Bourbon County Coalition still helping people

Twenty years after its formation, a local nonprofit organization continues to help needy families and children in the area.

The Bourbon County Coalition, founded on April 3, 1990, raises money to help eligible low-income families in Bourbon County. The organization consists of representatives of various service agencies in Bourbon County including schools, churches, businesses and other organizations.

"The Coalition has continued to meet over all of the past 20 years, giving a place for the 'helping agencies' in Bourbon County, and some from Crawford County, to meet and share information," Ann Ackerman, the agency's board chairwoman, said. "It's a sharing agency."

The coalition receives no funding to conduct its operations, and often seeks grants and donations to help provide financial assistance to needy families and also provide scholarships for eligible children and families. Periodic fundraisers are also conducted to raise additional money.

"We have no funding stream of any kind," Ackerman said. "We raise money where we can. There's no overhead of any kind whatsoever. We give away a lot of the money we receive and any help we give is family-related. We have no office, no paychecks, no phone, no expenses of any kind. We're just a group of people who come together."

The coalition and its Network for Families Fund is governed by a nine-member board of directors that determines how donated funds are distributed. The coalition meets once each month for one hour to hear or share information about providing better services to the families they work with, and often listen to guest speakers from other service agencies speak about what they have to offer and other topics of interest, Ackerman said.

Because there is no staff or office location to support, all donations to the agency can be used in ways to improve the lives of low-income children and families in the area.

"Families with children are our big priority here," Ackerman said.

Once the coalition gets a referral from an agency for a child or family in need of assistance, other agencies that help support the coalition pool their resources to help contribute funds, Ackerman said.

"It's a collaboration ... the helping agencies in the community all collaborate," she said.

The coalition accepts requests for assistance to families and children through coalition members and often partners with local assistance agencies in its efforts. The funds are typically used to help low-income citizens pay for financial obligations such as utility bills.

Ackerman said the coalition's board is asking those people who attended the group's first meeting in 1990 to attend their next meeting at noon Wednesday, April 7, at the First Baptist Church, 123 S. Scott Ave. The public is also invited to attend the meeting.

The coalition was formed in 1990 by a group of 25 people of varying backgrounds in education, law enforcement, courts, business, the ministry, and social services, and has met continuously since that time.