The Friday Finish - Raised Here & Still Raising - Alumni Pledge $45,000 - New Pantry Dock - More Than a Meal - Kitchen Key to Business Launch
- Tim Crawford
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
September 4, 2026
Mama Kayla: Raised Here and Still Raising Red Bird Kids
When you’ve grown up in these mountains, you don’t just leave Red Bird behind. It follows you—in the way you raise your kids, the way you talk about home, the way you feel when you come back and somebody still knows your name. That’s the story of Red Bird Christian School alumna and dorm parent, Kayla Couch.
Kayla first came to Red Bird in fifth grade, after bouncing through three other elementary schools and finished out her school years here. Looking back, she laughs when she remembers
“Miss Long kissed the dog,”
a silly fundraiser moment that somehow sums up what this place has always been: joyful, close-knit, just small enough that everybody shares the same story. That’s the Red Bird a lot of us remember.
When it came time to raise her own family, Kayla knew she wanted something different than what she saw in the public school system. She wanted a place where
“the Lord is first and everything else is second,”
where her kids could be known by name, not a number on a roster. Bringing her children to Red Bird meant coming back herself—this time as staff.
Now, as a dorm parent, Kayla’s work looks a lot like what was poured into her. She shares her own advice and life lessons so they do not have to learn the hard way. She’ll tell you herself she did not always listen back then, like most of us as teens—but those voices and those prayers from the ones who loved her most, turned into the way she loves students now. Over the years, many of her dorm kids have gone out into the world and still call, message, or stop by to see “Mama Kayla” when they come home.
Looking at Red Bird as a former student, a mom, and a staff member, she sees both the beauty and the possibilities. It breaks her heart when people underestimate what this little school can do. She’s seen students thrive here—on the court, in the classroom, and in their walk with the Lord—who might get lost or sit on the bench somewhere bigger. She believes deeply that with more students, fuller dorms, and strong family and community support, Red Bird can keep growing into all God intends for it to be.
Kayla’s family has planted deep roots into this place for generations—her mother, her Aunt Gail, Aunt Ruthie, and now her own children. That kind of legacy doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people come back to give what they were given. Alumni, families, and friends: when you see Kayla on campus or at school, you’re looking at what Red Bird is all about—faith, family, and belonging, passed down from one generation to the next.
- Kayla Smith, Development Gifts and Media
Alumni Pledge $45,000 Match for School
Two Red Bird Mission School alumni have pledged $45,000 to match dollar-for-dollar donations made during the 2026 Alumni Homecoming Campaign. Letters have been mailed to individuals and churches that have supported the school soliciting donations necessary to help fund the fall semester at Red Bird Christian School. A goal of $105,000 has been set for the total campaign to honor the 105-year history of academic excellence, spiritual formation, leadership and service that continues today. Charitable gifts are needed because Red Bird receives no public instructional funds and our area student families cannot cover the tuition needed cover the educational expense.
The annual Homecoming campaign was begun by the late Dr. O. Taylor Collins when he returned to Red Bird Mission as Executive Director to find a way to reopen his alma mater that had been closed by board action in May 2010. The late Leonard Lawson, also an alumnus, pledged to give $100,000 for five years, and in 2014 agreed to a dollar-for-dollar match to all funds given to the school at the Red Bird School Alumni Association Homecoming which raised over $520,000 to financially stabilize the school for several years.
Be one of the first to double your gift through the alumni match by making a contribution to Red Bird Christian School today using the link to our secure online form. If you prefer, you can also mail your check payable to Red Bird Mission, Inc., 70 Queendale Ctr, Beverly, KY 40913-9607 marked “2026 Homecoming Match”.
New Pantry Dock Construction Begins
The old medical lab’s transformation at Red Bird Mission keeps moving towards a more functional food pantry. The concrete truck arrived Monday to begin pouring the foundation for an expanded dock and direct unloading into Paul’s Pantry. Bruce, Dennis, Hal and William have come from Murfreesboro many times delivering the quarterly donation of 144 ready-to-go food boxes and other donations, but they came this week to lend a hand with the dock construction and dry wall installation for the building entry of the new load in.
Red Bird staff also recently cleaned the pantry floor tile and applied a fresh coat of wax giving a cleaner appearance complimenting the sturdy, new shelving already installed this summer. The materials for these improvements are being funded through a generous donation honoring the memory of Paul Givens, an eastern Kentucky native who dedicated himself to giving
back to alleviate hunger, substandard housing and basic needs through Red Bird Mission Community Outreach.
More Than a Meal
The recent news of the drastic reduction in governmental funding for home delivered meals to the elderly is creating shock waves across rural, southeastern Kentucky where hundreds of citizens will be impacted. One senior center nearby published a post under the title, “More Than a Meal”, detailing how the elimination of meal delivery will impact overall wellbeing of low income elderly receiving meals.
We stopped in at Red Bird Mission’s DeWall Senior Center on the Beverly Campus yesterday to talk with Tammy Adams, Elderly Ministries Coordinator, to ask her how Red Bird Mission’s Meals on Wheels is “more than a meal.”
Tammy shared that meal delivery staff are looking out for other health needs such as, “clients who are in need of Depends (adult diapers), Ensure (protein drinks). So they get extra [supplies] when we take our meals. Also, when we get produce in, we'll give them the fresh produce.”
Generous Red Bird Mission donors give incontinence supplies and the protein drinks to be distributed at no cost to elderly in need. Tammy went on to say, “They're expensive, and
helping them to get those beyond the meal is a blessing.”
Tammy also spoke about the mental/emotional health aspect too, saying,
“It's a socialization piece, too, because if nobody's calling and nobody's coming by, just us coming by to check on them to say, ‘Hi, how are you,’ giving them a smile. That helps, too, to keep the good mentality going.”
Please consider covering the meal cost for one person, $100.00, with a monthly recurring online gift, or mail a check each month to Red Bird Mission, Inc., 70 Queendale Ctr, Beverly, KY 40913-9607 marked “elderly meal delivery”. Without support, there will be 10,000 less meals eaten over the next 10 months.
Red Bird Kitchen Key to Business Launch
He drove about an hour and over Red Bird Mountain to the Red Bird Valley Kitchen (RBVK), but it was the closest approved commercial kitchen that Marshall Holbrook could use to take the practical exam to obtain his Commercial Food Manufacturing Permit. On Thursday, he underwent the watchful eye of Paul Rice, Area Food Manufacturing Inspector with the Kentucky Department for Public Health, proving that he can prepare food safely for public consumption.
Marshall can now take orders for fresh made breakfast sandwiches and launch his dream business, Home Made Foods, in Bimble, Kentucky. The website, www.homemadefoods.com, was built with highlighted text, “Opening soon. We are getting our kitchen ready.”
Plans are to begin his business utilizing the RBVK to bake fresh butter breakfast biscuits and then deliver to local stores, farmers markets and other events. In a letter sent to Red Bird Mission seeking the opportunity to use the RBVK, Marshall said,
“There is a good story here for both of us. Red Bird built this kitchen so local people could start something, and we are a local business ready to start in it [RBVK].”
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