On the Road
A Family That Gives Back
Meeting the Sawyer Family in Kentucky
When Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Projects Specialist, and I met with our Volunteer Coordinator, Brenda Curry, at Fallsburg Elementary School in August, the first thing Brenda wanted to talk about was a very special family that she had arranged for us to visit with that afternoon. Stewart and Carolyn Sawyer* live in a small home in Lawrence County, Kentucky, about a twenty-minute drive away from the school, where their son, Michael*, who is sponsored through Children […]
Home Is Where the Heart Is
Why families in Kentucky don’t just leave and start over
Since I first started visiting our affiliated projects in Eastern Kentucky in April of 2015, I have been reporting on the burden of poverty that our sponsored children and their families face every day. With a lack of jobs and scarcity of resources for people in need in this region of the United States, I often get asked when I return home: Why don’t people in need just move somewhere else? It is a question […]
A Lack of Transportation in Kentucky
In Lawrence County, many children and adults don’t have the means to leave their homes
In late August, Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Projects Specialist for Children Incorporated, and I traveled to Lawrence County, Kentucky to visit Louisa Middle School and Lawrence County High School. The two schools are located in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field region in a very rural part of the state. The county is one of the largest in the state, meaning the distances between stores, homes, schools, and businesses are vast. There is no quick trip to […]
Hoping for a Future for Today’s Children in Magoffin County
Whether or not industry will return to Kentucky is a concern for many
The first question Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Projects Specialist for Children Incorporated, asked Michael Helton, our volunteer coordinator at Magoffin County High School, on her recent visit was what he saw for the future of the county and region. Shelley was meeting with Michael as a part of her trip to Kentucky, in conjunction with Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube’s, visit to Martin County schools. Michael sighed and quietly said, “No matter what anyone says […]
Hard Decisions for Parents in Eastern Kentucky
When it comes to paying bills and feeding their children, parents in Martin County have to choose
In May, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, visited Martin County in Kentucky, where she met with many of our sponsored children at our affiliated schools, as well as at some of their homes. The breadth and depth of the poverty in Martin County is staggering. Over the many years that Renée has been visiting Eastern Kentucky, she has seen the homes of the impoverished on the sides of main roads; but it still […]
Visiting Counties in Need in Kentucky
Kids in Kentucky face similar challenges with poverty in Martin and Magoffin Counties
In May of this year, Renée Kube, our Director of U.S. Programs, and Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Projects Specialist, traveled to Kentucky together to visit two counties that Children Incorporated serves. Once they arrived in Kentucky, they split up – Renée in the direction of Martin County, and Shelley to Magoffin County. Both counties are close to each other in proximity, east of Lexington, and are two of the poorest counties in our nation. In Martin […]