CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Over three years ago, Tina Dishman took it upon herself to start a soup kitchen, Basically Blessed, to feed vulnerable people in her city.
But her plans to move stirred up worries of the kitchen’s future.
Through her time volunteering with her church, Dishman saw a need to help others in her own community.
“I used to go to Elizabethtown with my church and serve once a month, and at the end of 2018, I just felt the Lord always say, ‘You need this at home,’ every time I went,” said Dishman.
Campbellsville, like many other places in Kentucky, has seen an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness. Right before the pandemic hit in 2020, Dishman opened the doors to her soup kitchen.
“When we finally got it all done, we said, ‘Let’s open this Tuesday,’ and we did, and we served 88 meals the first night without even advertising it,” said Dishman.
The pandemic changed the structure of how she operated things, but Dishman continued serving meals every Tuesday and Thursday for those who needed food.
“Right now we serve about 400,” said Dishman. “We’ve served as many as 560-something a night.”
It has been difficult for Dishman to find enough volunteers that help consistently.
“I’m wore out, my board’s wore out,” said Dishman. “It’s been hard here lately to get anybody to volunteer.”
A lot of work goes into giving out meals twice a week.
“Sometimes we have to come in on Monday and Wednesday and prep for Tuesday and Thursday,” said Dishman.
Now Dishman has plans to move, and she was worried about the people she has been serving, particularly the seniors in her community who make up a large portion of those who grab meals. However, a bigger agency is likely to step in and continue providing food to the community, which has come as a relief for Dishman.
“Now that I can tell them it will still be open, just shut down for a little bit, it helps,” said Dishman.
Serving others, Dishman said, has been a blessing for her, a sentiment that her volunteers also share.
“If you’d have asked me five or six years ago, would I goin’ to be working at a soup kitchen, servin’, I would have said no,” said Darrell Mays, who has been a long-time volunteer at Basically Blessed. “But it’s just what the Lord here has worked it out, but it’s been a blessing for me.”
While this may be the last week that Basically Blessed is serving meals, Mays plans to stay on as a volunteer.
“I will continue to help out, you know, in any way, fashion, form that they want me to,” said Mays.
Dishman’s impact will continue to be felt, which is vital because of the growing number of people in need of food in the community.
Thursday is the last night that meals will be served by Basically Blessed. The soup kitchen will be shut down for a little while until things get settled with the new group that is most likely taking over, according to Dishman.