Batman is on his way to Hazard County.
So are a bevy of Disney princesses and maybe even a stray dinosaur or two from Jurassic Park.
Those are some of the marketing images on the backpacks Labeth Hall is assembling to send out to children and teenagers in flood-stricken Eastern Kentucky.
“These are kids who have lost everything,” said Hall, who owns and operates PR Plus Events, a marketing and event-planning firm in Morgantown.
“They’re living on the floor in some homeless shelter, surrounded by strangers,” she said. “I can’t imagine how devastated they must be.”
“Devastation” sums it up in the region of the Commonwealth that borders West Virginia’s southern coalfields.
When the rain came last week, it didn’t stop.
Anywhere from 8 to 10½ inches of rain swamped the area over a 48-hour period.
Bridges, roads and homes were washed away.
The death toll had risen to 28 on Sunday, and another 38 people were unaccounted for, prompting worry from officials and others — who fear the grim roll call of victims will continue to rise as the flood waters recede.
Meanwhile, AccuWeather was calling for heavy thunderstorms for the region Monday evening. A flash flood watch for 25 counties remains in effect through Tuesday morning.
And in the midst of all that, Hall said, are the youngest survivors: The children and teens she and her son, Bobby Hall, were thinking about when they started shopping for backpacks and supplies last week.
Bobby, who recently graduated from Fairmont State University, goes back to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with his mom, when he helped her collect supplies for a relief offering to victims of that storm in the Gulf.
“He was 7 years old,” she said. “He stayed right there with me.”
Hall also knows the first day of school is staying on the calendar in Eastern Kentucky — water-logged and mud-caked as that soon-to-be event may be.
“We bought 100 backpacks,” she said. “We crammed them full with as many supplies as she could.”
For the school-age recipients, that includes all the basic school supplies, from notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons and the like.
That includes toys for fun and flashlights and select clothing items for necessity.
Shopping was specific, Hall said.
She and her son gathered backpacks for boys and backpacks for girls, with five specific age categories (and age-appropriate contents therein) from newborn to 18 years of age.
Which means no Disney princess backpack for a kid going to into his senior year, she said.
Hall is now asking for help for shipping costs to Kentucky.
In the meantime, swamped infrastructure is making it a challenge to actually get the backpacks into Kentucky for the targeted recipients.
“I would love to be able to personally deliver them,” she said, “but you can’t get anywhere near Hazard County.”
If you’re interested in contributing, visit her Facebook page or call 304-288-4244.
She calls the effort, “Backpacks for Disasters,” because, she said, that is what it is.
“People jump in when these things happen,” she said. “There’s the relief money and all the other efforts, but I think sometimes we forget about the kids.”
There’s also something else: Appalachia, she said.
Neighbors, in need, she said.
“There’s no Hatfields and McCoys here.”
TWEET @DominionPostWV
