What's Up? with Merlene

I used to think it might be because I’m getting older and turning into my mother. Now, I’m not so sure.
Regardless, I am continually surprised by the inappropriate attire some women wear on occasions that require a more modest touch.
I’ve attended a couple of funerals in recent weeks and witnessed tops that revealed far too much and a few skirts that barely hid a bottom.
Apparently midriffs have given up the fight altogether and have chosen to live free and unencumbered by cloth of any kind.
Who is serving as the full-length mirror for these women? Who is telling our sisters that dressing like hoochie mammas is only acceptable if they are heading to a dark dive of ill-repute?
Perhaps these women could take a few lessons from the founders, board members and volunteers at Step By Step Inc. The non-profit agency offers support, encouragement and Christian direction for young unwed mothers. SBS is always looking for ways to improve the self-esteem of its participants by emphasizing their inner beauty rather than concentrating on their outer looks.
Because of a shortage of donations similar to what all non-profits face, the group needed a fund-raising event and came up with “Step into Beautiful,” a fashion show that includes a contest similar to the wildly popular Lifetime series Project Runway.
The contest will highlight the creative talents of future designers.
“It has been so much fun,” said Susan Freeman, SBS president and co-founder. “It is a great mother-daughter event and teen event. Some of the graduates of Step By Step and their children will be in the fashion show. I am so excited.”
The outfits in the fashion show, and those styled by the seven winning contestants, will be trendy and modest at the same time, she said.
What a concept.

Laura DeMoor is one of the seven young stylists who were selected to compete in the Step By Step "Step into Beautiful" contest highlighting the creativity of teens ages 14-18.

The group solicited stylists and designers who were 14 to 18 years old and asked them to create an ensemble from their own closets that could be worn with confidence and grace.
The winners were asked to dress and accessorize a model. That overall look, including the model’s hairstyle, which the contestants will supervise, will be judged in the contest.
A total of $400 will be awarded, with $250 going to the winner. The judges include Janie Olmstead, owner of Images Model and Talent Agency, and Lexington Herald-Leader fashion writer Harriett Hendren.
The event will stress inner beauty, Freeman said, and positive messages for women.
WLEX-TV news anchor Dia Davidson, the featured speaker, will base her remarks on 1 Peter 3:3-4: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
SBS was founded in 1995 when three women came together to help unwed mothers. Since then, the group has served thousands of mothers and children in Lexington and is branching out to neighboring communities.
My hope is that some of the women I’ve seen lately will spend $10 for a ticket to the event and find an outfit or two that will be more appropriate for more somber occasions.
Maybe they will learn that beauty isn’t about what you reveal, but how you carry yourself.

IF YOU GO
“Step into Beautiful,” fashion show and clothing design competition to benefit Step By Step, a non-profit Christian support group for single mothers and their families
When: 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Lexington Christian Academy, 450 West Reynolds Road
Tickets: $10
Information: Call (859) 258-7837, or visit Sbslex.org.

While school is in session, students of limited financial means are assured one healthy meal a day thanks to the school lunch program. But getting that healthy meal during the summer months can be a problem for some of those students.
Walt Barbour, director of Fresh Approach, a program that provides jobs and teaches skills to intellectually challenged adults, said he has the ability to provide the lunches through funding from the free Summer Food Service Program.
But he needs more people to set up places where the children can come to eat. With their help, more kids can be fed.
“We want to identify more sites that can deliver the food to the children who need it most,” Barbour said, adding that the workers at Fresh Approach will sack the lunches.

These are items found in breakfast and lunch packs from Fresh Approach for the Summer Food Service Program for children.

“We are looking to try to put them in places that will provide not just the distribution of the food, but also provide activities that will draw the kids there.”
Ideal sites would be churches or community buildings, he said, because there would be adult supervision while the children eat the food. The federal program, administered by the state, does not allow the food to be carried off-site.
Other possibilities could be community rooms at apartment complexes, day camps, vacation Bible schools or non-profit day-care centers.
There may also be an instance where a program already exists or is starting and the summer food program can provide the free daily meal. For example, when Grant Manager Lynda Frazier and Principal Mark Sellers of the Martin Luther King Jr. Academy learned of a need in Cardinal Valley for a continued learning summer program, they stepped in to start one.
Through a grant from the 21st Century Community Learning Center, Frazier and several community organizations have set up a five-day program at the Village Branch Library that includes a summer reading program, martial arts, music, and science, from noon to 4:30 p.m. Three days a week a certified teacher will be on-hand to tutor and provide structured activities.
“It will help the kids stay on track during the summer,” Frazier said. “Then, in the fall, they will be ahead of the game and will have better behavior.”
God’s Pantry, which, like Fresh Approach, is a sponsor agency with the summer food program, agreed to provide a hot lunch for the students. The lunch will be cooked at First United Methodist Church and then transported to the library.
“I am so very proud we have united three or four community organizations in this innovative partnership,” Frazier said. “And all the egos are on a shelf.”
Volunteers and supplies are welcome, she said. Call (859) 381-4040, Ext., 3006. During the school year, a similar program serves 2,000 students a month at the Village branch. Frazier said she anticipates as many as 75 a day during the summer months.
The library program is the result of a community working together  — the 21st Century grant provided educational and social opportunities and the free feeding program provided the nutrition — for the best interest of children. That type of cooperation is what Barbour is hoping to find and join.
All that’s needed is a safe place for children to eat, an appointed time that remains consistent, and someone willing to ensure the children are served the entire meal.
Barbour said each site must maintain an accurate count of distributed meals.
“It’s taxpayer money,” he said, “and the state wants things done right.”
Breakfast could also be provided, he said.
“There is not an abundance of starving children,” Barbour said, “but there are plenty of nutritionally deprived ones.”
And that is very correctable.

Summer Food Service Program
If you would like to serve as a site for the free lunch program, call Walt Barbour, (859) 806-2832.

My daughter attended preschool at the Carver Community Center for a couple of years while I worked for the state and later while I attended the University of Kentucky.
It was a good place, run by women who cared about children and who brought them up to speed on subjects they needed to master before first grade. The school was a blessing to me and other mothers who were trying to get ahead without leaving their children behind.
That was about all I knew about the place until I later learned that this group of women created the program because of their desire to improve the lives of people less fortunate.
Originally known as the Neighborly Organization of Women, the group of black, white, rich, middle class and poor, and some more educated than others, became known as the Women’s Neighborly Organization.
The name change was made to avoid being identified with the National Organization for Women, which was far more politically active and controversial.

This pamphlet will be given out at the reception for the Women’s Neighborly Organization on May 30.

Politics wasn’t what the women were focused on. They simply wanted to offer a helping hand.
Driven by a desire to have her children — who were of Filipino and Caucasian ancestry — attend a racially diverse day care center and preschool, Carolyn Bacdayan helped start a play group.
The idea morphed into a summer project that began in 1968 when several adults and children met in a parking lot on Georgetown Street that was peppered with broken glass. They had hoped to attract 20 children ages 4 to 6, but they were greeted by 45 children ages 2 to 11.
The location quickly changed to Pilgrim Baptist Church, 541 Jefferson Street, but challenges continued. Many of the children who came had not eaten breakfast and didn’t understand the materials, puzzles and toys the women had provided.
At the end of the summer, the women were given space in the Second Street YMCA, which they used to launch a day care center twice a week. The staff consisted of parents and volunteers.
By mid-fall, the women banded with others working in the inner city to form what became the Women’s Neighborly Organization. From that beginning, the group opened three more centers in the fall of 1969.
“I think the WNO was a little bit of a product of its time,” said Jean Sabharwal, retired director of the Family Care Center and a WNO volunteer.
Many of the women, she said, were the stay-at-home wives of husbands who worked at IBM and of college professors.
“They all arrived from other cities where there was a higher level of social integration,” Sabharwal said. “They had participated in civic activities with other women of mixed incomes. When they came here, they found a place that was racist.”
But they didn’t leave things as they were. With the help of churches, ­synagogues and social service agencies, the centers were run on as little as $300 a year, ­Sabharwal said.
Eventually the women also worked with the ­elderly and with nursing home residents to improve their quality of care. That effort evolved into the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency, which has always been ­financed by Decorators’ Showcase, a fund-raiser started by WNO in 1976.
Before the group disbanded in 1997, those women worked together to bring about change. They saw a need and tried to fill it.
Because not many people remember WNO, there will be a reception May 30 at the Lexington Public Library, where former members of the group will hand over various documents and records for safekeeping in the Kentucky History Collection.
Also at that time, a history of the group will be distributed.
Those women saw a need and tried to fill it. They brought about change.
That change helped me and my daughter achieve a better standard of living.
And I know we were not the only family to benefit from their outreach.
Thank you, WNO.

IF YOU GO
Reunion of the Women’s
Neighborly Organization
When: 3:30-5:30 p.m. May 30.
Where: Fifth-floor board room, Lexington Public Library, 140 E. Main St.
Information: Contact Diana Clewett, (859) 272-4247, or email rd.clewett@insightbb.com.

IF YOU GO
2012 Decorators’ Showcase
Where: Highland Hall, 6208 Old Richmond Rd.
When: Opening 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 12
Tours: May 12-June 10. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Lunch will be served 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Noon-4 p.m. Sun.
Cost: $15. Reservations recommended for groups of six or more.
Information: (859) 277-9215 or email decoratorsshowcase2012@gmail.com.

Last week, while I was in Fayette Circuit Court, observing human beings struggling to once again live drug-free, I got into a conversation with the bailiff, John Jackson, a retired police officer.
I have known Jackson for many years, most recently as an officer assigned to the Police Athletic League, where my husband has volunteered as a football and T-ball coach.
He asked how my husband was doing, and I said he was getting old. He had knee surgery recently and hasn’t fully recovered from that, I told Jackson. In fact, he is giving up coaching his T-ball team, which he has coached for many years.
Jackson raised his eyebrows and shook his head slightly. “They will miss him,” he said. “That is a big loss.”
And it will be. But it shouldn’t be.
My husband is special to me and our children, but he isn’t all that special in the scheme of things. Just about any man could have done what he has done as a coach and mentor to kids.
Ben Thomas, for example, a retired Fayette County Public Schools safety officer, is a PAL mentor.

PAL mentors James Carter, Gerard Badger and Ben Thomas

“I grew up without a father in the home,” he said. “I know the importance of having a black male role model around.”
Thomas has worked with youth for 40 years, in foster care and as a Big Brother. Frequently, one of those boys returns as a grown man just to thank him.
“I just tell them, ‘I know you can do it and I know you can make it,’” Thomas said. “They just need a push early in their lives.”
Mentors can change lives.
Several studies have found that adolescents who have mentors were less likely to use drugs and alcohol and had greater confidence in their school work and improved academic performance.
On Saturday, the Lexington Police Athletic League is hosting a National PAL Mentoring Day to recruit children and adults into the program.
Connie Rayford, who administers the local program, said 30 to 40 PAL units across the nation received grants to host the community-wide mentoring day in hopes of getting more men and women to make time for our youth.
“We want to educate people about the importance of mentoring,” she said. “PAL has been around active forever, but that fact doesn’t seem to be clicking with people.”
Rayford said PAL has 40 mentors assigned to 40 boys and girls. However, there are at least 16 children, mostly boys, waiting for mentors, she said.
“Every day we get referrals from schools and from parents,” she said. “It is an ongoing thing.”
PAL started in 1915 in New York City as a means of offering youth an alternative to criminal behavior. Lexington’s PAL unit was established in 1985 with a group of off-duty police officers who donated their time.
It offers sports programs and mentoring sessions to teach children, ages 7 to 18, self-respect and respect for authority. In Lexington, mentors meet with their assigned children at least one hour a week for one year at Consolidated Baptist Church, 1625 Russell Cave Road. Adult and child talk and listen, play games individually and in groups, and go on educational field trips.
Because of that, Rayford said, when people say our youth need places to go and things to do, they should consider PAL.
On the National PAL Mentoring Day, there will be inflatables, music, food, games and booths with information about bike safety, health programs and the PAL mentoring program for children and adult volunteers.
“We also need volunteers who are willing to work that day to make it as good as it can be,” Rayford said.
You will get a chance to interact with some of the families and children who need your help.
Mentor Gerard Badger understands that need far too well.
“I don’t want kids to grow up like I did,” Badger said. “I grew up without any role models, without any goals in life.”
Badger, who spent 20 years in the U.S. Army and worked 13 years in security at a nuclear plant, said he dropped out of school and later returned for his GED and some college courses.
“My life would have been smoother if I had done all that before I got started. I tell the kids they need an education,” he said. “I like to pass that information on to them.”
But the benefits don’t just flow one way, Thomas said.
“The kids have no idea I get more out of it than they do,” he said.

If you go
What: National Police Athletic League ­Mentoring Day, one of several in the country to recruit children and adults to guide them.
When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 21.
Where: Douglass Park, 726 Georgetown St.
Information: Contact Connie Rayford, (859) 433-8440, or Jason Griffith, (502) 428-9235 to volunteer for mentoring activities or to become a mentor.

Lucille Jackson, owner of Hunter’s Hatters, is calling it quits.
“This will be my last Derby,” she said. “This is my swan song.”
Jackson, 80, has trimmed, accessorized, fitted and sold hats to Derbygoers and churchgoers since 1984, about three years before she retired after three decades as a first-grade teacher in Fayette and Anderson counties.

Lucille Jackson

“It has been a blessing to have had it this long,” Jackson said. “I had hoped and prayed that my family, my granddaughter and my daughter, would want to carry it on, but that is not to be.”
A combination of factors led to this decision, she said.
Hats are a luxury item that has been sidelined from priority lists by the slowed economy, she said.
“Hats are the first to go,” she said. “That is my main product. With the economy the way it is today, people will recycle what they have.”
Also, Jackson said, her customer base is dwindling.
“I’ve lost a lot of customers due to illness and death,” she said. “Older ladies dressed for occasions, especially church. Younger people don’t wear hats as much.”
Add to that the increased shipping costs. To keep her customers happy, “I have to eat the shipping and higher salaries that the manufacturers pay,” Jackson said. “And the overhead for this building has gone up.”
There was no way she could continue doing that.
“It eats up what profits you have to sustain a business,” she said. “And if you can’t re-invest in the business, it is not a business.”
There once was a long list of loyal customers who only shopped by appointment with Jackson, seeking the undivided attention she gives. Sometimes a session lasted two hours.
“I don’t let you wander around,” she said. “I sit you down and work with you to get the best hat for you and your garment.
“I get you dressed for the right occasion without interruption and you have someone who will give you an opinion,” Jackson said. “I think that means an awful lot.”
And it is not just any opinion. It is an honest one that customers can take or leave.
But if they don’t take her advice, Jackson said, and choose a hat that isn’t right for them, “I tell them don’t tell anyone they bought it from me. I need the business, but it is not going to help me if you are going to look like a fool in something you are wearing.”
Jackson was born and raised in Lexington, and earned her teaching degree from Kentucky State University. She married first at 21 and had two children before her husband left her. She divorced him after 11 years of marriage, and raised the children with the help of God and her parents, she said.
She opened the boutique in a small corner of the Harris House of Flowers on Brown Avenue, which was owned by the parents of a student to whom she had given special attention. The grand opening was June 14, 1984, but the shop closed five months later.
Her late husband, Johnny R. Jackson, whom she married when her children were in their late teens, encouraged her to open another shop, which she did in the spring of 1985, near the corner of Short and Upper streets.
Johnny Jackson, a carpenter, built the display shelves and kept the shop in good condition. She named the shop for her father, Hunter Griffin, a painter, who was named after J.E. Hunter, the first black surgeon at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington.
In 1989, she moved to the current location, 140 Deweese Street. Since then, the boutique has survived two recessions and some economic downswings, but the current circumstances have been insurmountable.
Jackson’s daughter, Janet Lynem, and her cousin Barbara Barber, have been invaluable, she said. Lynem has driven Jackson to Atlanta to buy hats and Barber has decorated and helped in the boutique. Her son, William “Chip” Bush, serves as maintenance man and bodyguard.
Still, though, it is time. Jackson hails from an era when appropriate dress was the call of the day. Women wore hats to church and dressed to the nines for dinner outings.
“You go to banquets and see how people dress,” she said, shaking her head. “How can you go out to dinner looking like you are going to clean the yard?”
This is a new day. Jackson said she will miss the joy of fitting customers correctly and seeing the smiles on their faces.
The closing date is unsure, she said, depending on the legalities and logistics given to her by her attorney and accountant. But she hopes to have one big final fashion show. One last time to show young women what sophisticated dress is all about.
Regardless, the shop will not be open for another Derby.
This year, however, she is open by appointment only until two weeks before Derby when the shop will open daily. And even after closing, she will come to the aid of her loyal customers who call.
For now, you can still hear Jackson say a hat should be worn on the forehead or slightly tipped over the right eye for a debonair look.
“A hat may not be all that pretty,” she said, “but if it is worn right and complements what you are wearing, you are in business.
“If you put on a hat like a cowboy, then you are in trouble.”

If You Go
For those seeking hats for the Kentucky Derby, Hunter’s Hatters, 140 Deweese St., will be open daily for two weeks, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., beginning April 23. Otherwise you can shop by appointment by calling: (859) 421-9862 or (859) 252-6360.

I had lunch with Fayette Family Court Judge Tim Philpot last week, and a lot of people wanted to know why.
Philpot and I don’t have many, if any, political views in common. We don’t travel along the same roads to our life goals.
He is staunchly conservative, and I am proudly liberal. He is anti-abortion, and I believe women should be allowed to choose.
So why did we break bread together? He said I had been on his mind.

Family Court Judge Tim Philpot

I knew what he meant. There are people whose names or faces repeatedly flash before us within a short span of time. If we are in tune with our souls, we know “something” is leading us to interact with them.
Philpot and I had emailed before, planned lunches before. But life always got in the way, a situation neither of us probably was really bummed out about.
But last week, things worked out.
During our meal, in which we each paid our own way, we talked about my daughter, whose work sometimes leads to his courtroom; about his work with Drug Court and my son’s addiction and crimes; and about a book Philpot is writing.
Then he mentioned an Easter letter he had written for his friends, much like folks write Christmas letters. But this one, he said, was not about catching up on life’s events. It was about his need to reclaim the radicalism he exhibited in the past.
“You wouldn’t understand that,” he said.
Why wouldn’t I empathize with a need to be less safe and more edgy? I have often thought my life is too mundane, too laid-back, bordering on reclusion. In fact, I think my ancestors were far more radical, leaving me an inheritance of freedom that I squander in front of the TV or in my gardens.
I asked him to send me the letter.
Titled “Radical,” Philpot’s Easter 2012 letter begins with Scripture, Acts 20: 17-21.
That passage, in The Message version of the Bible that Philpot quotes, concludes with Apostle Paul saying, “I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.”
Paul, through his uncompromising discipleship, is urging others to be just as devoted.
In the letter, Philpot says he is disappointed he doesn’t eat wisely or exercise more, that he talks too much and listens too little, but what disappoints him most is that he is no longer a radical. “No one calls me ‘crazy’ anymore,” he writes. “I have never been arrested. I am now a respected member of the community.”
He notes that a couple of decades ago he was the subject of editorial cartoons for his stances against abortion and pornography and his sermons on the floor of the General Assembly when he was a state senator.
While his actions then weren’t as life-threatening as what Paul did in biblical times, Philpot says, they were more than what he does now.
“Now, I find myself playing it straight most of the time,” he writes. “I don’t mention Jesus inside the courthouse very much, even when I know he is absolutely the only answer to the problem in front of me.”
So, the man who sat with me at lunch last week is beating himself up for being so human.
We Christians do that sometimes. We Christians should do that all the time.
My Sunday school class is studying Revelation, the last book of the Bible and the last one I wanted to study.
Our teacher, the Rev. Larry Olinger, insists we must live as though the Rapture — a time when both the living and dead will suddenly rise up to meet Jesus as he returns again — will occur within the next couple of seconds.
Rapture is a good thing.
Those who remain on Earth after the Rapture will endure some hard times, according to the Book of Revelation. Some will have to choose between a very public acceptance of Jesus that will be accompanied by a very public rejection by the world, or they will choose to go along with the crowds.
After reading Philpot’s letter, I knew he is where most of us are and where none of us should be. I’m wrestling with that as well.
His internal battles are between being a comfortable Christian and an uncomfortable one. If we Christians are to be more like Jesus, especially during this season of Easter, discomfort should be our norm.
We should be as uncomfortable as the son of God was as he died for our sins.
I don’t think Jesus allowed nails to be pounded through his flesh just so we could quietly sit in our homes ignoring how much we are needed outside our neighborhoods.
Philpot concluded his Easter letter by saying that standing up for what he believes in, sacrificing his comfort to help others, and by “going against the grain in law, religion and politics,” isn’t radical. It is the normal Christian life.
I still can’t tell you why Philpot and I had lunch together, knowing how differently we view things.
But in that meeting and after reading his letter, I learned just how similar we are as well.
It is too bad lunches like that don’t happen more often in this city, state and country.
Easter would be a good time to start anew.

The staff members at The Nest — Center for Women, Children & Families aren’t very hard to identify now. They are the ones sticking their chests out with pride.
The child care center just earned a three-star — out of a possible four — voluntary rating from the KIDS NOW program administered by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
So what, you say?

Jenna McKinley of The Music Institute of ­Lexington worked with early preschool students at the child care center at The Nest.

Well, many of the parents and guardians served by The Nest are clinging to the frayed ends of their ropes or are inches away from losing their grips. Many come to the agency in crisis, and many are without money.
Still, the staff thinks the children of those adults ­deserve the best they can offer in nurturing and educational child care. And by providing those families with more than what is required by law, the center earned those stars.
Three stars, earned by only 18 of the 180 centers in Fayette County, “tell people we go above and beyond,” said Jenny Morris, child care director at The Nest. “All our teachers are degreed.” Only about five local centers have earned four stars.
The desperate parents and guardians whose children attend The Nest — daily or occasionally — can mark quality child care off their list of worries. And if that is all The Nest did, staff members could rightly pat themselves on the back.
But The Nest is much, much more. In addition to the child care center, which offers free respite care for parents while they search for jobs, have medical ­appointments or just need a break, The Nest offers three other programs for parents and families: crisis care, self-help parenting and domestic violence counseling.
“We see ourselves as a holistic agency,” said Beth Dotson Brown, communications and grants director. “We are a highway to family ­stability. The way we are different from any other agency is that we have four entrance ramps into one of the four programs we offer.”
Crisis care offers food, ­toiletries, diapers and ­cleaning supplies in an ­emergency. Referrals also might be made to other agencies.
“If someone comes in to crisis care for a food box and talks about a ­domestic ­violence problem, we can connect them with a ­counselor here,” Brown said. “We make sure they have all their needs met through any of these programs.”
Also, clients may attend parenting classes that are facilitated by other parents.
“The parents already have the knowledge,” Brown said. “They just need (a facilitator) to draw it out and help them see how it applies to the ­situation they are in.”
The Nest is a non-profit organization that was formed in 1977 when the Lexington Child Abuse Council and Women’s Center of Central Kentucky joined forces to help families while at the same time working to ­prevent child abuse and neglect. Located in Duncan Park at 530 North Limestone, the agency can easily be forgotten or overlooked.
In 2009, the child care center was forced to close ­because of a budget deficit, but it reopened in March 2010. It is a sign of these economic times that the ­program is struggling again.
“Donations are down and grants are down, and the city is gutting budgets,” said Jeffrey A. White, executive director. “For us to be around another 35 years, we really need that funding to support these programs.”
Their support comes from United Way of the Bluegrass, local and federal funding, individual donations and grants. More and more groups are forced to drink from those same troughs, decreasing the amount each receives.
So the staff wants to brag about how good it is and hopefully catch your eye.
“We want people to understand the totality of what we do and we want them to be involved,” Brown said. “We are open to them ­donating money or donating their time, especially in April.”
Why April? It’s National Child Abuse Prevention Month and the perfect time to put yourself in the shoes of a parent who is stressed to the breaking point.
“I can’t imagine what it feels like to wonder where to leave my child when I’m going to look for a job,” said former board chair and longtime volunteer Patty Breeze. “I can’t imagine why we don’t have 100 children there.
“Just knowing that for six to eight hours my child is safe, with well-educated caregivers, and I can focus on what I need to do . I wish the community would think of all the blessings they have and share with those less fortunate.”
Maybe we just needed reminding.

Beth Dotson Brown, left, communications and grants director; Jeffrey A. White, executive director; and Jenny Morris, child care director, hope the public remembers all the good done by The Nest. The non-profit has seen its financial support decline and needs help keeping its programs going.

To help keep the agency on our front burners, the members of the parenting classes will place pinwheels in Duncan Park this month to raise awareness of child abuse and hopefully the needs of The Nest.
Also, on Wednesday, ­University of Kentucky ­College of Pharmacy students will talk with the public about their medications and proper usage, as well as other health issues, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at The Nest.
“I think people come here word-of-mouth,” White said. “They know we have these four programs and will help them out.”
The staff wants us to know that and to ­remember that the agency is still around.

If you want to help
To donate: Send checks to The Nest — Center for Women, Children & Families, 530 North Limestone, Lexington, Ky., 40508.
To volunteer: Call (859) 259-1974.

There are a lot of ­adjectives to describe hip-hop artists and their music, but good Samaritans or friends in a time of need probably wouldn’t be the first ones to come to mind.
But that is exactly how producers and rappers Rob Jackson, Da’mon “Jup” Norris and Willis “Deacon the Villain” Polk should be described.
The three local artists were so touched by the needs left by the March 2 tornadoes that tore through parts of Kentucky, they used their scheduled studio ­session at Saint Claire ­Recording ­Co. in Lexington to hammer out Alright, a song of hope, with friends.

Garrett "Natti" Bush, one of the three rappers on "Alright"

The storms seemed to divide as they approached Lexington that night, sparing the city, which allowed the artists to perform at a local night club as scheduled on March 3, Jackson said.
“It spared our show, but we saw the devastation and damage and thought it was necessary to do something for the rebuilding of our community,” he said.
Since they already had reserved the studio for a retreat, they decided to do what they do best and record a song with proceeds going to help the rebuilding efforts.
“That’s what we have to offer,” Jackson said.
For 48 straight hours and with help from several other musicians, the rappers created Alright. The song is available for download on iTunes. Proceeds will go to the Bluegrass Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“In the five years I’ve worked in fund-raising, this is the first time I’ve been in a collaboration like this,” said Winn Stephens, director of development at the local Red Cross.
“They contacted us,” he said. “They had created this song and wanted to make it an uplifting way of ­providing hope and encouragement for those impacted by the tornado.”
The fast turnaround, from idea to recording, was due to the commitment of the people involved. And, ­Stephens said, all those involved are from Lexington, which has a great deal of talent.

Sam Flowers plays trumpet on "Alright."

Some of that local talent helped with the project. Polk and Garnett “Natti” Bush, another contributor, are on tour in Europe, and J­ackson has worked with Arista Records and performed on BET.
“We relied on that ­combined experience,” Jackson said. “We do music of all ranges, for all ages. Our music is inspired by the moment.”
Composing and ­producing the song were the easy parts, he said. The hard part was letting folks know that by downloading the song, they will be helping Kentuckians.
The money will go to replenish more than $3.4 million spent by the Red Cross during the critical days after the tornadoes, Stephens said. With proceeds from the record sales and other projects that are under way or planned, “I’m thinking we are getting pretty close,” he said.

Preston "Young L.O.R.D" Cotton, is one of the producers of "Alright."

Although neither I nor ­Stephens is a big hip-hop fan, we both agreed Alright is very good. The ­poetry is on point from the rappers, and Courtney ­Campbell’s vocals are magical. The music video, which shows the artists and ­production crew creating the tune, and footage of the destruction, is extremely moving and professional.
“We know the magnitude of the devastation and we know people have a heart to help those in disasters,” said the Rev. Willis Polk, pastor of Imani Baptist Church and father of Deacon the Villain.
“We need to support these Kentucky-born rappers who paused just a moment to do something to aid those victims. I am proud of them for putting this together and how professional it is.”

Courtney Campbell, vocalist for "Alright."

The video and song were released last week, and I, a very old woman whose ­favorite kind of music isn’t being made anymore, highly recommend both. It will change your idea of that music genre.
“That is part of the reason why we did it,” Jackson said. “We are sons and daughters of Kentucky, upstanding citizens. It was an opportunity to show who we actually are and what we are capable of.
“Our music isn’t for ­everybody, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t for ­everybody. We were ­sympathetic for what ­happened, even though our neighbors may not look like us.”

‘Alright’
To hear the song Alright and see the video, go to: Pitchengine.com/wearekentucky/kentucky-hip-hop-artist-hope-to-help-rebuild-state-after-natural-disaster-with-music. Or Youtube.com/watch?v=-SO6pz3XGsA&feature=player_embedded#!

OK, I’m trying it again.
When folks at work were searching for enough willing bodies to have a Weight Watchers group, I rolled my eyes. Here we go again, I thought.
The last time we had a work group I quit about half-way through even though the set fees continued to leave my checking account.
But 15 people were needed for the group to get off the ground this time, so I agreed. It wasn’t that I didn’t need to lose weight. Lord knows I do. It’s just that I’m weak. If I see a piece of chess pie, I fall off the wagon and then roll around in fatty foods until my next attempt.
At least this time, the meetings got under way ­during Lent, when I had promised to abstain from sugar. I may not be able to give up chess pie on my own, but I will as my rather superficial sacrifice to God.
Failure is looming, however. I have already told my dieting comrades that the weigh-in after Easter will not be pretty. I am going to find something sweet to eat and try to set up house in it. If it is a box of Girl Scout cookies, then the entire box will be mine. If it is cake, my family will have to share one half. The rest is mine.
I will also try to eat as many deviled eggs as I can cram into my mouth.
Those were my thoughts until I saw Charles Barkley. No, not the Barkley we all see on TV serving as a basketball analyst; not even the slimmed-down Barkley who has been the spokesperson for Weight Watchers for several months.

Charles Barkley

The Barkley I saw was a bit more frightening. In order to get more men to join the Weight Watchers program, Barkley donned a sleeveless, v-neck black dress, similar to one that Jennifer Hudson would have been proud to wear in a much smaller size. He also wore a long wig, heels, makeup and jewelry.
The reason the commercial, which will premiere on April 8, was so scary is because I believe I could fit into that dress. And look good in it, too.
I then realized I was comparing myself to a man who weighs about 300 pounds.
Barkley said he ballooned up to 350 pounds, adding about 100 pounds after he retired from the NBA in 2000.
“The doctor said, ‘Hey dude, if you don’t lose some weight you’re either going to get diabetes, have a stroke or drop dead. It’s either A, B or C,’” Barkley told a reporter for Game On.
“There’s no excuse for me being 100 pounds overweight. That’s just me being lazy,” he said. “I only ate rice, corn and potatoes, which are clearly starches. People don’t get fat eating fruits and vegetables.”
Not only could Barkley and I dress alike, we also share the same doctor and food choices.
Since joining the program last fall, Barkley has lost 42 pounds. He wants men to give the program a try, and he wants people from his home state of Alabama to join because of the obesity rate there. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Alabama and Kentucky are almost neck-and-neck in obesity rates among adults and incidents of diabetes.
That is yet another thing Barkley and I have in common.
I’m not fond of our being that connected. In fact, chess pie is not looking as tempting any more. But I still have more work to do to see deviled eggs in a less tasty way.
Maybe I need to watch that commercial a few more times until it becomes an appetite suppressant.

Volunteers with Central Kentucky Cinderella’s Closet might have little resemblance to fairy godmothers, but they are trying to do similar work by making more than 200 young women in Morgan County feel like princesses for the prom this year.
The group plans to take about 500 prom dresses to the tornado-ravaged area of West Liberty, where girls from Morgan County High School and other areas hit by the March 2 tornado will get to choose a dress and accessories for their big dance.
“They will get very special treatment,” said Amy Nance, coordinator of the Central Kentucky Cinderella’s Closet, based in Frankfort. “That is how we do our program anyway.”
A team of 20 seamstresses and dozens of “fairy godmothers” will take 30 portable dressing rooms to the school, and seamstresses will alter the dresses on the spot, Nance said. Then, each dress will be steamed and wrapped for the prom.
“They are getting top-notch dresses; some of them are brand-new,” Nance said. “They are really beautiful.”
Cinderella’s Closet was founded in Lakeside Park in 2006, when Erin Peterson bought a prom dress from a consignment store that a young woman in foster care desired but could not afford. The young woman remarked to Peterson, “I’m going to look just like Cinderella.”
Since then, Cinderella’s Closets have sprung up throughout Kentucky and other states. Once a year, young women, referred by their schools, make an appointment and are treated to time with personal assistants. The teens are waited on and given goodie bags to take home with them, along with dresses that are no more than five years old.
“Our slogan is, ‘More than a dress, turning dresses into dreams,’” Nance said.
“It really has nothing to do with the dress or not going to the prom,” she said. “It is all about celebrating that girl’s life.”
As we know, many teenage girls have low self-esteem and don’t feel pretty or of value. Sometimes, outside issues compound the problem. To have this special day lets them know their community cares, Nance said.
“That’s why we do it over the top. That is the message we send,” she said.
In West Liberty, many family budgets are stretched to cover rebuilding and restoration, said Charla Lacy, a teacher at Morgan County High School, and for many, there is little money for the expense of prom attire.
Lacy and fellow teacher Stephanie Lacy (not related) poured over the Internet looking for some way to help students have a great prom on a tight budget. Charla Lacy looked for tuxedo options for the boys, and Stephanie Lacy was looking for 200 gowns when she found Cinderella’s Closet.
Cinderella’s Closet collects donated dresses and accessories throughout the year and then hosts refer girls from several counties on the first Saturday in March to have them dressed for the prom. When the plea came from Morgan County, she said, the dresses were readily available. Accessories, however, are in short supply. The group needs donations of new shoes and bling, Nance said.
“The girls like ‘sparkly,’” she said. “We need rhinestone earrings, bracelets and necklaces. And we need longer necklaces for the plus-size girls.”
Any donated money left over will be given to the schools to help with other prom needs, Nance said.
“All money donated for Morgan County will go to Morgan County,” she said.
If young women in other counties hit by the tornado need a dress, Charla Lacy asked that they call Morgan County High School at (606) 743-8052 to make an appointment for Saturday. Call the school.
Because the tornado took out the florist shops in West Liberty, Charla Lacy suggested that some money could go to creating live or silk flower arrangements or bouquets.
“The art teacher has agreed to help the students create some,” she said.
Nance, who also is youth services center coordinator for Franklin County Schools, said Cinderella’s Closet is in its third year and is dedicated to helping young women feel loved.
And that is just fine by Charla Lacy.
“We are really happy they are coming,” she said.

To help
Central Kentucky Cinderella’s Closet is traveling to West Liberty to outfit girls in prom attire on March 31. Rhinestone jewelry in all sizes, new shoes and donations for silk or fresh flowers are needed for the April 14 prom.
To donate jewelry, shoes or money, send a check to Central Kentucky Cinderella’s Closet at First United Methodist Church in Frankfort, 211 Washington St, Frankfort, Ky. 40601-1821 or call (502) 227-7430. Write “Morgan County” on the memo line.
To donate money for silk or fresh flowers, send a check to Morgan County High School, 150 Road to Success, West Liberty, Ky. 41472. Write “prom” on the memo line.