After a winter storm brought severe temperatures, ice, and snow across Kentucky, the Catholic Action Center and other members of the community are rallying to provide food and shelter to those in need.
Catholic Action Center’s Mother Teresa shelter in Lexington opened an emergency warming shelter ahead of the storm, and its rooms filled up quickly, according to a Jan. 23 report from WKYT.
The outlet reported Jan. 27 that the Catholic Action Center is buying hotel rooms to provide more shelter. Rock Daniels, the owner of the local “Grounded All Day Cafe,” is spearheading an initiative to feed the homeless suffering in the cold and people living at the shelter.
“We’re all here to serve a purpose and the purpose is to better your community,” he said.
At least 11 other restaurants in the area are joining his effort.
While the cafe usually sells coffee and bagels, last week its staff prepared 800 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the people staying at the Mother Teresa shelter.
Daniels said that there are 169 people living in hotel rooms and about 150 to 175 more people in the Mother Teresa center. There are more people staying at other local shelters.
On Jan. 26, Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear announced that the police are investigating three deaths to see if they were related to the storm. The same day, he announced a 72-year-old woman in Whitley County died of hypothermia, though it is unclear if her death is among the deaths under investigation.
"This storm blanketed Kentucky with snow, sleet and ice for 36 hours straight and now dangerously low temperatures will continue," Beshear said in a Jan. 26 press release. "While the storm is moving out of Kentucky this morning, we still need Kentuckians to remain alert, avoid travel and stay indoors as much as possible. Crews are working hard to treat roadways and restore power, but this was a statewide event, and these efforts will take time."
Daniels told WKYT that the hotel rooms purchased by the Catholic Action Center could cost thousands of dollars, and encouraged donations to help offset the cost.
“We are Lexington. We’re a community,” he said. “We take care of one another.”