Knott Co. non-profit hosts holiday-themed flood recovery event

HINDMAN, Ky. (WYMT) - Hindman Settlement School has held monthly “Gather & Grow” events since November to help each other recover from the July flood.

Saturday’s theme celebrated St. Patrick’s Day.

“I kinda like how St. Patrick’s Day, for me, it represents, everything starts going green again, you know. Like the trees and flowers blooming. It’s just kind of a fun way to start the season,” Tyler Barrett, Hindman Settlement School Community Engagement Coordinator, said.

The Black Sheep Bakery made a free meal with a pinch of holiday flavor.

“To cook this meal was to cook my ancestral food, and so, it was really cool you know, because we made the Irish soda bread and we made the corn beef and cabbage,” Gwen Johnson, Black Sheep Bakery owner, said.

Beyond the holiday is a sense of community as recovery from the flood continues.

“I think you can tell whenever people come, there’s more of an atmosphere of like fun and joy, and also much heaviness from everything that happened,” Tyler Barrett said.

“We’ve all been hit really hard with the flood, and we’ve all crawled out, and this evening was the celebration,” Gwen Johnson added.

In a fashion everyone there knows well, they sang an old tune through prayer in declaration that Hindman has hope.

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