Boyd Foundation Makes Million Dollar Donation To Cocke County
It has been over 18 months since Cocke County and much of East Tennessee was devastated by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. Immediately afterwards, donations poured in from all over to help the county recover. The Cocke County Partnership was instrumental in beginning the organization Mountain Strong to handle and solicit donations to help all of the counties in East Tennessee that were affected. The Boyd Foundation pledged to donate $1 million to that recovery effort. On Wednesday (4/15), The Boyd Foundation, lead by Randy and Jeannie Boyd made good on that pledge.
Mountain Strong Board members and other Cocke County dignitaries were on hand for an event announcing the $1 million donation to Cocke County’s recovery efforts. Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis stated that the money comes at a good time as the county enters Phase Three of its recovery, which includes continuing to assist in recovery efforts now, but also the long term recovery and being prepared for the next disaster. Mathis stated that some of the monies will go to volunteer fire departments in the county, whose resources were strained during the flood. Each voluhteer fire department is set to receive $20,000 of the Boyd Foundation donation.
Daryl Brady, President of the Cocke County Partnership and board member of Mountain Strong, says that in the first wave of donation distribution monies would be going to the Downtown Mainstreet Association, the Hartford rafting area, the Farmers Market/Riverwalk. Both the Hartford rafting areas and the Riverwalk in downtown Newport suffered extreme damage becuase of the flood. Brady stated that a special grant is also being set up to assist farmers in the recovery.
Randy Boyd stated he and his wife wanted to help the communities that were hit hard by Hurricane Helene, but wanted the money to go where it was needed most. “We decided just to give them a block grant and let them spend the money the best way they knew how,” Boyd said.
