CUZZART, W.Va. — Preston County residents are prepared to make their next trips down to Ohio and Marion Counties to support recovery efforts from the Father’s Day flash floods.
Not even a week after making donations and physical labor trips to both the Wheeling and Fairmont areas that were significantly damaged by the floods, nurses from Preston Memorial Hospital have plans in place to make another trip to help those in need. This follows multiple trips to both locations to support donation distribution and volunteer efforts, which were conducted independently by Preston County residents led by Emily Wix-Lawson and supported by the Preston County Commission, the Fraternal Order of Eagles Post #2391, among many others.
“There’s a team of us, I work as a nurse at Preston Memorial and there’s a group of us who are going back to work with Samaritan’s Purse to help start rebuilding,” said Wix-Lawson on who will be a part of the next trip for relief efforts.
According to Wix-Lawson, the work to take part in volunteer efforts took place within a day after initial pictures were taken of the flood damage in both Fairmont and Wheeling. After taking the first drive down to Fairmont to drop off a first round of supplies donated by Cuzzart and Kingwood residents, as well as numerous local businesses, the move was then made over to the Wheeling area where eight people died from the over four inches of rain that dropped in the area in less than an hour period. Once she arrived, she was immediately put to work distributing donations and helping with preliminary rebuilding efforts.
“I decided to go to Wheeling because I started seeing pictures of how bad it was and then I took off at went,” said Wix-Lawson. “I loaded up my vehicle and took a bunch of supplies down, then went with Samaritan’s Purse and worked with them to help rebuild a lady’s house.”
Over the course of a week, three trips to drop off a truck full of donations were made to Fairmont, and two were sent from Wheeling.
Wix-Lawson also noted that out-of-state volunteers also took part in the recovery efforts that took place the day after the storm. Based on her past experiences helping flood victims out in North Carolina and in McDowell County, she noticed several volunteers from outside of the Marion and Ohio County regions who traveled to help victims who, in some cases, had total losses of their homes. With a previous history of making volunteer trips in the past as well as adopting families from North Carolina affected by the floods in 2024, the Preston County volunteer appreciated the gratitude given back by those affected by similar disasters.
“And then when everything happened in Marion County and Wheeling, North Carolina folks and Southern West Virginia met me in Wheeling when I was there,” said Wix-Lawson. “So I’m all about giving back because what goes around, comes around.”
With the recovery process for both the victims in the Wheeling and Fairmont areas expected to be ongoing throughout the summer, Wix-Lawson expects several more trips to take place in the coming weeks. This not only includes efforts with fellow nurses at Preston Memorial Hospital but also representatives from Samaritan’s Purse who plan to be in at least Wheeling. As damage assessments continue and Ohio and Marion County residents start to rebuild, Wix-Lawson feels the least she can do is try to help her fellow Mountaineers.
“There’s a lot of folks that’s helped numerous in the last four trips that we went on all over, but for Wheeling, it was mostly local community folks who jumped aboard,” said Wix-Lawson.