SALYERSVILLE – Hillbilly Christmas in July held their first-ever horse show in Magoffin County last weekend, drawing in one of the largest crowds for the Magoffin County Horse Park.
Representatives from Shriners Hospital actually traveled to Eastern Kentucky this year to pick up their check for more than $81,000, raised by the group through a motorcycle ride throughout the region.
Jimmy Kinney, with the Hillbilly Christmas in July group, told the Mortimer Media Group, “We raised $81,200. Good donations, good people and hard work – that’s what it always boils down to. Getting the word out about what we’re doing is making a big difference.”
After this year’s ride, when the group met up at the Mountain Arts Center, a girl who worked at the MAC recommended they do a horse show to help raise money for their cause.
“We thought about it a little bit and the next thing you know we’re in Salyersville having a horse show – the first ever for us,” Kinney said. “We called it the first-ever Hillbilly Christmas in July Horse Show and it drew a lot of attention. We got rained out that one day and we came back the following Saturday and finished it up, but had a great time and we met a lot of good people.”
Kinney said on September 30 they’ll be at the Royalton Walnut Festival, bringing the bike down and showcase it, some t-shirts and talk to people about what they do, the kids in this area and what the money raised can do to help them. All their proceeds go to the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Lexington, which serves this region for children’s medical services, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
The Hillbilly Christmas in July group will also be at the Apple Festival in Paintsville the following weekend, the Jenny Wiley Festival after that, fully booked through the month of October to be out in the communities, spreading the word about what they do and who it can help.
“We’ve really worked hard at the money,” Kinney said. “It all started as a toy drive. We took down over 50,000 toys in past years. Money-wise, as of right now, in 18 years, we’ve taken down over $876,000 and our goal is to meet that $1 million goal in 20 years, so we’ve got two years to come up with that $125,000.”
The biggest goal right now is making sure people in need of the services know of their options.
“If something happens and we don’t take another dime down there, that hospital is not going to shut down,” Kinney said. “What we can do, the most important thing, is we’re looking for a child who needs help. If there’s a child anywhere that needs the help of the Shriner’s Hospital, that’s what we’re looking for, and we may never see it, but maybe getting out and talking about what we do and the services the hospital has, maybe somebody will hear – a parent or a guardian will say, ‘my child might be able to get something out of this.’ And the good part about it is, you don’t have to have a referral from a doctor or anyone. All you have to do is call the hospital and make your own appointment. You go down there and they’ll check your child out and if they can help you, they will maybe put you in the right direction. The other aspect to this is transportation. I’ve heard people say, ‘I don’t like to drive in Lexington. It makes me nervous.’ They have transportation. All you have to do is call the hospital and the hospital will get a hold of the Temple and the Temple will call the drivers and say, ‘this is the number you need to call,’ and they’ll call you to make arrangements to come and pick your child up, take him/her to the hospital and bring you back. There’s a lot of stuff out there the hospital does a lot of people are not aware of and we want to meet with people and talk to them. If there’s ever a question, give me a call and we’ll figure it out.”
The group’s next goal is to get a completely handicap-accessible playground for the local community.
“It’s not just about our kids,” Kinney said. “If you think about what we have now, is a playground, and you have a child that is healthy, but maybe the parent or grandparent is in a wheelchair or walker. Anyone can come to our playground and enjoy it. We did that in Pikeville and the time we did it, that was the first inclusive playground in the state of Kentucky at the time, and just to think that we did that here in Eastern Kentucky is unbelievable. I think this is something that would be really good in Magoffin County. You’ve got 78 active kids, as of January, that are going to the Shriner’s Hospital. How many more people are there out there than can enjoy a playground – the type that we’re talking about? Talking to some of the people at the horse show, I think the county and city are ready to do something different. It’s something that brings the people together. It’s not just an okay company or organization doing this. The whole community gets involved.”
The SI will continue to follow the Hillbilly Christmas in July group and their upcoming events.
