The students, faculty, and staff of Ross Medical Education Center in Owensboro, Kentucky recently volunteered at Helping Hands Kitchen. Campus Director LaTasha Shemwell stated, “when I told my students about the opportunity to volunteer with Helping Hands Kitchen, they were so excited and eager to participate.” The Helping Hands Kitchen’s mission is “to help our community members become whole physically and spiritually with Christ.”
The campus reached out to the organization as they prepared to serve with them again. Sheila Royal, who is in charge of Helping Hands Kitchen, shared, “there is a large portion of children in the community that don’t get enough to eat at home, they are very food deprived.” Sheila went on to say that a local elementary school reached out to her saying that their students were saving a part of their lunch from school to take home and feed to their family. “At that moment, I knew I had to take action. We opened up Helping Hands Kitchen in November 2014.”
As Thanksgiving approached, many volunteers were needed for food preparation at the Helping Hands Kitchen. The day and evening students of Ross Medical Education Center didn’t hesitate to help. On a Friday in November, the day students, staff, and faculty went to Helping Hands Kitchen to help prepare. Within two hours they were able to make 20 pans of cornbread as well as chop up 25 pounds of onions and a case of Celery.
Sheila Royal shared her deep appreciation for the Ross team, “the students of Ross Medical were such a tremendous help. We will be serving 250 people for Thanksgiving and could not do this without the help of others.” The following Monday, the evening students and faculty followed up by heading to serve dinner at Helping Hands Kitchen. During their time there, they helped feed around 120 community members. Linda Stone, Evening Instructor in the Medical Assistant program shared about her experience at the kitchen, “there was no food left by the end of the meal; everyone left full and happy. We were truly thankful for the opportunity.”