United Way awards cold-storage grants

Jun. 21—United Way of the Ohio Valley has awarded $58,000 in grant funding to 28 area nonprofits to help them purchase cold-storage appliances.

In December 2021, United Way spoke with schools, care facilities, food pantries, soup kitchens, churches and any program that served food in some type of capacity to clients in need, asking what their needs where around hunger in their communities. The most common response was a need for on-site cold storage.

"United Way's mission is to bring communities together to serve individuals and families in need, and this is one small piece of how we can help our communities," said Stephanie Bertram, United Way of the Ohio Valley's director of resource development and marketing. "No one should ever have to worry about where their next meal is coming from."

According to the United Way, the organization's board created a Cold Storage Grant application. Twenty-eight nonprofits and churches applied to be able to purchase new refrigerators or freezers.

"These programs who received the Cold Storage Grants are heroes; they make sure their clients receive food and go the extra mile to provide as much as possible when it is available," Bertram said.

Alan Veach, with Feed A Friend, said the $2,000 grant allowed the nonprofit to purchase two freezers and one refrigerator to help him better serve the community through Feed a Friend's community meals in Owensboro.

"I got rid of an old side-by-side, and I replaced it with a secondhand sub-zero refrigerator, and I replaced a small upright freezer with another upright freezer," he said. "Then I replaced a chest freezer that had a big gouge out of the door with a much larger chest freezer."

Veach said the grant funding is significant for Feed A Friend, because it allows him to store donated meat until he is able to use it for a community meal, which is hosted every Wednesday and Friday at 625 Allen St. Owensboro.

"A lot of donations I get in the form of meat have to be frozen until I can use it, and without the freezer space, then I couldn't take the meat," he said. "This enabled me to be able to go back to taking meat."

Boulware Mission Executive Director Amy Pride said the nonprofit has set aside its $2,000 Cold Storage Grant funding in hopes of securing another grant to make a significant purchase.

"We are wanting to create a walk-in freezer, and those are between $10-15,000," Pride said. "I have a grant that I will be applying for, and if we are approved, then all that money is going towards the walk-in freezer for us."

Pride said Boulware Mission currently utilizes 15 stand-alone freezers to provide meals to community members.

"It is very hard to keep up with the food, de-icing the freezers and rotating the food," she said. "With a building this size, we feel that the walk-in freezer is the best bet."

Grant recipients include: Union County Senior Services, Tamarlane Industries, MentorKids Kentucky, McLean County Senior Services, Hancock County Help Office, Feed A Friend, The Local Antidote, Owensboro Family YMCA, St. Joseph's Peace Mission for Children, Owensboro Regional Recovery, Our Lady of Lourdes, Ohio County Disaster Team, OASIS, Horse Branch Senior Center, Hartford Senior Center, Fordsville Senior Center, Daniel Pitino Shelter, Hancock County Senior Services, Breckinridge United Methodist Church, Church Alive Inc, Boulware Mission, Senior Community Center, Christ Among Us Food Pantry, Third Baptist Church, Central City Church of God, Crossroads Inc, Webster County Senior Center, Union County St. Vincent DePaul and St. Pius St. Vincent DePaul.