December 2020
Mr. Rogers was one of the kindest men I knew growing up. When watching television, he always reminded me to be kind and love one another. He taught me that it does not matter what we have, but how we use it. He always stood up for children and reminded us that we should always help others. The Central Kentucky Community Action Council
team embodies the spirit of Fred Rogers each and every day. But this past year, that spirit shown even brighter. 2020 brought us unprecedented challenges, but also tremendous rewards. Despite the circumstances, CKCAC teams were able to continue our outreach efforts, changing people’s lives, improving communities and making our region a better place to live. We care about the entire community and are dedicated to helping people help themselves and each other. As we reflect upon this last year, it’s so uplifting to know that we all came together to do just that – help each other.
The CKCAC Board of Directors came together in support of our programs and helped us establish and follow new guidelines for working through COVID-19. The call for creative solutions was answered by all. The transportation program expanded into neighboring counties. And when the need arose for quarantined seniors to receive daily meals, transportation stepped in to help transport those meals. When individuals were being laid off because of the pandemic, Kentucky Works collaborated with regional employers to keep clients working. When bills began piling up for individuals impacted by COVID-19, Community Services assisted in paying those bills, while the Weatherization team made energy-efficient upgrades to homes to reduce future energy costs. When it was recommended that senior centers shut down, the Congregate Meals program adapted to accommodate drive-thru services, providing
record-numbers of hot meals to seniors daily. The Senior Companionship Program began making phone calls and became pen pals with clients when the crisis eliminated the opportunity for home visits. Community Collaboration for Children decided a change of scenery was needed for some families, providing parenting education services “camping” style on front lawns and backyards. Amidst the shutdown of child care programs across the state, the Child Nutrition Food Program continued to grow and support childcares by helping them serve nutritional foods and snacks. Head Start prioritized distance learning by supplying households with tablets, giving young children exciting, educational experiences that included working with technology.
Speaking of technology, let’s not forget our IT department employees who helped install software programs on all
those tablets. From Finance ensuring timely payment of funds and HR modifying policies and procedures to ensure employee safety to Public Relations distributing timely information to the community, our behind-the-scenes workers also had important roles in helping CKCAC persevere this past year.
We’d also like to extend our gratitude to one very special behind-the-scenes worker, Larue County Judge Executive Tommy Turner. Judge Turner was a CKCAC Board member from 1984 until his recent retirement in 2020. His work and dedication to our organization was instrumental in helping CKCAC fulfill its mission for 36 years.
Every program – every office – every board member – every person at CKCAC came together to share responsibility within the last year. This year is dedicated to our front-line workers – the CKCAC team serving clients during the pandemic and being HEROES in our communities.