At Long Last
The rain ceased long enough to hold the ribbon cutting outside the new food pantry. Executive Director Lisa Boswell along with Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman cut the ribbon. Photo | PJ Martin
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
Friday, May 30th at noon a large crowd gathered inside the new food pantry building located at Bowling Park. It was a happy occasion, given that it has taken literally three years to complete the project.
It began back in 2022 when Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman announced the award of $986,000 in funding through the Community Development Block Grant program and presented the CDBG grant to Park Executive Director Lisa Boswell. Along with constructing a new food bank, the original work was to include resurfacing the parking lot and road for the large delivery trucks to have better access.
However, with major price increases on building materials plus the over-cost bids, the project was forced to cut costs and rebid the project. This extended the time period and caused the parking lot and truck access to be cut from the initial building project.
Executive Director Lisa Boswell spoke to the crowd and expressed how happy she and her staff were to finally be holding the ribbon cutting for the new pantry. She relayed a statement from the day the Lt. Gov. presented the CDBG grant in 2022. Boswell asked Coleman how many times she got to see the grant projects when completed to which Coleman replied that she never gets to see them. Boswell said that she would see this one.
Boswell made good on her statement and invited Lt. Gov. to the ribbon cutting and thankfully she was able to attend. Lt. Gov. Coleman spoke of how happy she was to see this project’s completion and how many people this pantry would help. She also talked about some of the ways that Team Kentucky was working to assist the citizens of Kentucky.
At long last, the new larger food pantry will be able to serve more people in Metcalfe County with needed food assistance from this day forward.
It takes a lot of volunteers to keep the park and food pantry going. Back Row L-R: Jessica Faulkner, Jim Kuhn, Amira Tarr, Betty Franklin, Karen Garmon, Debbie Fetchik, Kathy Frick, and Bruce Fanelli; Front Row L-R: Karen Gambrell, Cindy London, Sandy Froedge, Sue McKenzie (kneeling), and Executive Director Lisa Boswell. Food Pantry Manager Kathy Powers is not pictured. Photo | PJ Martin
The plaque near the front entrance to the pantry dedicates the building to Fr. Larry Gelthaus. Photo | PJ Martin
