This January, several of the students, faculty members, and staff members from Owensboro, Kentucky’s Ross Medical Education Center campus decided to volunteer at the Walnut Memorial Baptist’s Helping Hands Kitchen. Walnut Memorial Baptist Church serves hot meals every Monday evening which are open to the community. Each week during their weekly dinners, they serve an average of 200-250 meals to members of their community. The soup kitchen coordinator stated,”when serving this amount of people volunteers are desperately needed and appreciated.”
These volunteers must come in to prep meals in advance in order to meet the community demands. The students and instructors of Ross Medical Education Center in Owensboro joined the ranks of volunteers and got a glimpse of the incredible amount of work that they do. In the time they were there, they baked 20 cakes, 11 pans of mexican lasagna, and ten pans of cornbread. Also joining the students and Instructors was Assistant Campus Director of Education, Shafawna Fox-Baker, who regularly volunteers to this worthy cause. Shafawna loved having volunteers from her campus there saying, “I have never been so proud of our students and Instructors. To give up their time freely for the good of others is truly commendable!”
The students and faculty thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the preparations. They were excited to give to those in need in the community. “It was such a humbling experience,” shared Linda Stone, Instructor for the Medical Assistant program at Ross. “My class and I will never forget it.” When asked what was her favorite part of the experience she said, “making cakes, because I love to bake!” Jennifer Dotson, evening Medical Assistant student, also loved the experience. She shared about volunteering in her hometown church with her parents as a child, “this experience brought back such great childhood memories!”
To learn more about Helping Hands Kitchen and how you can help, visit the Helping Hands Kitchen Facebook page or Walnut Memorial Baptist Church’s website at www.walnutmemorial.org.