Local K-9 rescue group to head to Ohio with donations

ESTILL COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) — The tornado outbreak in Dayton, Ohio left the city in complete devastation with one person dead.

A K-9 group in Estill County heard the news and immediately went to work to do what it can for the victims.

Hunter Hounds Search and Recovery is driving up to Ohio Thursday morning with all the donations it can raise.

“Breaks my heart seeing the devastation, all the homes that are tore up, the families that were split at the time trying to find each other,” says VP of the group, Chris Coffey. “It’s overwhelming.”

“This group is more than just going out and finding missing people,” says Coffey. “We’re here to help everybody that we can.”

President of the group, David Conrad, has family in Dayton.

“It took us a good hour to get track them down and get ahold of them to find out if they were okay,” says Conrad.

The group has been collecting donations Tuesday and Wednesday and are heading up to Ohio Thursday morning.

Conrad says water is really needed because many in the area are completely without it.

Non-perishable foods, paper towels, cleaning supplies, toiletries are all needed. Conrad says anything will be of help.

“Today we will take cash if people don’t have time to go to the store. We have somebody who will go out and do the shopping and bring it back to us. I mean I want everybody to be able to help out so if you want to bring some money by we will have the receipts and they can come back and see where their money went,” says Conrad.

They have trucks, trailers, even a semi on standby if they can get enough donated to fill it up.

A group of ten people along with two K-9’s will be making the trek to assist in the recovery.

You can donate at the Estill County Fairgrounds until 9 p.m. Wednesday. But they’ll be loading up everything until 11 p.m. so even then you could drop stuff by.

“We’re leaving out at 4 a.m. I know that’s early but if you have something you want to donate and couldn’t make it I’ll be here at 4 a.m. in the morning ready to pull out so we’ll take it then too,” says Conrad.

If you can’t make it to Estill County a volunteer is setting up a donation trailer in Montgomery County Wednesday night.

She will be set up at the Circle K at 892 Indian Mound Drive, in Mount Sterling.

She got there at 5 p.m. and will be there until donations stop. Then she’ll head to Estill County with everything donated.