Our longtime partner in Beattyville, Kentucky, Cumberland Mountain Outreach, is a small grassroots non-profit organization focused on helping those most in need in the hard-pressed, rural Appalachian community – especially children and senior citizens.
In the past year, thanks to the supporters of Americans Helping Americans®, we have been able to provide support for its “learning pods” program which enabled students who do not have access to high-speed internet to attend school virtually at its community center.
Cumberland Mountain Outreach also, with support from Americans Helping Americans®, was able to initiate its Little Red Riding Hood food delivery program for seniors and the disabled who were unable to leave their homes due to COVID-19 concerns, a lack of transportation, and, in many cases, both.
This spring, with about $40,000 in emergency grant relief from Americans Helping Americans, Cumberland Mountain Outreach President and CEO Cindy Evanoff was able to assist dozens of residents of the small town and surrounding Lee County whose homes were made inhabitable by an historic flood giving them hope for a brighter way forward.
In addition, we have been able to provide support for Cumberland Mountain Outreach to construct a greenhouse which will enable local residents to have access to fresh vegetables and fruits grown right in their own community.
Right now, Cumberland Mountain Outreach is operating its five-week summer camp program as it has for years supported by Americans Helping Americans®, and Cindy is once again turning to us for help to purchase a passenger van to enable her to transport children and youth back and forth to the camp, as well as take them on field trips to sites in central Kentucky such as nearby Natural Bridge State Park and Mammoth Cave National Park – the world’s largest known cave system.
Throughout the year, Cindy also plans on using the van to transport individuals to out-of-town doctors’ appointments more than an hour away, and deliver food from its food bank to hungry families and U.S. Department of Agriculture communities to elderly and disabled shut-ins.
Cindy has been on the lookout for a suitably used van and just came across the ideal vehicle – a 2016 13-seat passenger Ford high-top van which is being offered by a local dealer for $30,000.
However, when she explained the situation to the dealer, he immediately agreed to drop the price by $9,000 for the worthy cause.
“We are humbly asking for the remaining balance of $21,000,” Cindy requested.
And thanks to a supporter of Americans Helping Americans® who has generously agreed to make dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000 we are hoping to be able to meet that match – and provide Cumberland Mountain Outreach with the van it so greatly needs – as soon as possible to be able to transport the children and youth who have been unable to attend the camp due to a lack of transportation to get there.
And to the supporters of Americans Helping Americans® who are helping Cindy do so much for the needy in her community, Cindy says:
“Thank you for all you are doing for the families in Appalachia.”
