Perry County Communities Continue Recovery Efforts

ZANESVILLE, OH – It’s been about 2 months since historic and devastating floods came through the area.

It’s not been easy but the communities and villages affected have come together, but there’s still much more work to be done.

Perry County Commissioner, Ben Carpenter, provided an update on how local agencies as well as state agencies were able to help out those who may have lost everything.

“We did receive, of course, through the United Way and other entities, we received a lot of food during that event and right after that event, which was great. We also got a donation of beds through the Muskingum County Commissioners, which has worked out great.” Carpenter said. “We’ve been doing the bed distributions [on Monday], we passed out 19 beds and I think I’ve got 12 to 15 people on a list for the next distribution. Anybody that needs a bed, call the County Commissioners office, (740)-342-2045, you do not have to be a flood victim to receive a bed, okay? If you need a bed and if you’re in need, for any reason, even if you had to move out, we had one family that lived in Crooksville but now they’re living in Lancaster, they asked if they could come get a couple beds, absolutely.”

Carpenter says the bed distribution is limited to 2 per household, just to make sure anyone who needs one receives it.

He thanked the Perry County EMA, Perry County Transit as well as Red Cross for stepping up to provide transportation and shelter for the flood victims.

Carpenter says a lot of the donations of food and clothing came from the United Way of Muskingum, Perry, and Morgan Counties and he is very grateful for their support.

“Those relationships with Government Officials, like County Commissioners, are vitally important and we work hard at those in good times so that we can act quickly in the tough times.” Tracey Ballas, the CEO of the United Way, said. “We always want to do that in this community, we did step up and we were able to get literally truckloads full of shelf stable food, diapers, water, personal care items, cleaning supplies to be able to help folks immediately. But we also want to be there for the community for the long term recovery.”

If you are in need of a bed, you can reach out to the Perry County Commissioners at (740)-342-2045.