Governor Beshear to dedicate new homes for tornado survivors in Mayfield

MAYFIELD, Ky., (KBSI) – Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear will help dedicate four new homes for survivors of the December 2021 tornado in Mayfield today.

The dedication ceremony, scheduled for Tuesday morning at 514 East South Street, marks another milestone in the region’s recovery efforts.

Beshear will join local officials and community leaders to hand over the keys to the new homes, providing a sense of hope and renewal for the affected families.

This event is part of the ongoing efforts to rebuild and recover from the devastating tornadoes that struck Western Kentucky in 2021.

Over the past three years, numerous events and initiatives have taken place to support the affected communities, including the dedication of new homes, allocation of funds for high-speed internet and economic development, and various rebuilding projects.

Katrice Wedley and her children Jayvon and Nakrynh Hobbs is one of the families who received the keys to their new home today. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear was in attendance to show his support and hand the keys over to families.

Wedley’s son Jayvon says he will never forget when the night the tornado destroyed their home with them inside.

“Being in school and having drills and practice for those things you never really think that it’s going to like actually happen and especially because like up until that point, I never really experienced anything like that so I never thought that it would actually happen and then it happened, and it was just like very scary and unpredictable experience to go through.” 

Disaster survivors are selected through a process through the Hope Initiative.  Stephen Boyken is the lead pastor of His House Ministries and President of the Hope Initiative. He says the initiative was created through his families own scary experience and through his faith, resources and grants the Hope Initiative has given brand new homes to more than 50 people in Kentucky. 

“We started picking them up one at a time. Picking people’s lives back up. The lord helped us tremendously with resources and relationships and so today was our 54th house that we’ve gotten to build, 54 families that we’ve been able to touch their lives and point them to Christ as we’ve worked for seeing our families come back together. One piece, one family, one life at a time.”