On February 18 of this year, the Bath County Christian Social Service Center in Owingsville was destroyed in a fire. More than eight months later, officials said the nonprofit is still recovering.
Executive Director Marcelle Doggett said community support has been immense, with local churches aiding the center in continuing their mission.
“We have located our office part at St. Julie Catholic Church and so we work out of there a couple days a week, and our food pantry is in the Methodist Church. They were kind enough to lend some of their Sunday School classrooms so we could put our food, mainly commodities in there, for each month,” said Doggett.
Doggett added the center plans to rebuild their lost building when time and weather permits.
“As we’re getting into fall and winter, I don’t foresee us being back in our building until next year so, it may be sooner. ‘Cause it’s hard coordinating everything. You’re out of your element you know, so, the coordination is just harder,” said Doggett.
The St. Claire HealthCare Foundation and the Citizens Bank recently held a golf outing to raise funds for the center. With 47 teams participating, the event raised almost $100,000, a record-breaking number of players and donations.
Doggett said the money will go a long way toward getting Bath County Christian Social Service back into their own facility.
“It’ll be tremendous,” said Doggett, “ It truly, truly will, because our building was valued at $928,000, so, you know, we’re not even near that, maybe three quarters of the way there in fundraising. So, it’s had an absolute tremendous impact on where we’ll be tomorrow.”
Doggett added that community support has been invaluable.
“We want people out there, the public, to know how much we appreciate them, we truly, truly appreciate them, because they are giving us a light where we thought there wasn’t a light, to go on and do what we do,” said Doggett.
More information on the Bath County Christian Social Service Center and their recovery can be found by calling (606) 674-6906 or contacting Marcelle Doggett at (606) 336-1561.