On Monday morning a caravan of school buses, trucks, and trailers from across eastern Kentucky hit the road, loaded up with supplies for our neighbors in the western part of the commonwealth.
According to a social media post from Senator Robin Webb these included food items and toiletries, drinking water, blankets, hats, gloves, scarves, and other items to keep folks warm, and cleaning supplies to help take care of the mess left behind.
They also included at least four buses loaded with toys, so that children who lost everything can still have a taste of Christmas.
Superintendent of Carter County Schools Dr. Paul Green told the school board last week that Carter County had already collected enough donated items at that point to fill at least one bus. They had planned to fill more buses, and likely could have, but the request from officials in the area had shifted from donations of goods to a request for cash donations and gift cards – so families could directly purchase whatever items they were in need of, whether that was toilet paper, clean socks, or a hot meal.
What the exact need of a particular family is at any given moment is irrelevant. What matters is that, when someone has that need, folks in eastern Kentucky never hesitate to step up and help meet it.
We do this despite (or perhaps because of) the fact we often have very little to share.
Kentucky, as a state, is regularly ranked near the bottom when it comes to poverty. According to data from the Center for American Progress, in the year 2020 Kentucky was ranked 48th out of 51 (including the District of Columbia) for poverty, with an overall poverty rate of 16.3 percent of the population living below the poverty line. According to census bureau data, that rate is even higher, at 16.9 percent for the state as a whole.
Within the state, it’s the eastern counties that are among the poorest. While the overall rating may be between 16 and 17 percent, numbers in the eastern part of the state skew those numbers higher. While Oldham County sits at a comfortable 5.6, and Boone at 6.4 – some of the better rates in the state – the poverty rate in Carter County is much higher, at around 31 percent.
But while the people of Carter County may be poor in money, they are rich in spirit.
Don’t believe it? Just look at the way we’ve stepped up to help out those impacted by these terrible winter storms.
Look at the way our people have stepped up, this year and every year, to make sure that despite the high poverty rates children in our county still experience the joy of Christmas.
Look at what our communities do with yearly events like Project Merry Christmas and Silver Bells. Look at last week’s letter to the editor from the Olive Hill Chamber of Commerce thanking those who helped make Christmas at the Depot a success.
The Olive Hill Chamber was able to provide gifts, warm clothing, and food to more than 400 children and their families. That’s 400 children whose Christmas is a little bit brighter thanks to the kindness of their neighbors who – though they may not have a lot – are willing to share what it is they have. Even if it’s just their time in helping set up and distribute items.
Look over to the right of this column, at the letter to the editor this week from CASA of Northeast Kentucky. Nearly 90 businesses, families, individuals, and government entities are listed among those the organization wished to thank for stepping up and helping make their holiday fund-raising event a success.
Their donations, CASA director Carol Adams noted, “are giving (children) hope this holiday season,” and helping the organization “reach more children in need” throughout the counties they serve.
This generosity, this true and joyful charity, from a community that isn’t among the richest in the nation or even the state, reminds us this holiday of a very specific story. In Luke, chapter 21, Jesus relates to us the story of the widow and her two mites. Though the rich came and went, putting larger gifts into the coffers, He took the time to praise the widow for her meager contribution.
“Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.”
You don’t need a lot to make a difference. You just need something to give, and to give it with joy. And Carter County impresses us because she does, this year and every year.
Merry Christmas,
The Carter County Times staff
