Board of Directors
Roxanne Cheney: Chair
Stacy Federico: Director of Food & Card Ministry
​Domitila Munoz: Treasurer:

Patricia Burke: Volunteer Coord.
Ann Mendenhall:Director-ReadOn!
​Rose Cheney: Interim Secretary

Newsletter EditorSharon Sharon Turpin: Telephone Comfort Care

Advisory Council

Carolyn Pullen
Rev Ray Mendenhall: Chaplain
Laura Dake
Karen Patros; Admin: Volunteer Hours
Rev Laura Altman: Grace United Lutheran Episcopal Church

UK Chapter: Directors
Walter Kuhnmann: President
Matthew Corbett: Director: Phone Buddy

Deep Patel: Education Coordinator
​ Virtual Welcome Center (Saturdays)

We are an interfaith-based non-profit located in the beautiful Blue Grass area of Kentucky. Our ministry is to reach out to the elderly and disabled who are socially isolated in our community and mitigate or prevent the adverse impact of loneliness. The need to belong is primordial, and has been recognized by the World Health Organization and the US Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy, as being in pandemic proportions and impacting not only the individual and their quality of life, but the entire community.

We provide an environment in which the person feels they belong and are appreciated. Our main and most popular program is our Telephone Comfort Care Program. A volunteer is assigned to one participant to call several times per week to provide a welfare check or chat. Over time, these phone conversations have led to lasting friendships and connectivity. We also provide small socialization groups either virtually or in person to help build confidence in relating to others in a safe environment, and promote bonding experiences.

Lack of physical independence is a significant characteristic of the population we service. Therefore, to help them maintain independent living, we also evaluate every participant for their need for housing, food, transportation, and housekeeping assistance, and if needed, help them apply for available community resources. Food is a major need. Twenty to Thirty percent of our participants live below the poverty line and have no food resources that are readily available or accessible. As waiting lines at agencies who provide meals are excessively long, we have been morally compelled to provide noon meals delivered to their doorstep. Fund raising is continuously implemented to ensure we have enough money to pay for our catering service, Sequel Inc.

A sense of accomplishment gives one purpose, meaning, and direction in one's life. Loss of physical independence, loss of jobs or avocations et al, can impact our ability to accomplish or give to another. This loss can make us feel spiritually distressed, and exponentially increases the harm of loneliness. A Caring Place (ACP) empowers our participants to recognize and utilize strengths which improves their sense of confidence and security with who they are. We encourage all of our participants to engage in the spirit of volunteerism fostered in ACP. They may assume roles of co-presenting a 5 minute topic in our socialization groups, help fold brochures for recruitment fairs, or establish friendship contracts with others who are lonely and need a phone chat. Our Read On! Program, directed by Ann Mendenhall, supports and mentors participants to read to 3rd graders virtually. We have three different elementary schools we utilize: Christ the King, Rosa Parks, and James Lane Allen. The children and our seniors both have expressed high satisfaction with this program. Finally, for those who require more spiritual support, we do have a chaplain on our Advisory Council who is available upon request.

Finally, we recognize that persistent stress of loneliness causes grave physical dangers to our well-being. Addictions, depression, dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and even an earlier death can all be attributed to persistent loneliness. Therefore, to counteract harmful physical effects, we offer classes in coordination, stretching and mindfulness. We also encourage our participants to engage with the Lexington Senior Center exercise classes offered on TV stations in the community. UNIPER, a newly developed digital platform, can be installed for anyone over 60 who has internet access. UNIPER also offers many types of physical exercises, and other brain stimulating activities. Anyone who is interested, may contact us using the forms provided, and we will answer your questions, and if interested, help you get UNIPER as an app on your TV set.