Breathitt Co. tech center receives big donation to help recover from flooding

BREATHITT COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - The Breathitt County Area Technology Center was hit hard by flooding. Now, the facility is getting the chance to rebuild and buy more tools for students.

Advance Auto Parts donated $25,000 to the center on Wednesday to help rebuild.

Initially, the school reached out to Advance Auto Parts to ask if there was anything the company could do to help after the flooding. The principal said losses, including the building and supplies, total over a million dollars.

For many of the students, their workspace is currently a parking lot. The hope is the $25,000 donation can help buy more supplies.

“We were just honored to bring this to our foundation and part of our culture is care,” said Matt Belcher, regional manager of Advance Auto Parts. “Me being from Eastern Kentucky, is very passionate for me, and we wanted to find a way and, gosh, what better way? Besides, automotive tech is hard to find these days. Anything we can do to support the effort is fantastic.”

The principal says they hope to break ground this spring on a new building at the old location site, so they can get students back on campus.

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