GOSHEN, Ohio — A group of volunteers from Cozaddale Baptist Temple are working hard to feed their neighbors after the disaster Wednesday afternoon.
Goshen residents are banding together after the devastation from an EF-2 tornado that damaged much of their community. Volunteers are feeding their neighbors and providing essential supplies for recovery efforts.
After an 11-hour shift Thursday, Travis Burke was back at it Friday, grilling hamburgers and hot dogs with his church.
“We’re here to help,” Burke said. “There’s so many people without power and not able to cook, not able to keep their food. So we’re just trying to keep people fed. We’re here all day.”
Travis Burke (left) helps grilled with another volunteer. (Tino Bovenzi/Spectrum News 1)
He’s lived in Goshen since 1997, where he’s never seen a storm like it before, so he and a dozen volunteers from Cozaddale Baptist Temple stepped up to help.
“It says in the word of God, that we’re supposed to love our neighbor as ourself — it says that in Matthew,” Volunteer Joshua Elam said. “And we just want as God shows his love to us and cares for us, we just wanna show that to others.”
Volunteers young and old chipped in to help their neighbors. (Tino Bovenzi/Spectrum News 1)
Cars continually stopped by the makeshift drive-through near the local Kroger store, some dropping off supplies and some receiving. Lowe’s employees were also on hand to distribute essential cleaning supplies and passed out more than 150 free tornado totes packed with bottled water, flashlights, work gloves and other supplies to assist with the clean-up effort — 18 associates went door-to-door delivering supplies for people over a two-block radius near Knoll Road and Woods Street where a large majority of homes were damaged.
Christine Breen’s power has just been restored, and her house was spared from damage. But she was moved by how people are uniting to help others.
“I’m thankful for the communities outside of Goshen coming together. I’m just blessed,” Breen said. “Everyone here is blessed. I’m thankful for everyone.”
Duke Energy crews working to restore power in Goshen. (Tino Bovenzi/Spectrum News 1)
Duke Energy crews worked around the clock to restore power for thousands still affected by the outage — some estimated to be restored Sunday.
To help further the recovery efforts, the Duke Energy Foundation provided $100,000 to support the hardest-hit communities.
“The damage we’ve seen throughout the region and especially in Clermont County is devastating,” President of Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky Amy Spiller said in a press release. “While our crews are working day and night to restore power, we know this is only the first part of the rebuilding process. Today, we are increasing our support in the hardest-hit areas through Foundation grants, which will help these communities start to recover.”
Damage to the Goshen Fire Department has made the structure unsafe, causing the fire department to move its base of operation to the basement of the Township Administration building Duke Energy crews working to restore power in Goshen. (Tino Bovenzi/Spectrum News 1)
The funding will be awarded to The American Red Cross, Central and Southern Ohio, Clermont Seniors, Goshen Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association, Goshen Lion’s Club, Matthew25 Ministries, Miami Township Police Association and Team Rubicon.
Thread: Goshen Township Administrator Steve Pegram provided an update on the recovery efforts after an E-F 2 Tornado caused widespread damage. @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/qhN1JZIcvL
— Tino Bovenzi (@TinoBovenzi) July 8, 2022
The Church volunteers said they know that as long as people are without power, their lives will be harder, thus help will be needed. So, with each sandwich made, and every cleaning supply delivered, the Goshen community continues to recover together.
“The whole community,” Burke said. “That is what you’ve seen in this community all day yesterday, already today. Everyone is just helping clean up. Helping their neighbors, helping their friends and that’s all we can do. We’ll get through it without a doubt.”
