The Friday Finish - Best Day Ever! - Family Giving Legacy Still Strong - Meal Delivery Needs Winter Funding - Healthy Thursday - Dedication & Loving Hearts
October 23, 2026
Best day ever!
Our Red Bird Christian School ECD–6th grade students had the most wonderful time at Turners Pumpkin Farm, and the adults had just as much fun as the kids!
From the zip line and big jumping pillow to the hamster wheels, hayrides, barrel train rides, slides, and swings, there was something to keep everyone smiling! We enjoyed tug-of-war, visiting the pumpkin patch, and taking plenty of pictures to remember our day.
One of my favorite parts was hearing the laughter and watching our students enjoy being together. These are the school days they will remember long after they leave our classrooms.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this such a special day! I highly recommend Turner’s Pumpkin Farm for a school trip or a day with your family. We came home with happy hearts and wonderful memories!
Post from Mrs. Patty’s Class 2026-27 Facebook page
Family Giving Legacy Still Strong
The legacy of giving is key to Red Bird Mission remaining strong over the course of 105 years. This week, the example of one family’s legacy of support came to light at Work Camp. Jon came forward after the Monday night Mission Update telling how his mother was saving to send support to Red Bird Mission in the 1930’s when she was a young person living in Clay County, Illinois!
Jon is continuing that legacy in a couple of ways. He’s at Red Bird Mission as a volunteer with the Salem United Methodist Church (UMC) in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin that is doing home repair this week and helping around the Queendale Campus. He also “connected the dots” by telling us that he had played the bagpipes at a wedding and had been asked to name a charity so the father of the bride could make a donation. Just the week before his friend had contacted our Development Department for information to make that charitable gift that will honor Jon’s service and support of Red Bird.
Jon also blessed the Work Camp teams and volunteers on campus this week with a mini bagpipe concert on Tuesday night.
Meal Delivery Needs Winter Funding
There’s been no relief in the state funding of elderly meal delivery, but compassionate Red Bird Mission supporters have stepped up to ensure funding through the end of November. We’re tracking the donations very closely on a weekly basis into November because the decision to order food for the month of December will be based on donations received in November.
A select number of volunteers were able to ride along with the two meal delivery drivers. Isolation of meal recipients and their obvious need for the hot nutritious meal continues to impress volunteer meal assistants.
One comment that Candace, Red Bird Mission Women and Children Ministries Coordinator, made last week keeps ringing in our hearts this week.
As I’m filling in doing a meal route due to staffing shortages, I get to
see the need and appreciation, and the worrisome looks
of the home delivered meal clients. They have asked multiple times if I know how long we are going to have to shorten the amount of meals in a month, or asking
“Do we get meals every day this week?”
Can you, or your business, civic organization, church, or church group help us raise the support needed to keep Elderly Meal Delivery funded through the winter months? A gift of $180 will cover the monthly costs for one of the 48 people receiving meals through Red Bird Mission. Ever gift matters. No gift is too small when we join our resources together to fight hunger among these elderly folks. You can give online by clicking/following the link below, or mail a check payable to Red Bird Mission, Inc., 70 Queendale Ctr, Beverly, KY 40913-9607 marked “Elderly Meals”.
Healthy Thursday
You might say that we had a Healthy Thursday at Red Bird Mission this week. Tracy Nolan, Community Outreach and Health Education Director, organized a health screening in the morning and a vaccination clinic in the afternoon in one of the Red Bird Christian School STEAM classrooms.
Berea College Nursing returned for a second time this fall. A team of nursing students offered health screenings for all RBCS students in Kindergarten through 8th Grade on Thursday morning. The screenings included measurement of height, weight, body mass index, plus basic vision and color blindness testing. Each student and teacher received education packets to reinforce healthy lifestyle choices with links to research based websites for further learning.
Walgreen’s Pharmacy staff in London, Kentucky took occupancy in the STEAM classroom during the afternoon. DeWall Senior Center participants and Red Bird Mission staff pre-registered for a vaccination clinic to receive flu, COVID, pneumonia, RSV, and Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) shots. Tracy reported that 35 rolled up their sleeves to minimize or possibly prevent serious illness in the months to come.
Dedication and Loving Hearts, Year after Year
Some people come to Red Bird once. Some come back twice. And then there are the ones who keep coming back, year after year, because somebody here is already waiting for them to walk through the door. Here in the mountains, that means something.
For Nancy Gardner and Mickie Donahue, that connection has kept them making the roughly ten-hour drive from northern Illinois to Red Bird Mission, year after year. Nancy first came in 2005, and Mickie in 2009. What started as an opportunity to serve grew into a tradition, often bringing them back in both spring and fall.
Both women wanted to spend their retirement doing something meaningful. Mickie had spent 36 years teaching, and she still had plenty to give. At Red Bird, they found work for willing hands and people they would come to care about deeply.
Over the years, their work has taken them through the Community Store, food distribution, classrooms, Meals on Wheels, the Baby Pantry, and the Christmas Room. Mickie started out putting her sewing skills to use mending clothes in the Community Store. Later, she moved into other areas of Community Outreach, always drawn to opportunities to spend time with the people she was serving.
That personal connection mattered to her. She wanted to know folks, hear their stories, and become a familiar face.
Nancy has poured much of her time into the Christmas Room, where new toys, clothing, books, blankets, and everyday necessities are gathered for children in the community. Each child's box is packed with care, using information from parents about sizes, interests, and favorite things.
There is a real child behind every list. A young'un who loves football. One who would be tickled with a fishing pole. Another who needs a warm coat and a good pair of shoes.
Nancy and Mickie keep those children in mind as they work. With help from gift cards given by friends, they have bought basketballs, footballs, volleyball gear, and sweatshirts, and arranged for fishing poles to be shipped to the mission. Everything in those Christmas boxes is new, a detail these sweet ladies take to heart. They want each child to receive something chosen especially for them, something they can open and feel excited about.
That same loving heart carries over into the Baby Pantry. Families receive diapers, wipes, an outfit, a toy, a book, and a little something for the mother, too. There's plenty of work behind those neatly packed bags. Changing the pantry's clothing from one season to the next can take volunteers three or four days. It's necessary, time-consuming work, and extra hands make a real difference for the staff who keep these programs going.
Nancy and Mickie speak with deep appreciation for Tracy, Candace, Judy, Tammy, and Sylvester, recognizing their dedication and the relationships they have built throughout the community. People know them by name. They ask for them. That trust comes from being there, day after day. Nancy and Mickie have found their own friendships here, especially through visits with Helen, Carrie, Lois, Joyce, Vicky, and Charlene at the DeWall Senior Center. Coming back gives them a chance to catch up and pick up conversations with people they have missed.
They have also found beauty and encouragement in these mountains. Mickie spoke of the bright, clear blue sky and the moments that make her pause and feel God's presence. She calls them "God moments." This year, simply being able to return was something she was especially thankful for. After her second heart surgery in three years, Mickie received her doctor's approval to volunteer again. When asked to describe her experience in one word, she chose "grateful." Grateful to be well enough. Grateful to have useful work to do. Grateful to be back among people she cares about.
Their example is inspiring, not because they have done one extraordinary thing, but because they have continued to show up. Year after year. Trip after trip. Through changing seasons, busy schedules, health challenges, and the long miles between Illinois and Kentucky, they have kept finding their way back.
Nancy has noticed fewer volunteers since the pandemic, and both women hope more people will consider coming. Mickie continues sharing her experiences with church groups, encouraging others to find their own way to support Red Bird.
There are many ways to lend a hand here, and every one of them matters. Teaching, sewing, sorting clothes, packing food, helping with construction, or taking time to visit with somebody, all have a place.
Not everyone can drive to Red Bird. Not everyone can spend a week volunteering. But everyone can do something. We can give. We can donate needed supplies. We can organize a church or community group. We can sort clothes, pack food, sew, teach, help with construction, or simply spend time with someone who needs a listening ear.
Nancy and Mickie have given years of their time to Red Bird, and along the way, they have built relationships that reach far beyond any one week of volunteering. They became the familiar faces people look forward to seeing. The friends who remember. The volunteers who return. The sweet ladies who make the long journey because someone here is waiting for them.
Somewhere between Illinois and these Kentucky mountains, a mission trip became a part of their lives. And here at Red Bird, there are folks who think about them when they're gone and look forward to the day they return.
And if Nancy and Mickie can keep making their way back to Red Bird, perhaps the rest of us can find our own way to help, too.
- Kayla Smith, Development Gifts and Media
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