Holler to Holler: Southwest Virginia + Eastern Kentucky
Our Stories
2022
When catastrophic flooding affected 12 counties in eastern Kentucky in July 2022, Southwest Virginians working for climate justice felt the need to respond.
Here are some of our stories.
Here are some of our stories.
Holler to Holler
Holler to Holler began with a fundraiser and an initial trip to deliver supplies to Letcher County, Kentucky, in August 2022. Russell Chisholm and Laura Saunders connected with Elaine Tanner at Friends for Environmental Justice who gave them a place to stay and helped them connect donations to people in need.
Societal Health
The Holler to Holler project inspired Emily Satterwhite and Rebecca Hester to plan a second trip to Kentucky as part of their co-taught course, ASP/STS 3124: Societal Health at Virginia Tech. The class examines the importance of social movements and mutual aid for collective well-being. Students are required to complete community engagement activities and reflect on the differences between charity and structural change.
The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences offered its support, including a news story to invite the whole VT community to participate. Read more here.
The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences offered its support, including a news story to invite the whole VT community to participate. Read more here.
Quilts for Kentucky
When Danille Christensen learned about the planned trip, she worked to incorporate a quilt-tying workshop into her Folk Cultures in Appalachia class. Students helped tie two quilts that Satterwhite and Hester's students would then deliver to eastern Kentucky.
"Of course, you could go to any store and buy a blanket. But quilts require so much labor and care that 'it’s a little thing that has kind of outsized meaning,' said Christensen. As if the act of making them stitches a message into the fabric, alongside its other meanings: We know things are hard. You matter to us."
Photos by Christina Fanusich for Virginia Tech
Book Drive for Flooded Libraries
Residents of the New River Valley and other parts of western Virginia donated about 30 boxes of children's books for students to deliver to Neon Public Library (right), which lost everything in the floods.
A teacher and mom of one of a recently graduated Appalachian Cultures and Environments minor drove all the way up from Galax. A Mountain Valley Pipeline fighter drove down from Lexington, Virginia, with donations from her public library. About a dozen women found time to dig into their own personal collections and share.
A teacher and mom of one of a recently graduated Appalachian Cultures and Environments minor drove all the way up from Galax. A Mountain Valley Pipeline fighter drove down from Lexington, Virginia, with donations from her public library. About a dozen women found time to dig into their own personal collections and share.
Allison Long, Director of Services, Pearisburg Public Library
Librarian Allison Long invited her patrons in Giles County, Virginia, to donate books. The library also contributed supplies such as metal bookends and magazine caddies.
Courtney Roberts
Blacksburg resident Courtney Roberts delivers books donated by her children's child care center.
Book delivery
Virginia Tech students put the donated books in storage shed temporarily. Friends for Environmental Justice moved the books to the middle school to keep the books safe over the winter with hopes that the public library will reopen in March.
Letcher Co Trip, Sep 2-4, 2022
28 volunteers traveled from Virginia Tech to Letcher County, Kentucky: 20 undergraduate students (including 11 Cadets), 2 graduate students, 4 faculty members, 1 VT alum, and 1 local community member.
Half of our crew worked to remove flood-damaged walls and insulation from a home and workshop in Colson, Kentucky, while the other half worked to support the Appalachian Roots Benefit Concert.
Half of our crew worked to remove flood-damaged walls and insulation from a home and workshop in Colson, Kentucky, while the other half worked to support the Appalachian Roots Benefit Concert.
Virginia Tech students Alex and Chan
Alex
Virginia Tech students Lily and Kaylee
Kaylee spraying mold killer
Rich Kirby performing at the Appalchian Roots Benefit Concert
Virginia Tech students staffing the ticket booth at the Appalachian Roots Benefit Concert
VT students and professors displaying quilts donated by a Blacksburg family with roots in Buchanan County, VA, to be shared with families living in tents in Kentucky. Most were pieced by the family matriarch, now 101 years old.
Virginia Tech students and professors displaying a quilt pieced and donated by Blacksburg resident Cheryl Maggard. Students helped hand tie the quilt.
Hemphill Community Center hosted our crew. Usually the home of the Black Sheep Bakery (Gwen and crew pictured above), Hemphill Center took on an additional role as a distribution center and home for volunteers in the aftermath of the floods.
Volunteers pose with a quilt hand-tied by Virginia Tech students and gifted to new friends Vonda and Jimmy in Colson, Kentucky, September 3, 2022.
Back row: Dr. Rebecca Hester, Amanda, Daniel, Lily, Juan, Kaylee, Anza, Justin, Adilyn, Russell Chisholm.
Front row: Dr. Emily Satterwhite, Amber, Coleman, Chan, Vonda, Jimmy, Daniel, Olivia, Luke, Alex. Squatting: Eliora, John.
Back row: Dr. Rebecca Hester, Amanda, Daniel, Lily, Juan, Kaylee, Anza, Justin, Adilyn, Russell Chisholm.
Front row: Dr. Emily Satterwhite, Amber, Coleman, Chan, Vonda, Jimmy, Daniel, Olivia, Luke, Alex. Squatting: Eliora, John.
Funds Raised for eKy Mutual Aid
As part of our fund-raising efforts before our trip, we were able to raise $5,000 to donate to eKy Mutual Aid. Misty and her team have been identifying, purchasing, and moving trailers and campers like this one (right) in order to house families whose homes were destroyed in the flooding.
Adopt a Holler, October 2022
Misty with Eastern Kentucky Mutual Aid introduced us to Jason (both pictured here) and asked if we’d be willing to “adopt a holler.” Thirteen families affected by summer 2022 flooding in “Jason’s Holler” in Perry County, KY, were in need of winter coats, shoes, and other supplies. Dozens of individuals and families across the New River Valley of Virginia responded to the call, dropping off warm coats, heirloom quilts, handmade hats, and much more.
Perry County trip, Nov 5-6, 2022
With help from VT Engage, we collected enough warm gear to fill a truck and a U-Haul. Two 6th graders, Hunter and Casey, helped us get it all loaded up. Generous donors contributed over $1,000 via PayPal and the VT Appalachian Studies Foundation fund to the Adopt-a-Holler project.
Donated quilts tied lovingly in bows.
Virginians donated a U-Haul plus truck full of warm coats, shoes, hats, gloves, and scarves.
These gorgeous hats must be handmade with skill and care.
We delivered everything to “Jason’s Holler” on Saturday, Nov. 5, stopping at the R&F Dairy Bar to transfer everything out of the U-Haul and into trucks that could navigate the holler. Thanks to Elaine Tanner with Friends for Environmental Justice we had a place to camp in nearby Letcher County.
Thanks to Elaine Tanner with Friends for Environmental Justice we had a place to camp in nearby Letcher County. Elaine showed us how "reclaimed" mining areas continue to suffer blowouts from underground mines and contribute to flooding due to compacted soils vulnerable to invasive species.
Elaine will deliver donations from Blacksburg Books to the middle school until the public library is ready for them.
Breakfast
View of the mountain above Elaine's holler 10 years ago, now "reclaimed" with invasive species.
Contact us:
Appalachian Studies Program
Virginia Tech
E-mail: satterwhite@vt.edu
Phone: +540 553-5430
Follow Appalachian Studies at Virginia Tech on Facebook
Appalachian Studies Program
Virginia Tech
E-mail: satterwhite@vt.edu
Phone: +540 553-5430
Follow Appalachian Studies at Virginia Tech on Facebook
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e-mail us: satterwhite@vt.edu
