Recovery, Growing Food — Two Stories Of Resilience In W.Va.

On this West Virginia Morning, we hear two stories of challenges and resilience in Appalachia. We also bring you a report from the Ohio Valley ReSource on coal company American Resources Corporation.

A coal company with mines in Kentucky and West Virginia is facing sanctions after failing to comply with a bankruptcy court’s orders. Sydney Boles reports, the threat comes after the company received millions in government aid meant for companies harmed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lesly-Marie Buer said when she started writing her latest book, she was struck by the stories of the dozens of women she interviewed in eastern Kentucky who were just trying to survive – survive substance abuse treatment, survive parenthood, survive their day-to-day. Buer’s book “Rx Appalachia: Stories of Treatment and Survival in Rural Kentucky” explores the gender inequities that come with recovery and solutions that could help end generational cycles of oppression that have led to substance abuse. She spoke with 100 Days in Appalachia’s Taylor Sisk.

Tom Tolliver has been working with troubled teens and young adults for more than 30 years, visiting them in prisons and mentoring them to keep them out of trouble. He lives in Charleston’s West Side neighborhood, and when he realized that many kids there didn’t understand where food came from, he immediately began setting up a community garden. The gardens serve the dual purpose of giving the kids he works with purpose and giving them good food to eat. He said he believes if you want to work on a child’s outside, you have to work on the inside first.

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Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

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