“We had the food bank in the courthouse, but the courthouse won’t be there much longer,” said Helping Hands co-founder K.G. Ariagno. “We’re asked to help more and more.”
Ariagno said that Helping Hands distributed over $17,000 in food in 2006 and currently serves over 100 families monthly.
“We work out of Jim Ricks’ building now. It’s a great location but it is not ours. He is nice to let us use the building without charging rent, but we have to cover utilities. I am not sure how we can do that and still give everyone the assistance they need,” said Ariagno. Trigg County permitted Helping Hands to use a room in the courthouse basement without billing for utilities or charging rent.
Ronella Stagner of Helping Hands said, “One thing many do not realize is how many people in Trigg County live way below the poverty level. There is more need today than in 1997 when we got started.”
Ariagno said that her organization continues to search for a new home, and has considered the closed Active Caring Trigg Samaritans (ACTS) building on Jefferson Street and asked if the county would consider offering a building.
“When considering the new budget for the county, consider a small amount for Helping Hands,” said Stagner. “We need help.”
The University of Kentucky Extension board provided refreshments at the meeting while County Extension Agent David Fourqurean discussed his agency.
“We are an education based agency that provides information for just about anything people do in Trigg County,” said Fourqurean. “Our 4H program gets the youth ready to go out into the world.”
Fourqurean said that Trigg County is one of the largest growing counties in the state in terms of the number of dairy farms, largely due to an influx of Amish and Mennonite farmers to the area. “We provide a lot of commercial and economic development to perspective land owners and act as a liaison between businesses and county officials,” he said.
For complete coverage of County Government, read the latest Cadiz Record.
