Landau Eugene Murphy’s Hometown a Winner

Until recently, Logan, West Virginia—just a 90-minute drive from my home—was best known as the hometown of America’s Got Talent winner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr.

The former car-wash-worker-turned-singing-sensation captured the hearts of underdogs everywhere with his rags-to-riches saga, chronicled in his 2013 book, From Washing Cars to Hollywood Stars.

It helps that he retains the reputation of a down-to-earth performer who hasn’t forgotten his roots, performing regularly around the state and still living here.

My wife and I cheered heartily when we tuned in to the NBC show to see whether a native son could take home the trophy. So I would never sell short his impressive accomplishments.

And yet, a much less-publicized, more recent feat should place Logan on the map as an outpost of caring and generosity.

Modern Outpouring

I’m referring to the remarkable response that followed a late February fire that damaged the town’s elementary school.

The blaze caused extensive fire, water, and smoke damage, forcing students to move to Logan Middle for classes for the remainder of the school year.

A sad story on the surface, but what caught my attention took place the week after the fire. That’s when an outpouring of support from local residents brought in supplies beyond the school system’s wildest dreams.

Because nearly everything was a total loss, the city had asked people for basics like pencils, erasers, crayons, colored pencils, highlighters, scissors, glue sticks, and dry erase markers.

Plus, paper and learning supplies, i.e., white copy paper, cardstock, chart paper pads, sticky notes, and wide-ruled notebook paper.

Then there were necessities, like Clorox wipes, tissues, paper towels, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, and trash bags. Plus creative tools—tempera paint sets, paint brushes, Play-Doh, craft sticks, and stickers.

Here’s the rub: on the Thursday after the fire, Logan County Schools issued a statement telling people to please not bring anything else.

“Because of your incredible response, we are currently at capacity and are unable to accept any additional donations at this time,” it said. “Please know that your willingness to help has made a meaningful difference for our students, staff, and families as we move forward.”

More Than Enough

Anyone who has worked on a fund-raising drive or taken up a church collection would love to see so many resources flooding in that they could tell folks, “All right, that’s enough.”

That’s what happened when Israel was building the first tabernacle roughly 3,500 years ago.

Exodus 36 relates how the skilled artisans working on the sanctuary told Moses: “‘The people are bringing much more than is needed for the service of the work which the Lord commanded us to do.’

“So Moses issued a command, and they circulated a proclamation throughout the camp, saying, ‘Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.’ So the people were restrained from bringing any more (MEV, vv. 5–6, emphasis added).

My wife and I happened to review this passage in our morning Bible reading about a week before the story about Logan appeared, which heightened my senses to its amazing nature.

It helps to appreciate that Logan is part of a southern coalfields depression that began around 1960. Over the next six decades, the town’s population shrank from nearly 4,200 to less than 1,500.

Given the often-scarce resources in this part of West Virginia, for Logan residents to offer authorities so many school supplies that they had to be “restrained from bringing any more”? It’s a story of biblical proportions.