Community group: Mayfield Graves County Long Term Recovery Group
Challenge: Responding to a community facing repeated, compounding disasters—while ensuring the emotional and spiritual needs of survivors are not sidelined during long-term recovery.
Outcome: Providing Cards for Calamity to recovery leaders, nonprofits, teachers, and agencies led to vital emotional support, practical guidance, and a sense of hope throughout the recovery journey.
Funder: Made possible thanks to a partnership with Good360
When the EF-4 tornado tore through Mayfield, Kentucky in December 2021, the destruction was staggering: over 4,200 households impacted and more than 1,200 structures—churches, homes, and businesses—flattened. But the tornado was only the beginning. In the years that followed, Mayfield was struck again and again—by catastrophic flooding and more severe storms. As the physical damage mounted, so too did the emotional weight on the community.
In the words of Amy Chicoine, Executive Director of the Mayfield Graves County Long Term Recovery Group, “One of the needs after a disaster is the spiritual and emotional health of the community of survivors that have been impacted—not just those that have been impacted directly, but those that have been indirectly affected by losing their community, losing their home churches, losing family and friends... And often through all of this, the emotional toll is heavy, especially the longer the further out you go from disaster—and that need is often overlooked.”
That’s where Cards for Calamity really made a difference. Created by Hummingly, these cards are filled with practical wisdom to help disaster-impacted communities face tough decisions, navigate adversity, and rebuild lives—not just homes.
For Mayfield and surrounding areas, the cards have become a critical tool in healing. Amy says; "So, that's where Cards for Calamity for us has been huge. It's been a gap in our community and in our neighboring communities. And so being able to have a resource that we can put in the hands of our disaster recovery agencies, in the hands of our nonprofit partners, in the hands of our teachers is huge. It's huge!"
“Just about every card set that we've handed out, the response has immediately been, ‘I wish I had this on day one.’ ...And we’re blessed to have it three years in, but my hope moving forward is that in every subsequent disaster we’ll have them on day one. We’ll have them at week one. We’ll have them six months in. We’ll have this support for the entire journey. This has been a critical resource for our community”
At the Hummingly Foundation, we believe that emotional recovery is not a luxury—it’s essential. When funders support Cards for Calamity, they are funding healing, agency, and hope. When communities and agencies request them, they are choosing to prioritize their people. Let’s make sure no community faces recovery without the tools to hold their emotional ground. Join us in putting people back at the center of disaster recovery—where they’ve always belonged.
