Marion County residents help McDowell County clean up from March floods
FAIRMONT — When Mike Estep got the call to travel to McDowell County, West Virginia, he did not hesitate.
Estep, the lead pastor of LIFE United Methodist Church in Fairmont, has deep roots in McDowell County "that go back to the 1800s pioneer days." He had read the accounts of the March flooding and it tugged at his heart.
He gets frustrated talking about the unmet needs of a county that, in its heyday, had a population of 120,000-plus residents.
"Why can we not have clean, drinkable water in West Virginia in the 21st century,? Estep asked. "And the answer is, we can we just have leaders who are choosing not to do that."
Estep and three other Marion County residents went to Welch and McDowell County during the last week of March to take part in a United Methodist mission to help the less fortunate whose homes had been devasted by the floods. Another group that was involved with the cleanup is called "From Below," which is described as an educational immersion experience that was started by Appalachian ministers and is funded by the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia.
"We cleaned out three homes right in a row that hadn't been touched, or basements that hadn't been touched," said Estep. "What we found was flood water, sewage, coal, dust, et cetera. And a lot of the poor and elderly who are left in McDowell County just don't have the resources to clean out, to repair, to rebuild, and our state legislature is just not caring for some reason. I think it's an ideological reason."
Estep recently took part in a protest of state and national policies in Fairmont that take away funding for programs that harm the poor and needy. He believes lawmakers simply have to do better.
"I think the hope here is for folks to realize that we're not alone in our deep concerns, perhaps even our anger," Estep said. "We're not alone also in our vision for a country that that has compassion, care, policy, representation for folks who are at the bottom or on the edges."
Paul Wilmoth and his wide Cheryl Wilmoth, who live in the Marion County town of Barrackville, met up with Estep in McDowell County to assist with the cleanup project. Paul Wilmoth said the trip was eye-opening for him.
"My understanding is that there's been a lot of hardship down there," Paul Wilmoth said. "There's not much government, federal or state presence. It's actually bankrupt of any help down there. If it wasn't for volunteer organizations, I don't think there'd be much help down there at all."
When asked to characterize the problems facing the McDowell County residents he worked with, Wilmoth said the challenges are multi-faceted.
"I mean, it's a couple things. It's the flood was there, and the flood was difficult for them," he said. "Plus, there's just like, been a huge industrial irresponsibility down there for decades, coal mining, their water is horrible. They can't drink their water down there.
"There's just many, many, many, many issues that you would think that as a government, as one looking out for the people, that there would be more of a helpful presence down there from not only our state, but also from our federal government."
Cheryl Wilmoth described the mission trip and the conditions she saw as "humbling." She said McDowell County residents desperately need help.
"It's just overwhelming, and the health crisis that's going to come from that is even scarier to be honest with you," she said. "So it just it makes my heart so sad to think that our legislators in Charleston, our representatives in Washington, have not had the courage to step up and say, 'We will help you. We will do something to get you through this,' because they need the help. They desperately need the help."
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