Sarasota non-profit on a mission to help those impacted by Kentucky flooding
SARASOTA, Fla. - A Bay Area non-profit is collecting donations and supplies for those hardest hit by devastating floods in Kentucky.
As images of Kentucky floods flashed across Matt Tuggle's phone, he knew he had to help.
"I saw the floods and everyone struggling and people losing their homes and cars. I immediately started driving around, asking for donations, and set up a supply drive at Osprey First Baptist church. I had people drop items off and supplies," he explained.
Less than 12 hours later, Matt Tuggle and volunteers were on the road with donations.
"We try to fill the gap. A lot of the bigger agencies they have a delay of response time," he said.
Matt Tuggle is the founder of OneMission Disaster Response.
"We want to fill that gap, we want to get there and start getting people the supplies and the aid they need immediately," he shared.
Service runs through Matt Tuggle's veins. In Sarasota, he's a deputy sheriff, but in his off time, he goes wherever he's needed.
"I’ve seen different disasters with hurricanes and working in public service I've responded to different disaster areas. This was one of the worst that I’ve seen," he shared.
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It hit home for Matt Tuggle's mom, Denise.
"That's my hometown and when he said it, my heart was breaking, because I had been through floods up there, but never a flood like this. This was total devastation. It's called the Troublesome Creek, but when we saw it, it was one of the biggest rivers I have ever seen and it just wiped out everyone," she said.
As the volunteers made their way to Hazard, Kentucky in Perry County, Home Depot, Sonny's and others filled the space left in their trailer. When they arrived the donations were badly needed.
"They were so thankful because when we got up there they said they had just run out of water and mothers were calling and they didn’t have anything for babies, and we had all those diapers, formula," said Denise Tuggle.
Their mission is far from over. They plan to go again with even more trailers full of donations.
"Just thinking of all of those people, all the pain they were going through. All we could just do was hurry up and get there," said Denise Tuggle.
OneMission Disaster Response is organizing additional donation drop-off drives. They will be working with Osprey First Baptist Church and SOLE-Supporters of Law Enforcement.
LINK: Learn more about OneMission Disaster Response at https://www.onemissionresponse.com/
Anyone interested in helping is asked to email Matt@OneMissionResponse.com.