Facebook helping reconnect families to lost photos
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – People across Kentucky are finding photos and memorabilia from hundreds of miles away, carried by last week’s storms. People finding these pictures are doing everything in their power to reconnect it with families, through any means possible.
“It may just be a picture but for somebody it could mean a lot,” says Kimmy Risser, owner of Hickory Manor.
Risser was doing her routine morning check of her farm in Paris over the weekend when she found a photo of people she didn’t recognize on the ground. She says at first she wasn’t sure if the photo could be from the tornado since it would’ve traveled hundreds of miles, but after seeing how many others in central Kentucky were finding family photos from those who lost everything, she says she knew she had to do everything she could to get this picture back to the right family.
“Certainly it had to have been an emotional moment, whether it was a good or bad emotional moment,” says Risser. “If they took a picture of it, it was obviously worth remembering.”
Shortly after we left Risser’s farm, she found another torn photo at the back of the farm. She says growing up around hurricanes, she knows the importance of being able to find any memory otherwise thought lost.
“To me, it’s maybe just a picture but you know, there’s a chance to somebody else it’s more important than that,” says Risser.
Though Risser is still looking for the family in the picture, another photo has been returned to its’ rightful owners. In Lexington, Carl Bernius came across a photo of a couple on Monday, laying in a puddle on top of the unfinished building at a construction site.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, you get a piece of your life back and you know, it makes you feel whole and helps you to get over the difficulties you’re going through,” says Bernius.
With the help of his supervisor, and a little Facebook magic, they reconnected the photo to a family in Campbellsville who lost their home in the tornado. The construction workers say they couldn’t be happier to have found the family so quickly.
“I didn’t think it would be quick at all, to be honest with you,” says Jonathan Dorton, site supervisor. “I just took the picture thinking you might find out and you might not. Just curious. But I’m going to find their address and get it mailed back to them.”
With pictures like these found across the Bluegrass, people hope reconnecting families to their memories will help bring some comfort through the tragedy. Photos like these and other found memorabilia can be found at the Facebook page linked HERE.
