MONTICELLO, Ky. (LEX 18) — It's the season of giving and one Wayne County non-profit is calling on the community to give one of its biggest resources -- time. The House of Blessings is a big part of the community as the need for food gets bigger.
Things usually start to pick up for communities around the holidays and in Wayne County the House of Blessings is no exception. This kitchen feeds 1,100 people, three times a week and also delivers two meals each to nearly 250 seniors.
Long-time volunteer Sherry Kelsay said, "It is strictly run off donations, people from the community provide all the money and all the things that we have here. Everything is donated through donations."
House of Blessings has been here for nearly a decade, but Kelsay and her daughter started volunteering around the pandemic. She says the experience completely changed their outlooks.
She said, "I came in to keep my children busy because I believe in teaching them charity and helping other people in the community and we did that through church, but this is a massive undertaking here where it's an outreach to people that just so need it."
The kitchen relies on the community to help get the food they need. They take donations from Tyson Chicken, Walmart, Dollar General, and more. Larry Sheeley explains that the company he works for provides food and much needed volunteers.
Sheeley said, "You know a lot of times we all think we struggle from time to time, but when you see some of these folks that indeed are struggling wondering where their next meal is coming from, that is what really tugs at your heart and makes you want to help volunteer."
House of Blessings needs a lot of hands to serve out its mission. They work with community programs like the Wayne County Detention Center to get people in the door. But volunteers are still a huge need especially around the holidays.
House of Blessings’ president Ron Fox said, "Every day we have stuff coming in and we shuffle things around. But it's really a people issue. We just don’t have enough people to do this. Thats why some of us work 50-60 hours a week to keep this up."
Its current volunteers serve as many as 40 to 50 hours a week over five or six days. For Kelsay and her family, she says seeing the need in the community and making one-on-one connections is the biggest value.
She said, "You’d be surprised how much you would get blessed from the community that you’re in. Thats the experience that I wanted my daughter to see, and I wanted my children to understand. You know that there’s more out that than just what you can do financially you’ve got to help out the community that's around you and you’re gonna get more of a blessing from that than you ever will money."
