For the ninth year in a row, First Baptist Church of Corbin’s White Flag Ministry is partnering with groups throughout the community to ensure those in need receive food and shelter during the icy cold winter months.
For the last couple of seasons, White Flag has operated primarily out of the Burkhart Center, which is located next door to St. John’s Episcopal Church on Engineer Street in Corbin. The ministry is also once again partnering with Corbin Inn Motel when it comes to getting people indoors on the harshest of winter nights.
When asked about his outlook for the now-underway sheltering season in Corbin, First Baptist Church Pastor Alex Lockridge said, “I would anticipate the need being similar to last year, or maybe greater. Last year, the number of people that we served went up about 30 percent. I don’t know if it will be that much, but it doesn’t seem like the economy is moving in a direction where people are actually able to get out of these types of situations.”
Lockridge said that, while demand for the ministry’s services has remained high, so has the support from the local community. “We feel so blessed,” he said. “Donations from last year to this year have gone up about 70 percent in terms of individuals or organizations that have chosen to give to us. The giving has definitely gone up, and it is coming from all kinds of people and sources that we could never anticipate.”
“We are very grateful, but we are also very mindful of the fact that these people are making an investment in our ministry,” Lockridge added. “We take that very seriously. We never want to waste resources. We want to get people to where they do not need our ministry. That is the dream.”
White Flag continues to depend on volunteers who are willing to serve food at the Burkhart Center throughout the sheltering season. Lockridge said that the first three weeks in December have been accounted for when it comes to volunteer workers, but he said that there are still plenty of openings between late-December into March of next year.
“If anybody is wanting to participate, we strongly encourage them to sign up in advance,” Lockridge said, explaining that a link to an online volunteer form can be found on the ministry’s Facebook page.
Any groups who volunteer to serve will need to bring all of the food for that evening with them, preferably already prepared. Water, coffee and hot chocolate will be provided at the Burkhart Center, as well as any other supplies and utensils. Lockridge said those serving food should plan to arrive at about 3:30-3:45 p.m. on the date(s) that they have reserved.
While serving a hot meal and providing warm shelter remains priority number one for White Flag, the big picture goal continues to be individual sustainability. In order to achieve this goal, the ministry is once again partnering with RRJ Solutions this season to provide access to case management and other programs that are designed to help folks who are struggling get back on their feet.
“Our goal is twofold,” Lockridge said. “We want to meet people’s needs during a heating emergency. We want people to survive. After we have taken care of that most pressing need, we want to take care of their long-term needs. Anybody who comes our way, we strongly encourage programming with RRJ Solutions because they provide case management resources and all kinds of pathways to sustainability. We support that so much that we actually require it in order to get a greater number of stays per winter. We will always house somebody when they first show up, but if they’re not willing to work with RRJ, to us, that means that they’re not willing to put in the work to become sustainable. That’s the real goal. After you get them out of the cold, get them fed and take care of their basic needs, the real goal is to put them in a position where they no longer need us.”
Lockridge said that White Flag had to house people three times before the official start of the sheltering season earlier this week. He said the ministry was able to accomplish that because of the increased community support. When asked how he hopes the remainder of the season will go, he said, “We hope to get the right people through the doors, and get them on the right pathways to finding their own sustainable solutions. The dream is to get people into homes, and to help them live on their own. We want to be able to provide the resources that will allow them to do that.”
Lockridge also added that Isaiah 58:10 Ministries, based in London, are launching their own White Flag sheltering program this winter. While it is a completely separate entity, White Flag of Corbin has been partnering with them in order to achieve common goals throughout the region.
“I am pretty excited about seeing how that develops,” Lockridge said of the partnership. “I think it’s the only way to truly make a dent in homelessness.”
