God is using His people, this nonprofit, to do mighty things for people in eastern Kentucky. They continue to feed more and more children year after year who would otherwise go hungry on weekends. All because they love God and love people. What a blessing Soul Food has been and continues to be. Thank you Soul Food for being the hands and feet of Jesus.
Wonderful program that sends food home with kids on weekends—that may otherwise go hungry without it. Love being able to help the kids in our community who need it most.
Soul food is a great nonprofit program where there are volunteers that help pack food to kids that may go hungry while they’re not at school. The kids love getting the bags and it greatly benefits them. I am happy to be a part of it!
The Soul Food organization goes above and beyond in its endeavors to provide children of our area with nutritious weekend meals. They serve almost every school in our area and they are working on funding so that the last two schools in Floyd County can be included. They already provide weekend meals for every school in Johnson County.
My husband and I help with some of the deliveries to the schools in our area. Soul Food has always worked closely with the Resource Directors at the schools they serve to ensure that their needs are fulfilled. We consider ourselves very, very blessed to be even a small part of this organization.
This organization is all volunteer and feeds many little empty bellies. A great non-profit to support.
I wish there were words as to what this organization means to me both personally and professionally. This organization is truly doing Gods work by helping school age children have food for the weekend with their back pack program. Each and every individual be it a board member (which are all volunteers) to all those volunteering to pack the food are dedicated to feeding hungry bellies and hungry souls.
Soul Food is a wonderful charity that helps make sure that students in our schools have meals for the weekends. We are in a high poverty area and many times our students may go hungry on days when there is no school in session.
They do a great job of getting volunteers to get the food, package it and deliver it to our schools.
Without their help, we would not be able to get this food out on a regular basis.
Soul Food was founded in 2015 by Bob and Alisa Gound. I loved what they were doing for the children of Johnson County that were faced with hunger. In 2017 I suggested that they expand into Floyd County and Alisa said you do that Brian. I prayed about it and God brought Prestonsburg Health Care nursing home to me. Cindy Porter, activities director, said they would pack the food for the children using residents and staff. It would give the residents purpose and help with physical therapy. This relationship was beautiful and inspiring for a few years where I would drop off the food and pick up the packed totes to be delivered.
We were faced with a couple of barriers, one being COVID, and the other being Bob and Alisa relocating to Georgetown, KY. We found a great group of volunteers at Destination Community Church to pick up the packing when the nursing home was restricted because of COVID. `With Bob and Alisa's move, they were looking for someone to take the organization over. I did my best to find someone but everyone seemed reluctant because of time and financials. I couldn't ever imagine not providing food to these children and dissolving the program was not an option for me. I decided to take the program over at the beginning of 2022. Since then we have added 2 more schools and fed 300 children each week during the 2023 school year.
Currently, the board consists of 9 individuals who have the heart for what they do. One of the board members Renee McCoy is the director of Hope in the Mountains a women's recovery program. She has provided women in recovery the opportunity to volunteer with each of our packings. We love having these women help serve a greater cause than ourselves. It's magical to see how Soul Food touches lives and helps individuals beyond the students we feed.
It has been tough at times juggling Soul Food with my regular job. I do get a little anxious about our funding at times but can say this, God says don't be anxious about anything and He sticks to his words. Through faith and a loving God, Soul Food continues to meet its financial obligations because of people, businesses, organizations, and a community that sees the impact of the program. 100% of our funding goes to feeding these children since Soul Food pays no administrative fees, no employees, and is 100% volunteer based.