HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – The Smithsonian Institution is in South Carolina this week to help people restore valuable items or family heirlooms that may have been damaged during the flood.
“It’s not just property to us,” said Smithsonian Institution training coordinator Stacy Bowe. “It’s symbols of our heritage and that’s what we’re here to try to help with.
The Smithsonian Institution is collaborating with FEMA and holding free workshops to demonstrate how to properly salvage special items, like an old photo frame, photo album, special book, or other memorable things you may have in your house.
“Once we’ve taken care of our family and making sure we have food, water, and shelter, the next thing you’re going to ask is ‘are my valuables safe? Are my heirlooms safe?’” said Bowe.
She said they are doing this workshop in hopes that people won’t throw away some of their special items, even though they may have been damaged by the flood. “We all have things that are very precious to us that we do want to save,” said Bowe. She said with the right knowledge, it’s possible many of those items can be salvaged.
Another component to saving your heirlooms is safety. Bowe said because a lot of the flood water became toxic, you need to practice safe measures when restoring it. “We just don’t know what your heirlooms have been exposed to,” said Bowe. “So, we really emphasize that you need to be safe when handling them, cleaning them, drying them, because we would hate for those things to be hazardous to you as you’re trying to save them.”
The demonstrations for how to safely salvage some of your special items is at Horry Georgetown Technical College through Thursday. They are open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in room 230 of building 200.
