Jail gives away free Thanksgiving meals to inmate families

Having a father, a mother or another loved one in jail can be difficult on the rest of their family in the best of times, let alone around the holiday season.

Having the money to buy the traditional holiday feast or even a good meal for many of these families is probably especially difficult this season as the price of pretty much everything is on the rise thanks to inflation, supply chain issues, and various other pandemic related problems.

Thanks to numerous community groups and individuals, many of the families of individuals incarcerated in the Whitley County Detention Center and some other less fortunate folks in Whitley County will at least have a nice meal on Thanksgiving Day.

“I can’t thank our community partners enough that have made this happen. We have over 150 turkeys and hams that we are giving away. In that box, they will have corn, green beans, stuffing, potatoes and a nice pie and then a turkey or ham. We are just thankful to be able to give back and do these things in our community,” said Whitley County Jailer Brian Lawson.

“If you look at our country and the place we are at today, it is important that we get back to the kitchen table as families, have some family time, and start restoring those core values at the kitchen table. I am hoping the recipients take the opportunity and make a Thanksgiving meal, and sit down as a family and actually come back together and share some core values and make a difference.”

Several detention center inmates volunteered to put together the food packages and boxes that were given away Saturday.

Organizers said even if all the food wasn’t given away Saturday, that they would make sure it made its way to needy families in time for Thanksgiving Day.

Sponsors of the project, include Brian Lawson, his wife, Ashley Lawson, Seth Reeves for District Judge, District Judge Cathy Prewitt, Whitley County Superintendent John Siler, Remax’s Mike Campbell, United Health Care Community Plan, Whitley County Board of Education Member Brenda Hill, Cindy Bowlin, Southern Health Partners, Kellwell Food, Dry County Clothing, Stephanie Kingsley, Angelica Weaver, massage therapist Linda Davis, and a donation in memory of Luke Robiodux.

The idea for the project came from Ashley Lawson.

“They all just came together to make this possible,” Ashley Lawson noted about the sponsors. “We just want to make sure people have a warm meal for Thanksgiving. I think the people, who have come, are very thankful and so happy. That is what Thanksgiving is about.”

She added that all the inmates were allowed to contact their families Friday night to inform them about the giveaway.

“A lot of the people, who have come, have someone in jail. One of the little girls, who came through, said, ‘My dad’s in jail and told us about it.’ It is hard if you don’t have dad at home helping. Groceries are expensive and sometimes food stamps aren’t enough,” Ashley Lawson said.

United Health Care Community Plan Community Outreach Specialist Lisa Garrison, noted that United Health, which is in 54 counties in Eastern Kentucky, believes incarcerated people deserve happiness and to be healthy too.

“Their families, they struggle when the individual is incarcerated. We want to help families be happy and healthy. We wanted to support this project by buying hams and turkeys. It has been really exciting,” Garrison added.

Reeves, who was one of the people on hand Saturday for Saturday’s giveaway, noted that this was an important cause to him and his family, and that it was the second year that they have helped sponsor the project.

“This year we kind of got together about a month ago and started planning this,” Reeves said. “We were tossing ideas around about how to make it bigger and better, and that is when we kind of decided to have it up here at the detention center, and have just kind of a drive-thru so we could service as many families in Whitley County as possible.”