NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — You knew it was a special day inside the Jessamine County Homeless Coalition once you walked in and smelled the food coming from the kitchen.
“It’s just about spreading the spirit of BBQ and doing it one kind act at a time,” said Kennon Adkinson.
Adkinson serves as the chief kindness officer for Sonny’s BBQ chain. Yes, they actually employ him to be the CKO, and this week Adkinson and his staff are busy with what is known as “Random Acts of Kindness Week.”
“We are on a CKO roadshow this whole week,” he said of Sonny’s initiative to spread cheer across the region.
Different organizations, like the Homeless Coalition here, were nominated to receive a free lunch from Sonny’s this week.
“What an amazing blessing. And it’s so important for how we operate,” said the coalition's executive director, Johnny Templin.
Templin spent a week in December living on a street corner in Nicholasville to raise awareness for the coalition. It might’ve worked, as a Sonny’s employee nominated them to be the recipients of today’s lunch.
“It started with Sonny and his wife, Lucille. They were kind from the get-go. We’ve been kind for over fifty years,” Adkinson said.
Now they’re spending the entire week being kind, having touched the lives of others in three different states so far. They will be in Richmond on Friday and the roadshow will conclude in Tampa, Florida on the 21st.
“Random acts of BBQ for random acts of kindness,” Adkinson said, before adding that their kind gesture isn’t limited to one week out of the year.
“We want to spread love and kind acts and to be kind 365 days of the year,” he said.
