BY KATLAN THOMERSON
Glasgow News 1
“It’s giving a hand-up, not a hand-out,” said volunteer Ricky Wooten, who created a feeding program for Bridge Kentucky.
Currently, the program provides one meal a day, seven days a week to 15 clients of Bridge.
“The heart of this community is amazing,” Wooten said. “We’ve fed them every day of the week for almost a year now. All through volunteers.”
According to Wooten, the program began when Director Wade Copas called Wooten roughly one year ago in May asking for assistance.
“Ricky, we’ve got 13 people here and we don’t have any way to feed them, can you help me?” Wooten recalled the conversation.
Immediately after speaking with Copas, Wooten and his wife went to a grocery store to buy food to make two meals for those at the shelter. The next day, Wooten created a Facebook post asking the community to prepare dinner for clients of the non-profit.
Today, Wooten continues to use Facebook to reach volunteers. Every week, he creates a Facebook post with a list of the days of the week and the volunteers who sign-up to prepare a meal.
Sample post created by Ricky Wooten on Facebook. Used with permission.
Those who want to participate in “feeding the Bridge family” are encouraged to comment on Wooten’s Facebook post and send him a direct message detailing for what day they want to sign-up.
“Everyone prepares a meat and two sides. Some volunteers do more,” Wooten said. “Businesses contribute too. Cowboy’s Country Cooking has donated food several times.”
Those who volunteer can prepare a meal, donate money for food, or pick-up food from a restaurant. All of which is asked to be dropped-off to Bridge by 5 p.m. on the day on which they agreed to help.
“Without Ricky we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” Copas said. “He has coordinated every single night with other volunteers to ensure that our shelter family has a meal in the evening.”
Copas asked that those who are interested in volunteering at Bridge reach out to him or Mallie Boston on Facebook or call the office at (270) 629-5323.
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