Kentucky partner for Brethren Disaster Ministries offers more than disaster recovery

From Bridges, the newsletter of Brethren Disaster Ministries

The Brethren Disaster Ministries Rebuilding Program local partner in eastern Kentucky’s Letcher County to support the recovery from July 2022 flooding is HOMES, Inc. Originally a project of Mennonite Central Committee, HOMES began in the 1980s and has always focused on more than just initial disaster recovery by working to repair homes in the area and to provide affordable rental properties.

HOMES approaches its disaster recovery work with an eye toward the future. It has made mitigation a priority to make sure that survivors, whether returning to their homes or moving to new homes on higher ground, are not impacted by flooding in the same way again. Before making repairs to a home, it is raised above the flood level. Brethren Disaster Ministries has worked on some of these homes to build the decking that is required to enter the elevated house.

*Solar panels can be seen on homes on which Brethren Disaster Ministries volunteers worked in Thompson Branch, Letcher County, Ky. Photo courtesy of BDM*

HOMES is also part of larger projects such as the Higher Ground Communities, which allow families to move into a new house on reclaimed coal mining land far from the flood plain. This includes the homes in Thompson Branch and Chestnut Ridge, supported by the work of Brethren Disaster Ministries volunteers.

HOMES has developed many initiatives in its efforts to look beyond construction work on houses to support the community and the ability to afford to live and work there. One such initiative is its solar program, developed as a “social enterprise” to address the growing cost of electricity. For some families, including those who own the new houses that Brethren Disaster Ministries volunteers have helped to build, this allows them to stay in their homes with a monthly electricity bill of around $25. HOMES is able to use the profits from residents and businesses who can afford to pay the full amount for the solar installation to support the other work that they do for lower income families needing housing support.

Find out more about the work that HOMES is doing in the community, in addition to the work Brethren Disaster Ministries is supporting, at www.homesincorporated.org.

— For more information about the work of Brethren Disaster Ministries go to www.brethren.org/bdm

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