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Olive Branch Fund invites public to Adopt-a-Fraser event

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The Olive Branch Fund, a nonprofit fund created by Olive and Oak Realty and housed out of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation, invites the public to help support their mission of supporting adoptive families at their Adopt-a-Fraser event, to be held November 28 and 29 at Village Green Landscaping in Elizabethtown.

Olive and Oak owner and Olive Branch Fund founder Tara Still says area businesses are sponsoring trees that will be on display at the event.

“The businesses are going to go in and decorate each tree with a different theme,” Still said. “These businesses have spent money to buy the tree and buy the decorations and taken time to decorate all these trees, and then we are going to auction these trees off at that event.”

A silent auction will also be held along with other activities.

“We have Santa, we have music, activities for the kids, food trucks, giveaways, and then we also have vendors,” Still said. “Since it’s going to be Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, we have vendors who are setting up in tents.”

All proceeds will support the Olive Branch Fund, which Still started based on the experience she and her husband had with the adoption process. The fund aims to help ease the financial burden on families looking to adopt.

“It’s typically around $20,000 to $50,000 to adopt, and I just remember thinking, ‘what if we didn’t have the means to do this? What would we have done?’” Still said. “So it’s always been something that’s just been huge on my heart.”

Visit the Olive Branch Fund Facebook page to learn more about the organization and the Adopt-a-Fraser event.

Second Elizabethtown food event Friday at sports park

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The City of Elizabethtown, in partnership with Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland, will be hosting their second mobile food pantry event this Friday at the Elizabethtown Sports Park.

The giveaway will begin at noon, with food distributed until it runs out.

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said during the November 3 Elizabethtown City Council meeting the city was aiming to provide meals for 1,000 households at each of three planned feeding events.

“We encourage anybody that’s struggling, or especially since we’re having the shutdown, the government shutdown, and people are losing some of their benefits, we’re going to try to compensate for that a little bit and see if we can hand out some food each Friday for the next three weeks,” Gregory said.

Council Member Julia Springsteen said over 5,000 households in Hardin County depend on SNAP benefits.

“The announcement today was that they’ll only get partial funding for SNAP this month, so they’re already struggling,” Springsteen said. “They’re going to struggle a little bit more, in addition to the government workers who are going to pay, so hopefully this will help a few people in addition to the other efforts going on in the community.”

The city says no identification is needed. Residents in need can simply drive through the sports park parking lot beginning at noon on Friday and city employees will load the boxes into their cars. Participants should enter through the West Park Road entrance and exit onto Saint John Road.

ECTC receives truck donation for diesel program

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Thanks to a recent donation, students in the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Diesel Technology Program have a new tool for learning.

ECTC says the Diesel Technology Program recently received a 2016 Volvo Day cab truck, donated by Gordon Food Services. The truck is the second semi-truck donated to the college by GFS, which has also previously donated a tow dolly and two tractors.

The college says the truck donation will allow students to train on industry-specific equipment, which will give students the skills and training to be workforce ready upon completion of the program. These students are able to join a strong pipeline of skilled technicians able to support local industry.

More information on the Diesel Technology Program is available on the ECTC website.

In other ECTC news, Thursday is the last day for area residents to support the college’s Family Scholar House Thanksgiving Meal Drive. ECTC says their goal is to provide meal kits for at least 100 students. Find a list of requested items and drop-off sites, or donate financially, by visiting ectc.us/thanksgiving.

Heels Together votes on 2025 grant award recipients

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Members of Heels Together, a women-led initiative of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation, met for their annual investors banquet Tuesday evening.

The banquet was an opportunity for investors to hear about the impact of their philanthropic activity in the previous year and to hear from the 2025 grant award finalists.

“All the presenters have a vision, and with our support we can grow these ideas into reality,” said Lindsey Alicna. “As we celebrate a night of impactful projects, let us remember that each contribution we make is a seed of growth in this community. We are here to invest in the kind of future we want to see for ourselves, certainly our daughters if you have daughters, and then certainly our next generations.”

The initiative has raised an endowment of more than $600,000, and Becky Ates said the support of the initiative has been felt in many places.

“Since 2015, we’ve funded 31 initiatives to 17 different organizations, totaling just under $300,000 benefiting over 1,300 women and girls,” Ates said.

Grant winners included Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland which received $7,500, Helping Hand of Hope which received $10,000, and PURE, Inc., wWhich received $12,000.

Learn more about Heels Together by looking for their page under the Community Initiatives section at www.ckcf4people.org.

Thursday last day to support ECTC Thanksgiving food drive

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Thursday is the last day to support Elizabethtown Community and Technical College’s Family Scholar House Thanksgiving Meal Drive.

“It really supports ECTC students and their families,” said ECTC Director of Philanthropy Chrissie Angell. “You know, it can be a burden for them to have to provide a Thanksgiving meal, and so this just really helps us ease that burden so that they can focus on their coursework, and when they come back from Thanksgiving this year, they’re going to have two weeks left of the semester, so we want them to be able to really use that time to be with their family, but also make sure that they finish strong.”

The goal of the drive is to assist at least 100 students.

“People can find a list of items, a collection site, drop off locations, and even if they want to give monetarily (that helps us purchase the meat for the meals), they can find that at ectc.us/thanksgiving,” Angell said.

The Thanksgiving drive is held in conjunction with Family Scholar House. Contact Angell for more information on other ways to support ECTC students.