LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A popular Facebook post has led an increasing number of people in need of assistance to contact the United Way’s Waypoint Center in Lexington.
Damon Horton, a community impact manager at United Way of the Bluegrass, wrote the post on his personal Facebook page:
“If you need help, come see me, if you need help with rent, come see me, if you need help with utilities, come see me, if you need a job, come see me, if you need medical insurance, come see me, if you need a bank account, come see me, if you want to go back to school, come see me, if you need financial education, come see me. COME SEE ME, COME SEE ME, COME SEE ME!!!!!”
The post has been shared 250 times as of late Tuesday evening. Horton has received a flurry of calls since making the post. He aims to reach a quota of helping 10 people a week. Since making the post on Monday, he’s helped more than 20 people get the help they need. Just during our interview alone, Horton received phone calls from two people who’d seen the Facebook post and were asking for help.
“I'm not just going to give you a number or tell you to go somewhere, I'm going to connect you with an actual person,” Horton said.
LEX 18 saw that happen in real-time on Tuesday afternoon. Jayme Baxter came to Horton looking for rental assistance. She spent about a half hour talking to Horton about the situation she found herself in before he ran down a list of official criteria. She had her call a specific number to get assistance, left a message, and less than 20 minutes later got a call back. Like many people, she didn’t know about Waypoint until the Facebook post.
“Before they leave, I ask them to breathe for me a sigh of relief that it’s not as bad as they thought, that somebody actually cares,” Horton said.
Horton’s office is located in the Charles Young Center in Lexington. Their phone number is 859-977-7383. Their email address is waypointeast@uwbg.org.
A full list of their services is located on their website.
If you are looking for rental assistance, but live outside of Central Kentucky, you can go tothiswebsite.
