SALYERSVILLE – A local group will be hosting a meal event for local homeless people as they work toward establishing a homeless shelter in Magoffin County.
Rick Whitley, who is spearheading the Lighthouse Homeless Shelter nonprofit group, told the Independent they will be feeding the homeless at the Magoffin County Rescue Squad parking lot on Friday, October 13, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with volunteers taking meals to locations they know people stay, as well.
Whitley started the Lighthouse group with a Facebook post earlier this year, asking if any local people would be interested in attending an organizational meeting to discuss starting a homeless shelter in the county. After that first meeting, the ball was already rolling.
“Right now, we’re trying to feed them until we can get a place to house them,” Whitley said, noting they were looking at the old Ivy Point motel, but don’t currently have the funds for that, yet. “According to the CAP office, there are 25 to 30 totally homeless people in Magoffin County right now, and a big portion of them are living under bridges. We’re going to feed the homeless that day and ask for donations, and next week we’re going to hit up local businesses to see if we can get donations to start feeding them more regularly.”
The Lighthouse Homeless Shelter group is an established non-denominational nonprofit organization, incorporated since June this year.
“Every other county around has a homeless shelter, but we don’t,” Whitley said. “We have an animal shelter, but no homeless shelter. I met with the fiscal court, but they can’t help us. The mayor and his wife are trying. I contacted the Big Sandy ADD board, and they said there’s no money for an upstart in federal and state funding, so we’re going to try local large corporations and see if they can help fund the upstart.”
While the group is not affiliated with any particular church, he said many church leaders and local people already aware of the problem have joined in to help.
“We’ve really started strong, even with that first meeting,” Whitley said. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but our church didn’t have the money and ability to run a homeless shelter, so after a couple of years I figured I would try on my own. It’s been a tough mountain to climb, but we’re getting close to the top, I’m hoping.”
Whitley said the group has people in drug and alcohol abuse counseling, job placement, finding permanent housing, as well as domestic abuse support.
“We have the people ready and willing, we just don’t have a facility to do it in,” Whitley said.
The idea to start a homeless shelter came to Whitley several years ago when he stopped at a local grocery store.
“It was cold weather in the early spring, and I drove to the IGA parking lot and a person came up to me – homeless – and asked for money to buy some food,”
Whitley said. “I gave him some money and went in the store, and when I came out, another one was there asking for money. After that, I drove straight across the road to the Dollar General and another person asked me the same thing. I helped them all, but to have all three in the same day, that’s when I’m going to do this.”
While there are groups that give out food boxes, Whitley also noted there was nowhere for the homeless people to prepare the food.
“Most of it has to be prepared in some way, and they live under bridges, so how can we help them?
Whitley said. “In order to receive certain types of assistance, you have to have an address, so it can be hard for them to get any help when they need it.”
He also noted there are a lot of good people in the county who would like to help, but need a group like this to know where their donations and volunteer hours are going.
“We could do it with our county people, but right now they have no way to see where the money is going to go. We just have to have a facility, first.”
For anyone wanting to join the group or help with the cause, follow the Lighthouse Homeless Shelter on Facebook for information about upcoming meetings and events. The SI will share that information as it becomes available.
