BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
LOVELY — Danielle Kirk of Lovely, owner of clothing company 35 Stitches, has taken to TikTok to help raise money for families in need during the recent flooding in eastern Kentucky.
This isn’t the first time Kirk, who has over 154,000 followers on TikTok, has used her platform to help those in need. She was able to raise $8,000 for flood relief in Martin County last year.
“This year, I had people messaging me about the flooding before I even knew it was flooding,” said Kirk. “They’re like, ‘what can we do to help?’”
Early last week, Danielle saw a TikTok of a mutual friend talking about a Breathitt County family with six children and one on the way who lost everything to the floods and have been living in tents. Kirk knew immediately she had to do something.
Kirk put out a call-to-action to her TikTok followers who immediately began pouring in small donations totaling around $4,800. Kirk’s friend Carrie Melton used her business connections to raise an additional $2,000 for the family.
At first, Kirk’s plan was to buy a camper for the family, but through the generosity and support of others, they were able to place a single-wide trailer on the family’s property Monday night.
The trailer itself was donated by a friend. An electrician and a plumber donated their time to hook up and inspect the trailer.
The funds donated by Kirk’s followers were used to cover legal and administrative costs for the trailer, while Melton’s funds were used for furniture and household supplies.
Monday evening, Kirk and Melton traveled to Breathitt county to help the family move into their new home.
“Now, we’ve got to the point where we’re going to be able to help another family just by keeping the momentum going,” said Kirk.
Kirk’s TikTok was created for her clothing company, but soon folks in the comments took to asking about her accent and culture, transforming the nature of her content, which drew in her larger fanbase who were fascinated by Appalachia.
“People just love the fact that we love so much,” said Kirk. “We take care of each other and that’s not something you’re going to find everywhere.”
Follow Kirk on TikTok @daniellekirk731 and support the cause by donating through Venmo (Danielle-kirk-70), Cash App ($daniellekirk731), or Paypal (john.kirk41@yahoo.com).