Kentucky Flooding: Kettering business with Bluegrass ties doing its part to help victims

KETTERING — The owner of a Kettering business and some of his employees want to make sure the victims of the Kentucky flooding know they have the strong support of Bluegrass expatriates.

Highfield Door Sales owner Rodney Highfield, his family and company employees will be accepting donations at the business, 1350 E. Stroop Road, to help the flood victims from now through Aug. 20.

>> RELATED: Kentucky Flooding: What you can do to help

“It breaks my heart to see the destruction and heartache in my home state,” Rodney Highfield told News Center 7 this week. “Our team made an easy decision to do our best to make a positive impact.”

Highfield is originally from Ashland, Kentucky. His wife Becky has relatives in the Barbourville and Pineville areas.

“Families in Kentucky have lost quiet literally everything, Clothes, food, homes, cars, you name it,” Rodney Highfield said. “I heard a story of a father who was able to quickly think of tying his family to a telephone pole just so they would not get separated as the water rushed through and destroyed everything.”

Eastern Kentucky, parts of West Virginia and southwest Virginia were among the areas affected by flash flooding that began July 24 and lasted about a week.

Ohio Task Force 1 was one of the many rescue and recovery teams dispatched to the region in response to the flooding. The Butler County Sheriff’s Office also lent search and rescue support.

As of Aug. 11, the death toll was 39, according to Gov. Andy Beshear.

The most needed supplies are non-perishable food items, personal hygiene items, toiletries, kitchen utensils, pet supplies, baby products, building materials, water, and first aid products.

The Highfields said their company is ready to load several trucks and head to Kentucky and they are seeking as much publicity as possible to add even more donations for their effort.

>> RELATED: Bill’s Donut Shop shipping donations to Kentucky

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited Monday along with Beshear and first lady Britainy Beshear. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have been in the region surveying damage and the agency has announced that uninsured or underinsured people in 12 counties can apply for disaster assistance.

Beshear has continued to give weekly updates on the aftermath in Kentucky.

Beshear said at a news conference a week ago that the state had collected more than $3 million in donations to assist those affected by the floods, and that the state legislature was considering a special session to discuss relief.

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