With the aid of family members, Phoenicia Miracle, a former Harlan County resident, was able to raise over $10,000 worth of products to provide assistance to the county after its economy took a hard hit from Blackjewel’s sudden filing for bankruptcy.

Miracle said when she first heard of the impact Blackjewel’s bankruptcy had on the community, she was listening to a prayer service taking place at Grays Knob. She heard a miner speaking of the struggles his family and the rest of the county were facing.

Christ’s Hands Executive Director Bryan Toll said the organization has depended on a variety of individuals and groups for almost 20 years in order to feed the hungry.

“We wanted to stretch every dollar and to make sure the food reached people in all corners of Harlan County, and even in neighboring communities,” Miracle said. “When Bryan (Toll) told me that they partner with local churches to maximize distribution and that we could provide 40,000 pounds of food for every $1000 we raised, we decided to work with Christ’s Hands.”

“Phoenicia saw a video of us unloading a semi-truck of food, and she called me and said they would try to fund 10 trucks and they did,” Toll said.

The donation arrived at Christ’s Hands on Friday to fund 10 semi-truck loads of food (400,000 pounds) over the course of a five-month period.

“Our fathers and grandfathers were coal miners,” Miracle said. “My great-grandfather’s name is on that memorial beside the courthouse. We wanted to show the miners and their families that people around the country appreciate them. More than anything, though, we wanted to be examples of what Christ has called us to do.”

Miracle presented the check to Toll on Friday while workers proceeded to load truck-after-truck full of food and drink products from 8:30 until 11 a.m.

For more information regarding the donation, call Miracle at 912-272-2263 or Toll at 606-273-2624.