For many years, the Corbin White Flag Ministry has helped people in need of food and shelter during the extreme cold of the winter months in southeast Kentucky. Recently, the region has experienced some of the harshest winter weather that it has seen in recent history. While White Flag was able to successfully navigate the winter storm, organizers are asking for the community to consider donating additional funds and resources to ensure it can continue providing vital services through the remainder of the season.
“It’s been a good season up until the last two-three weeks,” said Pastor Alex Lockridge of First Baptist Church in Corbin. “During the last stretch of cold, we did 10 straight days of sheltering. When the weather is as bad as it was, we were at capacity almost immediately.”
White Flag partners with a local motel to provide those in need with shelter on extremely cold nights. Lockridge said that the ministry recently reached a total of 117 people who were all provided a meal and a room for the night.
“Asking community members to provide a meal for that many people is a big ask, but they have met it every time,” Lockridge said of those who volunteer their time to help White Flag achieve its mission. “That’s the beauty of this ministry. That is the kind of people that our area has.”
As for providing shelter for that many people, Lockridge said that it can get expensive pretty quickly, which is why he is now asking for additional help from the community. “I’m glad that we’re there, and that the need didn’t far exceed the capacity of the motel,” he said. “But it was a bad stretch. That kind of stretch always hurts us.”
“The good thing is, we felt like we were going into the season with a pretty healthy amount of funding,” Lockridge continued. “We thought that if it was a mild winter we wouldn’t even need to make a plea for help, but this January was worse than last January, and we thought that last January was pretty rough.”
Lockridge said that, as things currently stand, White Flag should be able to navigate the rest of the season adequately if there are no other major storms like we recently experienced. If extreme winter weather does return to the area between now and spring, however, the ministry could face some serious issues.
“We were in a good, healthy place until this last stretch,” Lockridge said. “We have funding to get through several more days of cold weather should they come up, but after that we would be pretty depleted. It’s just a matter of trying to get ahead of what could be more winter weather. We just have to be prepared for that.”
Lockridge pointed out that we have seen across the state in recent days how severe winter weather can cost lives. He said that the goal of the White Flag Ministry is always to save lives first and foremost, but he said that it also goes well beyond just that. “The more that we get to work with people and provide shelter and resources to people, the better the opportunity for them to find something sustainable for themselves and find the help that they truly need,” he explained. “The cold winter months are the months where they realize the most that they need help, and we want to be able to offer that help and point them in the right direction. We are just asking people to continue being the generous and supportive community that they’ve always been.”
“We feel blessed that we don’t have to ask all the time [for support], but if we get another bad stretch, we will need help,” Lockridge said. “We always appreciate the community’s response to that.”
Recently, the White Flag Ministry shared an infographic on its Facebook page that broke down how monetary donations might be used. For $20, a supply pack can be provided to one person. $50 will pay for one motel room for one night. $100 will pay for two rooms for one night, which could accommodate a large family.
Lockridge also encouraged those interested in providing food to do so, saying, “If you’ve never jumped in with the White Flag Ministry, sign up to provide a meal and see what we’re all about.”
To find out more about how to support White Flag through volunteering or making a monetary donation, visit the ministry online at www.corbinfbc.org/whiteflag.
