Why is there a website for Kentucky Outreach?

I am so glad you asked! To be honest, as a member of the Christ Episcopal Church of Elizabethtown, Kentucky and a member of its governing body, Vestry, I was asked to volunteer to help with a newly formed committee of Community Outreach. During our initial, formative meeting, it was the strong desire of all present to be able to reach out (hence, outreach) to not only the members of our church, but also to members of our community and surrounding communities. However, a few things quickly became obvious:

  • There is a great need for community outreach.
  • We cannot do it all.
  • Several agencies already exist, providing great, professional and compassionate services.
  • We needed to compliment, not compete, with these existing agencies.
  • Many people are simply not aware of the existing programs.
  • We needed to become information brokers, not just service providers.

With these things in mind, it occurred to me, that we could best begin serving our community in its community outreach needs by establishing a clearinghouse of information for our members to become subject matters experts, and making this information available to the masses via an online website.

Secondly, as a late-in-life college senior at Western Kentucky University, I honestly also recognized the opportunity to utilize this project as a capstone project to wrap-up my collegiate experiences that would serve my college, community and church.