For some, it seems the way to go these days is to diminish one’s own community to nothing, call it a waste, and proceed to do nothing to aid in improving the situation.

Though to diminish the work of others who strive with everything they have to invest in a better future for the place they and so many others call home is unacceptable, and I am here to set the record straight. 

Over the last three years I have invested a lot of time at CC’s Closet, a local thrift store within Clark County Community Services. The store is funded completely by community donations that are used toward community programs within the CCCS Housing Offices and Food Pantry. A lot of people are unaware of the existence of this local non-profit that has been a part of the fabric of Winchester since 1975. 

I originally started going a few days during the week in the summer before my freshman year in 2019 to collect volunteer hours and to find something to fill the long summer days. It was during my first summer there that I found something so special to me — a group of people who come to work day in and day out, and work tirelessly for long hours with little return and no complaints.

A seemingly very random group of people who make up the CC’s Closet staff and volunteer base is a tight knit group of individuals who always bring a smile to my face.

Three years later, I find myself an employed member of the CC’s Closet staff with a passion for the place that I never foresaw and so many lessons that I carry with me, and in some ways have formed who I am.

The people I have found here with such determination and drive that many will never see a glimpse of in their lives make me want to strive to be better every day, and isn’t that the goal? To find those who push you to be better simply by leading by example. 

Recently CCCS was paid a visit by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and many other local and state officials to recognize a place I hold so dear to my heart, and present the organization with a grant check for $464,000 that had been applied for months and months ago by a longtime CCCS employee Tish Shupe. This money is a game changer as it is going toward repaving the parking complex surrounding the building, part of which is gravel, and making it more accessible overall.

Soon after the check was presented our beloved Director Debbie Fatkin, who has recently given us her resignation to be with family, was granted the coveted award of Kentucky Colonel.

I feel it is important to describe the atmosphere in the parking lot as the check was being presented and the award was given as a surprise. My coworkers were laughing, cheering, and applauding with great excitement, though above all I was surrounded by people with huge smiles and tears streaming down their faces. 

For days I thought back to what I had experienced in that parking lot on a random Monday afternoon that had seemingly had such a big impact on me.

In the end I came to the conclusion that I had found a place among people who dearly care for each other and those who they serve to such a great degree that all the potential the check in front of them presented overwhelmed them with gratitude. I have no shame in admitting that my eyes had tears in them, too.