Photo by Joselyn King Stephanie and Andrew Ellis of Wheeling join protesters along National Road at Edgington Lane Saturday. Those there were urging President Donald Trump to sign a declaration designating the Valley Grove and Triadelphia neighborhoods a federal disaster area following flooding on June 14.

WHEELING — Protesters — many of them flood victims who lost their homes and belongings on June 14 in the communities of Triadelphia and Valley Grove — came out Saturday to urge President Donald Trump to sign a federal disaster declaration that will make them eligible for financial assistance.

About 30 people gathered at the intersection of National Road and Edgington Lane carrying signs intended to persuade Trump that funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is needed locally and quickly so victims can begin to restore their lives.

Logan and Jenna Pickens said they have been living with his grandmother since the flood. He is a bus driver for Ohio County Schools, and she is a medical assistant at WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital’s Wheeling Clinic.

“Me and my wife lost everything to this flood,” Logan Pickens said. “It sucks that we have to do this, while every other state that has been affected — I pray for them — has gotten their funding quickly and we haven’t.

“It’s not fair to me and my wife and the people who were affected down through Valley Grove. It’s not fair at all.”

He doesn’t think the flooding in Ohio County has had the national publicity it warranted, and that it got knocked out of the spotlight when the larger Texas flooding occurred.

“Publicity is a big thing,” Pickens said. “I feel when something goes viral for something like that, people start acting more quickly to that specific event than the other one.

“And when we were only on the news for less than a day, I think people forgot real quick.”

He noted he has been attempting to contact the national media who spoke to him after the flooding, but calls aren’t being returned or he is being rerouted to different people.

Pickens said he has observed that stories about recent flooding throughout the nation often mention Texas and New Mexico flooding, but not that in West Virginia.

He added he and his wife have received many donations from the community “just to help us get by.”

“It’s for the day-to-day things, like haircuts, gas and food,” Pickens continued. “We really have appreciated that more than anything.

“We have been donated a few things just to be able to live in my grandmother’s basement — a bed, a desk and drawers to put our clothes in.”

Wheeling resident Martha Polinsky joined those lining the roadway with signs.

“There are people here today that care very deeply about their neighbors, and don’t feel like it’s been fair that other states have gotten their declaration and we have not here,” Polinsky said. “That is why we are out here today.

“We don’t think it’s a partisan issue, we think it’s an everybody issue. We should all be calling our governor, calling our senators … whatever you can do to get them to act.”

Vickie Joseph of the St. Vincent dePaul Society also came out to champion the needs of the flood victims.

“These people are such giving people,” she said of the flood victims themselves. “A lot of those people affected by the flood aren’t taking the help offered by my organization. They want it to go to somebody else who needs it more.

“We’re hoping to mitigate as much as we can. It’s a shame the U.S. government has let them down,” she added.