She understood that people were navigating largely unknown waters. She spoke with impacted community members to understand their primary needs and established connections with other local organizations. The reality was that many survivors—especially those who were elderly, who had disabilities, and those with young children—lacked the tools to get back on their feet.

Malva took tremendous pride in the team she built at CORE. She hired over 100 staff, many of whom were unemployed, and trained them in the basics of disaster case management.

Her team led with compassion as they liaised with families, organizations, government agencies, supporting people in four counties across Kentucky.

“Hiring local people puts money back into your economy, one that’s already been shaken. It gives those people [case managers] a reason; it gives them hope. Even in the worst of times, you still need money, you still need to be able to take care of yourself. And this gave families and people that weren’t working a reason to come in and help others.”

Kim Miles

A Letcher County native and retired teacher of 28 years, Kim always felt connected to her community. But it wasn’t until the floods, she reflected, that she really knew the community. After the storm passed, she helped her neighbors however she could: mucking their homes, sorting through their belongings, and sourcing essential supplies like food and water. Still, it was obvious to her that beyond this immediate support, the road to recovery would be extremely difficult for many.

Kim joined CORE as a Supervisor to oversee dozens of case managers in Letcher County. She also helped clients like Mr. Bill Gross and his son, whose home had become infested with mold and unlivable after the floods. She worked tirelessly – form after form, call after call – to get the family connected with housing resources, ultimately helping them secure a new home from our local partner.

“CORE gave me the opportunity to be able to actually reach out even more and help families and give people a voice that really didn’t have a voice.”

Jeannie Trent

When Jeannie Trent arrived at CORE Kentucky’s first training session, Malva immediately recognized her potential. Jeannie was an Eastern Kentucky native and a quick learner, and she was eager to support her community in this disaster. As she navigated her role as a case manager and then supervisor, Jeannie developed critical personal and professional skills. She tactfully supported clients wrought with emotions: devastation, frustration, gratitude, guilt. Meanwhile, she coordinated between partners and community members across four counties, created new applications to expand the team’s capacity, and learned the ins and outs of disaster recovery.

Jeannie was trained to support the pilot of Relief Compass (then known as CORE Connect), a web-based platform designed by CORE to streamline resource coordination after emergencies. Today, she serves as the Implementation Specialist for Relief Compass, where she has applied her skills and firsthand experience to improve and market the technology to other stakeholders in the humanitarian and private sectors.

“I gained invaluable insight into the challenges faced by survivors and case managers, particularly the gaps in resource navigation. These experiences have been instrumental in shaping my current role, where I am now focused on improving resource access and streamlining the recovery process for those impacted by disasters.”