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The members of Boy Scout Troop 22 woke up during their annual holiday campout last Saturday to the news of the devastating tornado outbreak that affected the western region of the commonwealth the night before.

Seeing the images of ruined towns made them decide then and there to help out any way they could.

“I felt sad and felt like I needed to do something,” troop member Jakeb Baker said.
By Sunday, the troop had an advertising flyer drawn up and a box truck, donated by Buffalo Construction, who also contributed a pallet of water and toys.

On Tuesday, the scouts started their emergency collection of bedding, cots, food, and water at St. Joseph Church and the Winchester Southern States.

The troop currently has a donation box at Tractor Supply, and its box truck will be parked at Bypass Rental Center & Hardware this Saturday, the last day the troop is collecting donations, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We are going to take this truck down Sunday morning and make the drive,” Scoutmaster Matthew Baker said.

The donations will then be given to a BSA troop in hard-hit Mayfield, who will then distribute them to those in need.
The scouts’ desire to help did not surprise Baker.

“Shockingly, it’s common for our scouts,” he said. “We do a lot in the community … We ask them to do a lot whether it be community service at the women’s veteran shelter here in town, you name they are in it.”

Jakeb Baker put it best about why the scouts perform such acts of service.

“When we are on a campout or something, we always say to leave it better than we found it,” he said.

For more information about the troop’s donation drive, visit its Facebook page, Troop 22 Winchester KY.
Police and Lady Veterans Connect Efforts The Winchester Police Department announced it was collecting donations this past weekend on social media.

“Many individual donors responded to our Facebook call. A tractor-trailer was donated and driven by Brennon Gilkerson. Jailer [Frank} Doyle allowed several volunteer inmates to assist officers in loading. Magistrate Travis Thompson also donated and drove his truck and trailer with supplies,” said Police Chief Kevin Palmer.

The WPD coordinated donation efforts with law enforcement from Mount Sterling, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 34, Ale-8, Rural King, Walmart, Lowes, Swopes Boat Repair, and Dowels Landscape.

“Helping people in need and often we don’t know is what officers and citizens of Clark County do,” Palmer said
In a Facebook post Wednesday, the department announced it took over 38,000 pounds of supplies and 10,000 pounds of water to storm victims.

A Winchester non-profit, Lady Veterans Connect, brought a bevy of newly donated items to the WPD from its Anna’s House facility.
The organization’s executive director, Phyllis Abbott, said it started putting together donations “as soon as we heard about what happened” in western Kentucky “knowing there would be a need.”

Anna’s House, located at 1140 Irvine Rd., is now a collection point.

“We are set up now to be a staging area for anybody that wants to bring donations, and we are working with the police department to get them delivered,” Abbot said.

The list of needed items includes bedding, bottled water, cleaning supplies, diapers, food and gas cards, hard hats, laundry detergent, personal hygiene products, pet food, plastic totes, rubber boots, sanitary wipes, sleeping bags, toiletries, toys, and work gloves.

Abbott said the organization will accept donations “as long as there is a need”.