Diana Horn and her husband, Danny, moved from Atlanta to Bowling Green in 2009. Bowling Green, like so many other rural and smaller communities across the United States, has been hit hard by an exponential growth in poverty and hardship. Horn took this as a call to action.
She began volunteering immediately after moving to Bowling Green when she became very involved with MEALS Inc., a longtime association that has led to her current role as coordinator.
MEALS Inc. is a local, not-for-profit program that provides food for those who need it, standing for Ministering to Everyone with Action, Love, and Support. Twelve churches and one business make up the group, volunteering on a rotating basis. The money MEALS gets to purchase the food they cook comes from donations and the churches participating in the program, which donate monthly or annually. Horn explains, “The money has come from several different ways. We have received grant money through Feeding America and several other organizations, which have helped us to be able to continue to do what we’re doing.”
MEALS Inc. operates on Saturday mornings at First Baptist Church. Panera Bread donates leftover sliced bread, bagels, and desserts. A group of about seven or eight volunteers makes a goody bag for everyone. Another group of seven, headed up by Matthew Brown, does the cooking and prepping.
“It’s a hot meal every Saturday morning. Besides the Panera Bread, there might also be an apple, applesauce, or a snack bar — and dessert.” People don’t come in to eat the meals — they’re delivered to their homes. The additional effort requires around 11 drivers to deliver the food.
The numbers tell the story of the scope of MEALS: “We deliver to the same people every week — around 260 people right now. A few years ago, before COVID, we were delivering to around 315 people.” The meals are not uniform — 20 family boxes include food for three or more people at one residence, including children. MEALS makes up the boxes that include available staple items and vegetables. The family boxes make up about 85 out of the 260 recipients. The rest of them receive a goody bag and a hot meal. A sizable percentage of the people that MEALS aids are older shut-ins, some without vehicles. Meals-on-Wheels and other local programs assist some of this constituency during the week. MEALS augments this by providing guaranteed sustenance every Saturday — no small thing.
Horn is also involved with Room In The Inn, which was founded in 1985 to provide shelter to those in need. Unlike MEALS, it has a broader geographic scope: It comprises approximately 200 congregations, with over 7,000 volunteers who shelter almost 1,500 people.
Room In The Inn’s outreach runs during the colder months — the middle of November through the middle of March. It aims to take people without homes off the street for one night. In Bowling Green, this outreach is handled through approximately 20 churches. At least one church or more each night of the week provides a warm shelter to assist those without housing. Bowling Green Christian Church participates on Fridays, providing those in need with a hot dinner and the opportunity to take a hot shower. They also offer new underwear, T-shirts, and socks. Guests spend the night and then receive a hot breakfast and a snack bag to take with them on Saturday morning.
It’s a mixture of people of different ages and walks of life, including young mothers with children. Some live in their cars, but most live out on the street most nights. Some may have the opportunity to stay at the Salvation Army, but this is not a permanent option.
Room In The Inn is hugely labor-intensive. Cots have to be set up, food cooked, laundry done, and then there is the cleanup and dismantling of the cots. Rules and regulations are also designed to protect the volunteers. There is no discrimination; however, Room In The Inn reserves the right to refuse service.
The economic news out of small-town America seems to consist of one awful statistic after another. It’s hard to find grounds for great optimism. Still, optimism is a little easier to come by with people like Diana Horn — who seem to have an inexhaustible reservoir of compassion and energy and a love for helping others. GN
