Virginia motel provides housing to flood victims
BREAKS, Va. (WJHL) – Flooding throughout southwest Virginia and southeast Kentucky displaced hundreds of residents, but one motel is reaching out to those affected and saying, 'We've got you.'
As waters began to rise as storms entered the region on February 15, many found themselves unable to stay in their homes.
'It just came so fast,' Elkhorn, Kentucky resident Stephen Woolwine said. 'It was just unbelievable.'
GALLERY: Flooding impacts Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee
'Within the time I seen it come from the creek to the main road up to where we lived there in a park to the mailbox,' Pikeville, Kentucky resident Jonathan Holstein said. '[In] the time I got in and got my dog and woke my brother up and got an outfit or two, it was already knee-deep in my home.'
Holstein and his brother were rescued as the water reached chin-level.
But when things calmed down, many said they struggled to find placement.
'I tried calling the two local motels, hotels,' Shelbiana, Kentucky resident Faith Walters said. 'I asked them, pretty much begged them, to give me a discount. And I told them, 'I don't have a place to go back to.''
Walters spent the first night after the flood in her car.
Carl Prewitt is the general manager of the Gateway to the Breaks Motel, located in Breaks, Virginia, on the border of Virginia and Kentucky. When he saw the devastation caused by the flooding and heard about his community's needs, he felt compelled to help.
'I started putting up a couple of Facebook posts for people if they wanted to come take a hot shower at no charge,' Prewitt said. 'Just come up and clean up and feel fresh again.'
The motel also began offering discounted rates. Soon after his post, Prewitt was contacted by someone looking to help.
'It started with one lady who called and made an anonymous donation for a night stay for someone that was displaced,' Prewitt said. 'And I posted that someone had done that. And the next thing you know, the phone starts ringing and donations started coming in. And we were able to finally put it out that we're offering a free place to stay to someone who truly needs it.'
Since the post, the motel had 26 people make donations for at least one night, which soon totaled 55 nights.
'We are matching every donation that's made,' Prewitt said. 'So someone calls up and makes a one-night donation or a two-night donation, then we match that.'
But the matching doesn't stop at the donations. The motel also matches any nights paid for by impacted guests.
'We had a couple come in the other night,' Prewitt said. 'They paid for two nights. And I talked to them a little bit, they were affected by the flood. And I said, 'I'm going to tell you right now, we're going to match your two nights and make it four nights.''
Motel guests found themselves shocked by the generosity and support given to them by a community of strangers.
'To be honest, I took it in when I was told that, 'Don't worry about this night coming up, you're good,'' said Holstein. 'I knew another neighbor of mine who suffered. I, as a community person, offered to pay for him a room because [the motel was] going to match a room.'
'All I could do was cry,' said Walters. 'Because when you're hit below the belt like that and somebody offers to help you that doesn't know you. And that night when we got here, that was the first night I really slept.'
Guests like Woolwine said they're grateful to see the community's impact.
'When something like this happens,' said Woolwine. 'Everybody can come together and put their differences aside and actually do what needs to be done for everybody. I mean, that's just truly amazing.'
Prewitt said the motel is prepared to help as long as they are needed.
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