WHEELING — The Ohio County Long-Term Recovery Board has received much financial support from the community to assist this summer’s flood victims — as well as donated items from businesses such as appliances, cabinets and drywall.

Now the board needs people with the skills to install and nail the donated items in place.

Staci Stephen, executive director of the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley, reports the work of the Long-Term Recovery Board “is going well.”

The board oversees donations made to both the United Way and the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley that are directed toward flood relief. All money goes toward survivors, as there is no administrative fee.

“We’re close to collecting about $500,000 at the United Way,” Stephen said. “All together, we have about $750,000, but not going to go very far when we talk about entire neighborhoods being destroyed.”

So far, more than 160 families have sought the assistance of the board, according to Stephen. Members meet each Monday afternoon to consider their requests.

“We have an entire committee,” she continued. “There’s a group of case managers, and one master list. The case managers have been assigned to those people. They go to those homes, look at that home and see what needs done. Then they bring the list back to the committee.”

There are no names attached to the cases when they are received by members to assure anonymity, Stephen explained.

Members examine the requests then discuss who can help, she said.

Certainteed of Moundsville donated a large amount of drywall, and the committee is looking to touch base with the company again as that supply has been deplenished.

McKinney Furniture in Calcutta, Ohio, also donated two truckloads of gently used furniture. In addition, the board also has a large number of kitchen cabinets available to distribute to flood victims.

“If someone is in need of something, we try to arrange for them to pick it up or get it delivered.”

Then there is the issue of having the items installed or nailed up.

“We need skilled workers to hang drywall — that’s what we need most,” Stephen said. “We have had a lot of drywall, but not enough people to install it.

“We do have some furniture. We will need more once to the point where they can start moving back into their homes.”

Susie Nelson, executive director of the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, suspects that there will be some unique but necessary needs flood survivors will have as time moves on.

“Once (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is gone, and people have stopped getting what they are going to get from FEMA, we will see bigger gaps. We will pick up after that,” Nelson said.

“Our funds have been used for transportation, housing and furniture, and we even bought someone a new motorized wheelchair. We will start to see more things like that.”

As colder weather moves in, there will likely be more requests for such items as furnaces, according to Nelson.

“We still need monetary donations that will give us the ability to access what we need — like a motorized wheelchair. We just don’t know.”

Nelson added the Longtime Recovery Board not only could use more volunteers for labor, but also more volunteer caseworkers.

Those interested in volunteering or donating should contact the United Way at 304-232-4625.