The Friday Finish - Student Communications Shine - Singers Share - Muddy Harlan Jeep Crawl - Coming Up Big - Cardinal Service - KYGives 2026 - Heart Behind Help
- Tim Crawford
- May 2
- 8 min read
May 1, 2026
Students Shine in Communications Day Competition
Mrs. Patty Vance, 4th-5th Grade Teacher, does a phenomenal job encouraging participation by our Red Bird Christian School students in the 4H Communications Day for Clay County. This year, fellow teachers Mrs. Lindsey Smith, Mrs. Melanie Adams and Miss Leslie Hensley assisted Patty with 29 students that prepared, practiced, and showed up last Friday to present a wide variety of speech and demonstration projects before a three-judge panel. Following is her post to the Red Bird School Alumni Association Facebook page recapping the event.
We are so proud of our 4th–8th grade students for the outstanding job they did today at the Clay County Communications Day competition!
Speech and demonstration events give students the opportunity to build confidence, strengthen communication skills, and learn how to clearly express their ideas—skills that will benefit them for a lifetime. These experiences are a powerful reminder of how important 4-H is in helping young people grow into capable, confident leaders.
A special congratulations to our Grand Champions who will advance to the regional competition: Finn Smith, Syrus Stone, Jase Smith, Ashlyn Adams, Sarah Fee, Braxton Asher, Dalton Whitehead, Natalie Asher, Cambree Holland, Erabela Broome, and Marcus Adams!
We are also so proud of our Blue Ribbon winners:
Madalyn Smith, Marlee Barrett, Jaslene Frazier, Danielle Marcum, Bristol Smith, Lucas Howard, Mackenzie Perry, Jon Holden Smallwood, Cameron Marcum, Ashtyn Collett, Shelby Davis, Taylor Parsley, Charlie Gray, Kaden Brock, Bryan William Smith, and Shaylee Goodin! Kayson Couch also did a fantastic job and earned a red ribbon—great work!
We couldn’t be more proud of all of our students. Their hard work, courage, and dedication truly showed today. We are excited to watch them continue to grow and are looking forward to seeing ALL of our county winners advance to the state level this summer!
Cardinal Singers Share Talents, Testimonies
The Cardinal Singers are a select choral group that auditions each year for the opportunity to travel in state and out of state to share their musical talents and testimonies. The climax event each year is the out of state tour. The group performed at chapel last Wednesday and loaded the bus two days later for a weekend tour that took the group to three churches in middle Tennessee with strong Red Bird support connections – Cookeville First United Methodist Church, St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro, and Southside Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tennessee.
Muddy Harlan Jeep Crew Crawl
If you were driving between Red Bird Mission and Harlan, Kentucky Saturday you may have seen a long parade of jeeps. That’s because the Muddy Harlan Jeep Crew came through Queendale on a weekend crawl stopping at the Cardinal Café to do some crafts shopping and take a refreshment break.
Misty had contacted Brandy Vanover, Cardinal Café Manager, in advance of their intended crawl to make arrangements for opening since the Café doesn’t normally open on Saturdays. Brandy reminds everyone that she can schedule for special parties or groups outside of normal operating hours (currently 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Just give her a call – 606-598-2709 – to plan your special event.
Little Bitty Red Bird Coming Up Big
Only three Cardinal Track and Field athletes were available for competition last Saturday because several were on the Cardinal Singers trip, but they still competed fiercely at the E.R. “Doc” Gray Invitational in Harlan, Kentucky. A second place medal by Xavier Roark in the Boys Long Jump and Ashton Lewis’ performances in the shot put and discus netted enough points to outpace another school in the boys team scoring. Kadence Nolan was only one position away from scoring in the Girls 200 meter dash.
Cardinal Service Day
Service is one of the pillars of Red Bird Christian School. While the Cardinal Singers were returning from their weekend service of singing and testifying in middle Tennessee, Red Bird Christian School Middle and High School students went to work serving around the Queendale Campus. Monday afternoon they jumped in to pack up commodity boxes, cleaned up the limbs and debris on the Queendale Center community playground, cleaned and organized the STEAM classroom and library for the end of the school year, and deep cleaned the gym and hallway trophy case in preparation for graduation.
It was clear in random interviews that middle school and high school students understood that Cardinal Service Days are not just tasks to be done, but their service helps others. Nita said that it wasn’t just about putting cleaning skills to work. She said,
“It makes me very happy to clean to help others. That's what I've done the last 16 years.”
Bryleigh, one of three seniors cleaning the concession stand, also shared how Monday was an opportunity for seniors to complete a graduation requirement, saying,
“It's a great opportunity for us to be able to get our hours to be able to graduate. Every year you have to have 10 hours of service so by the end of senior year, you have to have 40 hours. Yeah, and some people wait to the last minute, so it's a good opportunity for them to get it [service hours requirement].”
Double Your Gift on May 12th, Kentucky Gives Day 2026
The countdown is on to Kentucky Gives Day 2026, an opportunity to bring hope and light to people served by nonprofit organizations in Kentucky. New stories and new photos are up on the Red Bird Mission page of the Kentucky Gives site in expectation that existing and new supporters will join in doing good for the people Red Bird serves.
Gifts can be made early, but all of the matching gift opportunities will come for gifts made on May 12th. Pledges are being made by Red Bird donors and the board of directors to match dollar for dollar every online gift made or mailed on May 12th to support Red Bird Mission or Red Bird Clinic, Inc. Kentucky Nonprofit Network, the organizer of this giving day for 14 years, has garnered $20,000 in matching funds plus thousands in prizes for milestones in giving on May 12th. Check next week’s Friday Finish for details.
The Heart Behind the Help: Why They Come to Our Hills
-By an Appalachian girl who’s always asking, “Why?”
I was born with a “why” on the tip of my tongue. I always wanted to know what was under the surface of a thing. Why did people do what they do? What made them show up, stay, or walk away?
Here at Red Bird, I see folks traveling from every corner of the map to support our little mission in Appalachia. From my side, as somebody who’s from here, I know why this place matters. But I wanted to know why it matters to them. Why do they leave their own homes to come work in our ministries? To find out, I decided to shine the light on one special crew: eleven volunteers from Trinity UMC in New Albany, Indiana. I wanted to know their story.
More Than Just Hammers and Nails
This group has been coming to see us twice a year for about four years now—once when the spring blooms start peaking in April, and again when the leaves turn in October. They first heard the call because the older members of their church had been packing Christmas boxes for Community Outreach’s Christmas Program. For years, the older members of Trinity had been packing those Christmas boxes for our families. As they slowed down, they looked at the younger folks in their congregation and basically said,
“It’s your turn. We’ve carried this as far as we can. You go now.”
So they did. They answered that call the way mountain people answer a neighbor’s knock—by showing up.
They don't just come to "work"; they come to fill needs. This trip, they’ve been pouring their hearts into the porch of the Volunteer Quarters. Now, to some, a porch is just wood and screen. But around here, a porch is a retreat. A porch is where you cool off and calm down. It’s drinking your last cup of coffee before you head out to work for our ministries. It’s where you whisper prayers and swap stories and listen to the rain on the roof.
This team has been:
- Putting up new screening to keep the critters and bugs out.
- Adding sturdy tables and a rug so folks can sit and stay awhile.
- Swapping out old, tired cushions for brand‑new chairs.
- Spending time in our Elderly Ministries teaching crafts.
- Helping in the Food Pantry and Baby Pantry.
Last year, one of the volunteers, Melissa, took one look at that porch and just couldn’t shake it. It was worn out and weather‑beaten, and she knew it needed a softer hand—somebody to see it as a gathering place, not just a project. She came back with that on her heart, and now it’s turning into a real retreat for every volunteer to enjoy.
Weaving a Community Together
It’s not all construction, though. This group spent time at the DeWall Senior Center teaching our elders how to weave sleeping mats out of recycled plastic bags. They brought a loom and a nearly finished mat to show Tammy Adams, Red Bird Mission Elderly Ministries Coordinator, how it’s done, making sure the project lives on long after they head back to Indiana.
I talked with Carla, who’s been coming for three years. She’s volunteered everywhere from the Community Store to the food pantry, whatever needs done that day. When I asked what keeps bringing her all the way back to this little pocket of Kentucky, she didn’t hesitate.
“It’s the people,” she said. “They’re beautiful. I feel like I’m actually making a difference here.”
Then there’s Joris, with a J, not D. I made sure to get that right. She’s been here four times and wishes she was younger so she could do even more. Her husband usually comes, too, but even though he stayed home this time, Joris is already planning her return in October. You can hear it when they talk: this isn’t just a service project to them. It’s a relationship.
The Moral of the Story: A “God Thing”
While in the Baby Pantry, I talked with one of the volunteers who is a retired United Methodist pastor, her name is Cheryl. You can tell right away she’s spent a lifetime listening to people’s stories and carrying them carefully.
She told me she first heard about Red Bird from the older couples in her church—the same ones who had been making this trip for years before their bodies finally said,
“That’s enough.”
They couldn’t keep coming in person, but their stories did. They handed that love down like you’d hand down a family quilt.
Two Octobers ago, she finally came to see it for herself. On that first trip, she ended up working mostly in the Christmas room at Community Outreach. As she moved around the campus, watching how things flowed, she started to notice something. In her words, there was a “synergy” here.
She could see how the weaving project at the Senior Center, the Christmas boxes, and the upcoming “In Her Shoes: From Fairy Tales to Faith” ladies’ retreat in August weren’t just random, separate efforts. They were threads in the same pattern.
Right now, the women are gathering 60 pairs of shoes for those Christmas boxes, under the guidance of Tracy Nolan, Red Bird Mission Community Outreach Director. Shoes that will end up on real feet, attached to real stories. Cheryl looked at all of that and called it what she knew it to be: a “God thing.” She said,
“The joy of serving is like experiencing Christmas all over again, every single time help is given or received.”
I sat with that for a minute, because it hit deep.
So, Why Do They Come?
The "why" I was looking for? I think I found it. It’s a "God thing." They come because they’ve figured out something that a lot of the world seems to forget: We’re all just neighbors.
These folks from Trinity United Methodist Church have realized that serving each other is part of the same calling. It strengthens their church back home. It strengthens our mission here. They give their time, their muscles, their vacation days, and their gas money. And in return, they find a kind of peace you can’t really buy. I don’t think they see themselves as heroes. But I see it differently.
So if you’ve ever wondered why groups keep driving back into these hills, year after year, here’s my best answer: They come because love doesn’t stay put. It goes where it’s needed. It shows up with hammers and porch chairs and plastic‑bag looms. It asks,
“What do you need?”
and then,
“What’s next?”
I’m so grateful they chose our little corner of the world to share their light.
- Kayla Smith, Development Gifts and Media
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