EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — An 80-year-old resident, completely devastated after having just recently paid off his mortgage. That’s just one of the examples of the many hardships East Palestine residents face as authorities continue testing air and water.

Lisa Wallace, co-director at The Brighthouse Project, knows the story well. The nonprofit has been working to help residents since the Norfolk Southern train derailed on Feb. 3.  What many people don’t know, Wallace said, is that East Palestine is an extremely poverty-stricken area. 

“They maybe have 5,000 residents; most are economically disadvantaged," said Wallace. "And so, something like this is catastrophic to them, you know, they're not financially secure.” 

Wallace said simple things like food and personal care products were not easily accessible after being evacuated.

“That's coming out of their expenses, and they might not have those," said Wallace. "So, things that we don't think about: they might be on SNAP benefits, but that just covers food right now.”  

Residents had a bit of a survival mentality at the beginning, Wallace said, but now they’re worried about being able to recover from what the derailment has done to their finances.

And there’s the emotional trauma to boot.

“Last week, we saw a lot of emotional families, several families crying, you know, from things [like] that the value of their home has gone down,” Wallace said.  

“We're going into week three now. We're still seeing frustration, confusion, families are not getting answers that they want. And there's a lot of sadness and uncertainty about what to do now.”

The one thing Wallace said needs to be on everyone’s minds as the attention on East Palestine starts to dissipate, is the children of the village.

“It's going to be mental health," said Wallace. "It's going to be supporting these children socially, emotionally. Especially coming off the pandemic, these kids have barely gained a sense of normalcy again. And so you know, this, this catastrophe to their hometown, it shut down schools for a little bit. Some of them still are not back home. So, at the Brightside Project, we're really concerned about what this means for the kids long term. I mean, they're already up against so much in today's society with bullying, anxiety, depression, and so we're going to be committed to walking alongside them long term.”