Christmas blessings: HUTS provides families with needed items amid holiday season

Dec. 23—The Alma Randolph Charitable Foundation provided four families with needed items Thursday through the Hands Up to Succeed (HUTS) program.

Alma Randolph, foundation president and founder, said the organization looks for families that are doing "everything they can to upgrade their living conditions" but fall short financially from being able to do so.

"We partner with First Baptist Church," she said. "They provide beds, pillows, sheets, mattresses, comforters and a Bible for the children that we help."

Randolph said the families cannot make self-referrals and have to be referred through churches, schools, social organizations or government organizations.

One of the families that was assisted Thursday was the Blair family.

"Irene Blair is raising her great-grandchildren," Randolph said. "She has lost her husband and a son this year."

Randolph said Blair was referred by Cravens Elementary School.

"The entire family was sleeping on the floor on mattresses," she said. "They did not have any beds. The living room furniture was falling apart."

Blair said she enjoyed receiving the furniture through the HUTS program.

"My furniture was torn up," she said. "I had it for four years."

Blair said she didn't know she would be receiving the furniture beforehand.

"I love my furniture," she said. "I had holes in my couches and beds, we had mattresses and boxsprings on the floor. I lived here four years with it like that."

The family received living room furniture, a bedroom suite for Blair and beds and chests for the great-grandchildren.

The Stubbs family was referred by the Daviess County Attorney's Office.

Joan Stubbs is a single grandmother raising three grandchildren, and the family was homeless but will be moving into their new home.

"Her grandchildren were in temporary foster care until she could secure housing and have bedding and beds for each child," Randolph said. "As a result, again, with the partnership with First Baptist, this was a huge step to be able to bring all the children under one roof again."

Stubbs said she had gotten sick and encountered "one thing after another."

"We were blessed with friends and people who cared about us to get us another place," she said. "I had lost everything. Through this, it was a blessing to get the house. I don't know how to put it. Everything that's been happening to us in the last couple of months has been good. ... Team Stubbs is back together."

Stubbs said she had no words to describe the gifts from the foundation and its partners.

"I see it as a great blessing," she said. "They furnished my whole house. ... I feel privileged that we were able to receive these things."

The family received living room furniture, bedroom furniture for the entire family, dinette set and clothes for the children. Randolph said Stubbs' home is now completely furnished.

"There's a huge difference between a hand-up and a hand-out," Randolph said. "Our goal is to help families who are trying to help themselves but just can't quite make it."

Randolph said she has been "completely blown away" by the amount of families in the Owensboro-Daviess County area that do not have beds.

"They make pallets on the floor or use mattresses," she said. "So many of them do not have a table in their kitchen to sit down and have a meal together, or furniture in their living room. It's taken everything they have to pay their rent and utilities and to keep food on the table. They don't have money left to purchase bedding or beds."

Randolph said it's easy to assume these needs in the community do not exist.

"When I'm speaking to a group of individuals about these things that have happened, they have this 'deer in a headlight' look that I had when we first started being exposed to this," she said. "It's hard to believe this many families are faced with these huge obstacles."

Along with First Baptist Church's partnership with the foundation, Hometown IGA is providing Christmas dinner for all the families and American Freight set up the furniture for the families. Longhorn Steakhouse is providing Christmas gifts for two of the families, and Atmos Energy is another partner with the organization.