Doing Good When You Hear the Call
When brutal winter weather taxed the Huntington City Mission’s resources and all blankets had been given to people in need, Director Mitch Webb knew where to turn: FaithHealth Appalachia (FHA).
The need arose during a mid-January snowstorm that shut down schools, curtailed traffic, and swelled the mission’s rolls. In addition to nearly 200 regular residents, its low-barrier shelter averaged 68 a night the first half of the month—a shelter that only has enough cots for 27 people.
After placing a call for blankets on its Facebook page, Webb’s assistant texted FHA Director Rory Chapman. Chapman immediately sent out an appeal via group texts, e-mails, and phone calls. One was to a network of 100-plus pastors and church leaders. The other included 75 key staff members and directors of social service agencies in the community.
Within hours, dozens of blankets showed up at the City Mission, delivered by churches and non-profits. Among those that helped were St. Mary’s Medical Center, which supplied 100 blankets the next day. Ridge Kids Academy coordinated the delivery of 50 never-opened blankets from their closets.
Over the next week, more than 1,000 blankets arrived. In addition to restocking its inventory, the Mission shared some with other agencies. Among them was Project Hope, which provides apartment-style housing for women in recovery and their children.
“It was overwhelming,” Webb said. “We went from not having blankets to not having any place to put blankets. By the time Rory’s crew got to it, blankets came from everywhere. I’ve never seen as good a response as that.”
“I don’t have any concrete evidence that this was our largest blanket collection ever,” the director added. “But I can tell you from eyeballing it—that’s the largest drive I’ve seen in nine years.”
The collection created goodwill in the area and was significant because of the immediacy of his organization’s ability to meet a need, said Chapman, FHA’s director since October 2020. Created by Cabell Huntington Hospital in 2018 and now an independent non-profit, FHA strives to bridge gaps between health care providers, faith communities, and community organizations to better care for our neighbors’ physical, social, and spiritual needs.
“This showed that when our community sees a need, people respond,” Chapman said. “There is so much willingness to help here. These donations came in the middle of a snowstorm. This was a big win for our community.”
Webb said the mission’s staff members were amazed by the response, saying it makes them feel like they’re not alone when people respond like they did in January.
“Sometimes when we see people acting erratically on the street, we think, ‘They’re drug addicts’ or ‘They’re homeless,’” Webb said. “But those are our children, moms, and dads. Donating blankets helps reduce the stigma and reminds people that there but for the grace of God go I.”
