‘A little hope.’ Schools stuff 60 buses, trailers with toys, supplies for KY tornado victims

On Monday, a caravan of more than 60 tractor trailers and school buses stuffed with everything from toys to cleaning supplies made its way from Winchester to Morgantown to help tornado-ravaged West Kentucky.

It was all part of a ‘Stuff the Bus’ campaign in which several school district staff and volunteers are donating a range of supplies and gifts to Kentucky tornado victims.

The project started with a text the morning after the Dec. 10 tornadoes from Greenup Superintendent Traysea Moresea to Vanceburg Ky. general contractor Sam Howard asking how they might team up to make a long term difference for storm victims.

“Unfortunately, this is (a) tragic situation, but we are finding the good in it,” said Moresea.

Moresea said she knew Howard helped communities and sought him out to determine if her school district could help him in a post-tornado project in any way.

What resulted was an ambitious project in which school districts from Paintsville to Pulaski County sent buses jam-packed with supplies Monday to Morgantown to be stored so they can be used as needed in the coming months. Several northeast Kentucky school districts participated. In Central Kentucky, Woodford and Jessamine schools filled buses.

Howard’s first thought, given that it’s Christmastime, was for school districts to collect and donate toys for the Western Kentucky child tornado victims.

Moresea agreed, “When I think about what the kids need right now, they need a little hope, a little joy.”

However, the two decided that clothes, water, and other supplies would also help.

Thirty-two school buses traveled from Morehead to Winchester Monday. Then a total of 42 left Winchester together along with 120 volunteers with plans to arrive in Morgantown by noon.

Each school district focused on a specific non-perishable item, such as blankets, that tornado victims would be able to use for months and that won’t overwhelm communities. Educational co-ops, such as Green River Regional Educational Cooperative, are making sure that supplies will get where they are needed.

The toys that have been donated will be distributed to the individual school’s youth service centers Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. This will allow the students and parents to receive them starting Tuesday.

Following the tornadoes, hundreds of families were displaced.

“They are going to need help for weeks and months to come,” said Howard. “We will be back.”

He said he had received calls Monday as far away as Arkansas with people asking how they could help. He said his group will make sure the items get to where they are needed

“Anybody who knows Eastern Kentucky knows this is just what we do -- responding to tragedy in our state is something we don’t even think twice about, we just do it,” said Howard, CEO of Trace Creek Construction and Northeast Kentucky Development.

Gretchen Wetzel, executive director of the West Kentucky Educational Cooperative, said the buses stuffed to the top with toys, clothes and supplies will help victims.

Wetzel had, over the weekend, helped families whose homes were destroyed clean out what little they had left.

“There wasn’t nothing that wasn’t riddled with glass and debris,” Wetzel said.

She said it feels right that Santa Claus is delivering toys from the ‘Stuff the Bus’ project to hard-hit Dawson Springs Tuesday.

“My team said this morning, “This feels like what Christmas is about.”

This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 2:10 PM.