The Chamber’s Summer Breakfast

By PJ Martin

Editor

The Herald-News

 

The Edmonton-Metcalfe Chamber of Commerce held its summer quarterly breakfast on Tuesday, June 17th. In the past, the summer breakfast occurred when many families were on vacation, so it lacked the attendance of other breakfasts; however, this one beat all the records with a large crowd.

Chamber President Daniel Bragg welcomed the crowd and announced the presentation of a special award to Diane of Diane’s Cakes & Catering. Bragg presented Diane with a plaque, and Executive Director Kim Harwood presented her with a fern. Diane has provided catering for chamber breakfasts and other events for many years and always provides a wonderfully delicious meal and great service.

The business of the quarter award is an opportunity to promote local businesses and for the summer quarter, congratulations go to Burkmann Feeds of Edmonton. Bragg presented the award to Russell Hernadez and Riley Wisdom. Hernandez thanked everyone for their patronage and loyalty to the business over the years and stated that Burkmann has been serving Metcalfe County since 1999.

Animal owners and local farmers shop at Burkmann’s, because they are the store that carries a variety of animal feeds, can special mix feed to the farmer’s requirements, and provides many other farm supplies.

The summer breakfast was sponsored by Alliance Counseling Associates and Director of Clinical Operations, Lee Fowlkes, and RISE Program Director, Samantha Shemwell each spoke of the work being done to help children and adults. Fowlkes pointed out that our mental health affects our whole wellbeing and they have different therapists, case workers, and programs to assist with healing. Shemwell explained that she works with children, but there are programs of therapy for ages two through adult. Alliance Counseling opened its office in Edmonton last September.

The next speaker was Benny Lile who is the president of the Metcalfe County Educational Foundation. (MCEF). The foundation was created last year, and as Lile pointed out, “Our goal is to provide a single point of giving for those who wish to be part of providing expanded opportunities for Metcalfe County students.”

The initial focus is on identifying academic talent, especially for underserved students, as well as civic engagement and scholarships. The future purpose of the foundation is to handle all scholarships, serve as the funnel for donations, and ensure the longevity of specific scholarships. The foundation has recently sponsored two students at WKU Summer Camp.

Geneva Scroggy took the podium next to speak about LifeWise Academy, which is coming to Metcalfe County. The group founder is JP Blevins, who was introduced to the academy by an acquaintance who was involved in the LifeWise Academy at another location.

Scroggy explained how Lifewise Academy provides Bible education to students. Students can be released from public school to receive religious instruction as long as the program is off school grounds and does not disrupt regular classes.

Scroggy read off statistics which state that 96% of the students who participated (other locations) had benefited from the Bible education. This will be the only the third site in Kentucky to offer the program.

The program is not funded by the school system in any way – it is donation-funded, and parents can sign their elementary age children up for Bible education. Chaperones will transport the students to and from the LifeWise location. Parents who want to know more or enroll their child can go to lifewise.org/MetcalfeKY to find more information.

The next speaker was Vickie Harris, talking about the Farmers Market. Harris stated that they have 18 vendors who consistently set up at the market each week on Friday and those vendors (and the market) take WIC, Senior Vouchers, SNAP, and Kids Nutrition vouchers, but she also relayed that per the meeting she attended on WIC, its funding has been cut drastically this year.

Last year, over 900 children went through the market in the Kids Nutrition program. The program teaches the children about nutrition, how food is grown, and by whom, and lets them select a food product with their voucher. The kids seem to love the program too.

The last speaker was Donna Hooper, an agent with TransAmerica, who spoke about the types of policies offered especially Long-Term Care Insurance. She told the story of her parents, about her dad’s illness, and how the long-term care package would have benefited them. The company began as Commonwealth Insurance and then Monumental Insurance before merging all three into TransAmerica in 2023.

Bragg then thanked everyone for attending, and the breakfast ended with a drawing for door prizes.