Local churches, law enforcement team up to help those who are stranded in the area

Most of us have been faced with the situation of being in a gas station parking lot, or walking in/out of a store, when, suddenly, someone approaches you asking if you can spare any money. Heck, many of us may have even been in the position of needing to ask others for some assistance ourselves.

The stories that you might hear in these situations vary. Sometimes it’s a vehicle that has run out of gas. Sometimes it’s somebody who hasn’t had a decent meal for a few days. Sometimes it’s simply about being down on your luck, with no other options available than to ask folks to spare a few dollars.

Are all of these stories true? No, of course not. We all know that there are plenty of scam artists out there, but what about the people who truly ARE in need of help? What about those who really are just trying to get from point A to point B, and they legitimately cannot do it on their own?

Well, I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting last week where a potential solution to at least some of these issues was discussed. The meeting, held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Corbin, saw representatives from Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Gregory and St. Boniface Catholic Churches, Corbin Presbyterian Church, Parkway Ministries, First Church of the Nazarene, and First Baptist Churches of both Corbin and Williamsburg, as well as representatives from the Corbin and Williamsburg city police departments, come together to figure out how they can all work together in order to most effectively deal with the increasing challenges related to transiency in our area.

Over the course of nearly an hour, both sides discussed a variety of issues. There’s too much for me to unpack in a single column, but suffice it to say that this is a multi-faceted problem that regularly puts a strain on church and police department resources in both Corbin and Williamsburg, as well as in surrounding communities.

In a nutshell, folks can find themselves stranded here for a number of different reasons. Once they are here, though, whatever resources they have available to them, if they had any to begin with, can quickly evaporate. This can lead to them doing things out of desperation that ultimately result in run-ins with local authorities. They also begin depending on others in the community to provide them with food, clothing, shelter, etc. It can all add up pretty quickly, and there is only so much money to go around.

Hence the idea behind this new partnership, which I sincerely hope will end up being successful in its efforts to help get people to where they’re going a little quicker. Basically, as I alluded to above, this new system will be intended to serve those who are truly in need of help getting home, wherever home might be. In order to ensure that the right people are getting the help, however, the local police department (either Corbin or Williamsburg) will need to screen each person to make sure they aren’t in any trouble with the law, either here, or wherever else they may have been.

From there, assuming the background check is clean, the person(s) in need will receive $40, to be used to help cover travel expenses for getting out of the area, and hopefully closer to their final destination. A fund is being set up to provide this money up to seven times in the course of a month, with each instance obviously needing to involve different individuals.

My understanding is that the amount of money that can be allocated to this joint effort could increase, but it depends on donations from members of the local community. If you would be interested in supporting a project like this monetarily, then make a check out to the Southeast Kentucky Ministerial Alliance, SEKMA for short, and drop it off or mail it to Grace on the Hill Community Church, located at 1632 Cumberland Falls Hwy. in Corbin. If you choose to donate cash, just make sure that the folks at Grace on the Hill know where it needs to go when you drop it off.

All of this money will go to reimburse local police departments for their time and resources used to help stranded folks get out of town. If you, or someone you know, might be in need of this type of assistance, then tell them to contact the Corbin or Williamsburg PD today.