Tag Archives: kentucky

Shelley Callahan | January 1, 2023En Español

Today, we hear from our U.S. Programs Director, Renée Kube, about how a Hope In Action Fund request from one of our volunteer coordinators is providing much-needed resources to one of the many impoverished families in Kentucky whose situation was worsened by devastating flooding to the region last year.

Renée’s letter

“Our amazing Volunteer Coordinator, Angie, at Morgan County Middle School, contacted me recently about a family who has been struggling, and she asked for some extra assistance.”

“Housing has always been difficult to find in eastern Kentucky, but the rental market has been even tighter since the terrible flooding last July.”

“The mother died last year. The father is trying to work and raise three children, but he has a limited education and few opportunities. The father had some financial setbacks, and they became homeless and were in a local shelter for about six weeks. The eldest child is enrolled at Morgan Middle School, and there are two younger children enrolled at Morgan Central Elementary School. Two of the three children are currently in the Children Incorporated sponsorship program and have sponsors.”

“Housing has always been difficult to find in eastern Kentucky, but the rental market has been even tighter since the terrible flooding last July. Families that were displaced from the counties that were hardest hit moved to the bordering counties that were not impacted as badly, including Morgan County. Rental costs have risen sharply.”

Help from the community and our donors

The two trailers are shown, one of which had no running water or a bathroom.

“Angie did a home visit to see the family, and sent a photo to accurately describe the dismal situation the family was in, as their only option was to move from a shelter to an old camper. Angie explained to me that they first moved into the smaller camper on the left of the photo, but it’s just a shell without running water, a bathroom or a bedroom. Then, the landlord moved the other camper onto his property. It’s better, with a slide-out that gives a bit more living space, but its condition is not great either. The family left the smaller trailer and is now renting the larger one.”

“Children Incorporated is providing a modest grant that will provide a couple of space heaters, blankets, some additional warm clothing, and food for this family to get through the winter, which should help them start to feel grounded again and more stable. Our amazing sponsors and donors make wonderful things just like this happen every day for families in our program and we are so grateful for their support.”

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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?

You can sponsor a child in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | October 10, 2022En Español

In late July of this year, we reported on the massive flooding that occurred in Eastern Kentucky, which devastated many of the communities in which we work. Storms followed by rising water damaged homes and schools, leaving families of our sponsored children without a place a live — and in dire need of emergency relief.

In the first week after the flooding, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, sent $1000 to each of the 43 Family Resource Centers at our affiliated schools in the countries and cities with the worst flood damage, all thanks to previous donations to our Hope In Action Fund.

By early August, further contributions to our Emergency Flood Relief Fund totaled more than $22,000.

Helping families through an emergency

By early August, further contributions to our Emergency Flood Relief Fund totaled more than $22,000 as our donors generously supported our efforts to get aid to Kentucky as quickly as possible. We were able to disburse these funds to communities to support clean up and recovery efforts and replace destroyed items that children will need for the upcoming fall and winter months.

Many of our affiliated sites in Eastern Kentucky have been devastated by flooding in July.

We are just now starting to receive thank you letters from our volunteer coordinators, as they have been working around the clock, tirelessly helping rebuild their schools and communities, all while helping to ensure children in our program, who are already living in poverty, are receiving basic needs through this disaster.

A letter from Kelli

Today, we want to share a letter of gratitude from Kelli at Breathitt County Jr.-Sr. High School, who wrote to our donors to say thank you for the support:

“I want to say thank you so much for the Flood Relief Funds. My students, families and county as a whole have suffered so much from this flood. I was able to go to Walmart and buy brand new items for the students. Girls asked for underwear and bras and comfortable clothes. The boys also asked for underwear, as well as socks and hoodies to stay warm.”

“While we had an outpouring of donations after the floods, a lot of items were used and were not always the right sizes for my students. The new items were taken to the students and families that were displaced and living in the homeless shelters. Thanks again for your generosity. You don’t know how much it was appreciated.”

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How Can I Support Families in Eastern Kentucky?

You can help families in Eastern Kentucky by donation to our Hope In Action Fund. You can make a donation one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go click the link below to be directed to our online donation portal.

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Kristen Walthall | September 4, 2022En Español

As our Floyd County, Kentucky virtual visit series comes to a close, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, tells us about our newest affiliated site in the area, Betsy Lane High School, and how valuable so many of our programs are to its Family Resource Center coordinator, Anita.

As our Floyd County, Kentucky virtual visit series comes to a close, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, tells us about our newest affiliated site in the area, Betsy Lane High School.

“Betsy Lane High School officially began partnering with Children Incorporated in October 2020, with a few kids transferring in from other affiliated schools. Our Volunteer Coordinator, Anita, added more enrolled students in November of the same year. Around this time, we also sent some start-up funds from the Warm Clothing Fund so the teens could have warm coats while they were waiting to be matched with sponsors.”

“The school is one of three public high schools in the county. It is located between the communities of Betsy Lane and Stanville, and is south-southeast from the county seat, Prestonsburg. The school serves about 372 students in grades 9-12. School officials are rightfully proud of its 98% graduation rate. However, this achievement is hard won, as most of the students fall below the state average on test scores. About 77% of the students come from low-income families.”

Anita pictured with one of our sponsored children.

“During our “virtual visit” via FaceTime, Anita shared she was a former Family Resource Youth Services Center coordinator who retired early to help care for her grandchildren. When they got older, she decided to come back to work and was thrilled when there was an opening at Betsy Lane.”

“Anita is very enthusiastic about working with Children Incorporated. In March 2021, there was a severe flood in the county and surrounding areas. Our organization was able to send funds for flood relief to our affiliated schools that were impacted, including Betsy Lane High School. Anita bought and delivered supplies ranging from bleach to mops and buckets to laundry detergent. The families were so appreciative.”

“This school year, Anita asked for help to establish a weekend backpack feeding program. Thanks to our U.S. Feeding Fund, we were able to respond to this need.”

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in Kentucky that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | August 29, 2022En Español

This week’s edition of Stories of Hope continues with our “virtual tour” of Floyd County, Kentucky. Our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, visits with our volunteer coordinator, Michelle, at James D. Adams Middle School, to tell us more about their school, community, and the power of working together to help children and their families.

Renée’s visit

“Adams Middle School is a rather small school located in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. It has the capacity to accommodate around 335 students in grades 6^th through 8^th. The poverty rate here is 64% — not as high as some other surrounding areas, but still significant and crushing for many families trying to make ends meet.”

Michelle is very proud of how quickly and well everyone worked together to create lesson plans and navigate continuing to communicate with the children while they were at home.

“Our Volunteer Coordinator at the school is Michelle. She is a long-serving coordinator for both the Family Resource Youth Services Center and for Children Incorporated.

Michelle told me during our virtual meeting that at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the entire staff and administration of Adams Middle scrambled to figure out how to educate and to serve the children. She is very proud of how quickly and well everyone worked together to create lesson plans and navigate continuing to communicate with the children while they were at home. The school buses even transported food to students’ homes rather than them coming to the school for bagged lunches – which prevented so many children in this community from going hungry.”

challenges for students at home

“Michelle told me that most students were able to get online to do their work, and many stayed with grandparents during the day while their parents worked. But, a sizable portion of students did not have internet access at home. The Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg was one of the first local businesses that invited families to park in their parking lots during the day and sit in their cars to access the WIFI from inside the building, which for some students was their only means to connect and learn.”

“Additionally, as with many other schools in Eastern Kentucky, and around the United States, the 2020-2021 school year was delayed due to rising infection rates but had since started back fully in-person. Then sadly, things got bad again.”

Consistency in uncertain times

“When this new 2021-2022 school year started, and all the kids were together playing sports and having activities and club meetings, there was a quick uptick in cases. Infection rates and hospitalizations jumped in August and September and then declined slowly through December of last year. There was another surge in January and February of this year, the highest the area had seen yet. Cases have since declined again but remain high. There is without a doubt a lot of ‘COVID fatigue’ amount students, faculty, and parents.

Despite the difficulties, Michelle has been working hard to provide for the children, and she is deeply grateful for the sponsors’ support, which offered her, and the children in our program, some much-needed consistency during such uncertain times.”

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of three ways: call our office at
1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in Kentucky that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Kristen Walthall | August 14, 2022En Español

As a part of our “Virtual Tour” of our Floyd County, Kentucky affiliated sites, our Director of U.S. Programs, Renée Kube, tells us about her “visit” to John Stumbo Elementary School.

“This is a small school in the community of Grethel, which is in a very rural area about 20 miles south-southeast of the county seat, Prestonsburg. The community is on Kentucky Route 979, and besides the school, there is a small post office and a Dollar General store.”

Angie told me that the parents our sponsored children are incredibly grateful for the help given by the sponsors.

“John Stumbo serves 344 students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 8th. About 84% of the children come from low-income families. The children struggle academically too. Test scores are below the state average, with science at 22% and social studies at 39%.”

Working hard to help kids and families in need

“Our Volunteer Coordinator is Angie. She works tirelessly at the Family Resource Youth Services Center to help the children and their families. When the pandemic started, Angie was very worried about how she would be able to shop properly for the students. In the early days, there were limits on the number of items she could buy per shopping trip. Many stores had low inventories, and so things ranging from hand sanitizer to Lysol wipes were limited.”

“She was also concerned about getting correspondence from their children for their sponsors since the children were at home instead of in the school, and many didn’t have internet or phones for her to check in on them. She was gradually able to work out the kinks, and she began feeling some confidence. She was able to make a big shopping trip at the end of April 2020, and she made home deliveries to every single Children Incorporated sponsored child. Once the 2020-2021 school year began, the shortages eased up, and Angie was able to make plans and to shop without any difficulties.”

“But, unfortunately, she had other challenges. Floyd County had a couple of surges of the COVID-19 virus, driven by variants. She talked with many worried parents and grandparents, especially those who are medically vulnerable. One of her students lost her custodial grandmother due to COVID-19, which was heartbreaking.”

Yearning to get back to normal

“Angie commented that when the current 2021-2022 school year began, she detected a high level of ‘COVID fatigue’ among students and their caretakers. The kids especially yearned to get back to normal, and she empathized with them – she wanted them to be able to have less to worry about and just focus on learning and getting to see their friends and feel a little closer to normal.”

“At the end of our virtual meeting, Angie told me that the parents our sponsored children are incredibly grateful for the help given by the sponsors. With inflation hitting the gas stations and grocery stores, parents’ very limited budgets are being squeezed almost to the breaking point. Our sponsors’ support with the children’s school clothes, classroom supplies, and hygiene items is deeply appreciated.”

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

SPONSOR A CHILD

Kristen Walthall | August 12, 2022En Español

As we begin to receive updates from our affiliated sites in Eastern Kentucky, we want to share with our sponsors and donors how clean up and recovery efforts are coming along in areas in which our sponsored children and their families have been greatly impacted.

At Letcher County and Jenkins Independent Schools, the opening for the new school year, which had originally been scheduled for the week of August 8^th, has been postponed indefinitely because of the flooding. Superintendents at both school districts said that damage to the schools alone will not determine when school will resume. In addition to damage to buildings and grounds, the districts have students who have lost everything. Staff members have died and have lost homes, and vehicles and many roads are still impassable.

Thanks to our entire Children Incorporated family for everything you have done to help our families in Eastern Kentucky!

Letcher County Public Schools took damage to six facilities, including the central office, the old vocational school, West Whitesburg Elementary, Whitesburg Middle School, Martha Jane Potter Elementary, and the Fleming-Neon gymnasium.

The Letcher County Public School officials have still not been able to reach many staff members, students and families because of damage to cell phone towers, landline telephones, Internet services and roads.

In the town of Jenkins, the Superintendent said the middle and high school had mud in the parking lot, but nothing inside. Burdine Elementary lost its playground equipment and fencing, and there is damage to the school buildings due to floodwater.

We are incredibly grateful that in the wake of all this devastation, thanks to our supporters, we have currently sent over $47,000 to our affiliated sites in Eastern Kentucky to help families with clean-up efforts and with basic needs.

At this time, we will do our best to keep our supporters up-to-date with relief efforts as they continue, and with information regarding the re-opening of our affiliated schools in the area.

Thanks to our entire Children Incorporated family for everything you have done to help our families in Eastern Kentucky!

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How do I sponsor a child in Kentucky?

SPONSOR A CHILD