As West Virginia continues to recover from the June 23 floods, survivors still need help, but that need is changing. So is the way that state officials are responding to that need.
"We are in that transition of moving from [needing] cleaning supplies to [needing] things such as furniture and building supplies and tools and things of that nature," said Jenny Gannaway, state chairwoman of the West Virginia Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster.
Furniture and household items such as linens, pillows, small appliances and utensils are also still needed, officials say.
Donations are being housed in a warehouse at the Quincy Center in Belle. The building, owned by Quincy Coal and loaned to the state, is a former Magic Mart store. Materials in the warehouse are organized by kind -- cleaning supplies, food, baby needs and so on.
Gannaway said workers are able to accept most donations, but they cannot accept used clothing.
Donations come to the center and workers coordinate with county-level long term recovery committees to get materials out to people who need them.
The warehouse, as well as one in Beaver, is taking the place of distribution centers that set up in parking lots of various communities. Some of the distribution centers are starting to wind down their operations, said David Hoge, director of the Homeland Security State Administrative Agency, a part of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. Others are continuing to operate.
"Over time that will wind down and be on a more individual basis," Hoge said.
The Quincy distribution warehouse has so far taken in $1.6 million worth of donated goods, the state estimates. Officials also estimate that more than $8 million in goods have been donated to flood-affected areas across the state.
Another distribution warehouse is located in Beaver and serves the southern and eastern counties affected by the flood, Hoge said. He said the warehouse has a good supply of cleaning supplies, but they are needing more building supplies, tools, furniture and household items.
Matt Blackwood, deputy director of the state Department of Homeland Security State Administrative Agency, said donations continue to roll into the warehouse. On Wednesday, workers were expecting a load of furniture. Pallets of water came Tuesday, he said.
Blackwood said the recovery efforts would be a multi-year process.
"There are going to be people dealing with things for quite a while," he said. "As much devastation, as much loss that people had, it's not something that they can bounce back from quickly. We're going to continue to supply the efforts for as long it takes, as we're needed.
"We're going to maintain this facility in some capacity, I think, for the foreseeable future," he said.
Volunteers are still needed, too, said Heather Foster, director of Volunteer West Virginia. Initially, some flood survivors turned away help, saying that their neighbors or someone else needed it more than they did, she said. When they realized the work was more than they thought they reached out for help, she said.
"That's creating a little second burst of need for things like muck-out and especially the drywall removal and things like that," Foster said. Some residents still have debris in their yards that needs to be removed, which is another volunteer opportunity, she said.
Foster encouraged anyone interested in volunteering to think about when they might be able to come or bring and group of volunteers and then keep check regularly with WVFlood.com for opportunities to volunteer.
Anyone who wants to donate items should call 304-881-2708.
Reach Lori Kersey at lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.