Donations received for Hideaway Hills homeowners

BLACK HAWK, S.D. — The Catholic Social Services Disaster Relief Department, along with funding by the John T. Vucurevich Foundation, the South Dakota Community Foundation, and Catholic Charities U.S.A., has made a $20,000 donation to the Hideaway Hills homeowners affected by the mine collapse in April 2020. The funds were split between 12 homeowners, whose homes are uninhabitable as a result of the incident.

“It has been very helpful,” said Lori Kiehn, a Hideaway Hills homeowner. “As of today, our home/mine situation has not changed and no resolution has been reached. Thank you for your generosity and care. We are very thankful and appreciative.”

Knights of Columbus volunteers Paul Yantes, Ernie Garcia, Jeffrey Meyers, Thomas Collings, and John Gehlsen were trained as disaster case managers by former CSS Disaster Director Leon Lunders for the project.

“These families have not only lost their homes, some are still tied to the mortgage, while most have lost the equity in their property,” CSS Executive Director Jim Kinyon said. “We know these funds are appreciated, but we also know that they will not make these families whole. We wish them well in their pursuit of justice and wish we were in a position to do more to let them know of our support and concern.”