Editor’s Note: This story contains sensitive information regarding suicide and drug abuse. If you are struggling with your mental health, please contact the WKU Counseling Center at 270-745-3159 or the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
According to WKYT, Kentucky’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has been fully restored after the 43-day federal shutdown came to an end on Thursday, Nov. 13.
Nearly 600,000 Kentuckians, or 8% of the state, rely on SNAP, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader with data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This number includes many residents of Bowling Green, who turned to other sources in their time of struggle.
On Thursday, Nov. 6, local organizations KY Steps and The Empowerment Group began hosting a food drive at Hills Mattresses and More, along with two KY Steps locations. Debbie Harwood from Alvaton, Kentucky, co-founder of the Empowerment Group, said her organization aims to help the most vulnerable residents of Bowling Green.
“We do projects and events for homeless people, veterans and any agency that may call us to collaborate,” Harwood said.
Harwood said The Empowerment Group has also partnered with the SOKY Patriots, American Red Cross and Hope Harbor since starting in 2023. She said collaborating with the mental health-focused KY Steps program has helped both organizations serve the community.
“Most of the population that we serve have medical issues and dietary restrictions that limit their access to food pantries,” Harwood said. “Working together fills in the gaps, so we can make sure they have what they need.”
Harwood said that while the holiday season is always a busy time for food drives, 2025 has been especially difficult.
“This has been a very unusual year for a variety of reasons,” Harwood said. “There are so many different changes and challenges, and we don’t want people to do without food in order to pay a utility bill or buy medication.”
Irene Boamah, who founded KY Steps with her husband, Daniel Boamah, said the organization focuses on helping those who struggle with mental health and developmental disorders. Boamah said she has worked with Harwood since before either founded their respective groups.
“I’ve known her for most of my adult life,” Boamah said. “We were both Kentucky social workers, always helping individuals who were in need.”
Boamah said the food drive aims to provide varying supplemental necessities to alleviate people’s financial burdens.
“We are collecting non-perishable items, but fresh fruits and vegetables are fine too,” Boamah said. “Personal hygiene products are also wonderful because it helps people to spread their money a little bit further.”
Boamah said privacy is a priority for KY Steps and the Empowerment Group, so people do not have to prove their economic status for assistance. She said this is partially due to the wide range of needs they serve.
“We have people in this community who might not qualify for benefits,” Boamah said. “There might be people who are helping to raise a family member, or others in the community who just need extra help.”
Boamah said that Bowling Green has shown itself to be an especially supportive community.
“We are a community that loves to give,” Boamah said. “We can call on somebody and say there is a family in need, and within hours, people will come together to help out.”
Boamah said the food drive will continue until Nov. 30 at Hills Mattresses and More, KY Steps Behavioral Health and the KY Steps Trauma Recovery and Counseling Center.
The BG Micro Pantry also offers a nutritional avenue for those in need. According to Start Here Warren County, the unmanned yellow stands operate on “a ‘take what you need, leave what you can’ basis.”
BG Micro Pantry has four locations across the city listed on its webpage. According to its website, food can anonymously be dropped off or taken.
On Sunday, Nov. 16, BG Neighbors hosted its weekly free lunch outside of the LifeSkills Wishing Well Connection building on Center Street. Co-founder Hugh Trimble from Helsinki, Finland, said the group was founded in 2023 to be a support network.
“We focus on supporting neighbors in our community who are experiencing active homelessness or houselessness,” Trimble said. “That comes in the form of food, transportation, medical services, supplies and advocacy.”
Trimble said BG Neighbors works with community partners to provide these services, including the Sunday lunch.
“We have a really cool couple of volunteers from different communities who will often cook meals,” Trimble said. “A lot of it is from private citizens.”
Trimble said that, alongside the Warren County Public Library, the State Street Methodist Church is one of BG Neighbors’ closest collaborators.
“BG Neighbors itself is not affiliated with the religious community, but a lot of us do go to church,” Trimble said. “Those are places where a lot of folks will offer their time.”
Trimble said he had noticed a general uptick of need in recent years. According to Trimble, this is due to the rising cost of living in Bowling Green. He said that the past few months have compounded the issue.
“We’re absolutely seeing more of that because of the government shutdown and delay in SNAP benefits,” Trimble said. “We have a hotline number, and folks have been calling in more and more for food support.”
Trimble said he appreciated the community’s generosity throughout the shutdown. He said he hopes to see it continue even with the restoration of SNAP.
According to WNKY, the number of unsheltered homeless people in Bowling Green has grown by 16% over the last year, four times faster than the city’s overall population.
Tim Hayes from Auburn, Kentucky, who lived without a home for three years in Bowling Green, said he found a lack of empathy among many of its citizens.
“None of these people out here care about half the homeless people in this town,” Hayes said. “I’m not saying everybody doesn’t, but the big majority of them, and the reason is because it ain’t their problem.”
Hayes said that last year, a man offered his property as a safe haven, then quickly called law enforcement to arrest him.
“That idiot who told us we were more than welcome to stay there is the same one who called the cops two days later,” Hayes said. “They don’t care; as long as it ain’t costing them something, they don’t give a flat damn.”
Hayes said he spent seven hours in jail for that incident, paid a $250 fine and is still serving a two-year probation. He said a new law also made it illegal to sleep on public property.
According to Louisville Public Media, the “Safer Kentucky Act,” passed in June 2024, requires local governments to prosecute individuals “street camping” outside of officially designated areas.
Hayes said that between his recreational walks and bike rides, he has discovered spots in Bowling Green of which even longtime residents were unaware. He said an old iron bridge off of KY 185 is his favorite place to show people.
“It’s a pretty rough-looking bridge, that’s for sure,” Hayes said. “But I tell you, there’s been a whole lot of people traveling across that bridge.”
Hayes said he has been attending BG Neighbors’ free lunches since they started in 2023.
“You won’t find a better group of loving people,” Hayes said. “[BG] Neighbors will help you when no one else will.”
Hayes said that he has lived in an apartment with his fiancée for nearly a year. He said he feels an obligation to take the kindness offered by groups like BG Neighbors and pay it forward.
“For as much as we got help, I’ll help anybody in any way I can,” Hayes said. “I’ll give you my shirt right now if you say you’re cold.”
Ashley Keys from Smiths Grove, another attendee of the free lunch, said she was thrown into homelessness soon after the death of her parents and four-year-old son.
“My farm caught on fire,” Keys said. “In a matter of three years, my whole life had come down.”
Keys said she developed a drug addiction as a way of coping with her loss.
“That’s what keeps me getting high, memories,” Keys said. “Even though my family is in a better place, it left me with a lifelong depression.”
Keys said she found religion in the years since those tragedies, spurred by multiple suicide attempts.
“God wants me here,” Keys said. “After I got through all that, I got back to living life, and he showed me how to love again.”
Keys said that her financial status has prevented her from receiving the help she needs with her addiction.
“I found God, tried to go to rehab and my insurance kicked me right back out,” Keys said.
Keys said her insurance also fails to cover the medication she needs for her endocarditis. According to the American Heart Association website, endocarditis is described as a serious and often fatal heart infection.
“I’ve only got six months left in me anyway,” Keys said. “On hot days I swell up, and on cold nights I can’t move.”
Keys said she has trouble garnering sympathy due to how much effort she puts into her appearance and hygiene. She said people often don’t even believe she is homeless due to their own preconceptions of the community.
“They’re used to seeing the homeless one way: dirty, smelly and scabbed up,” Keys said. “At the end of the day, the only difference is that they’ve got a house and we’re on the street.”
Keys said she met two of BG Neighbors’ co-founders, Trimble and Gramling, a year before they began the organization.
“I couldn’t go to the burial for my son, and they found me on the side of the road, crying,” Keys said. “When I told them what was going on, they both broke down, so we were all crying.”
Keys said BG Neighbors has inspired Bowling Green to show more compassion for homeless people.
“They bring the community together to look at us differently,” Keys said. “Without them, those motherfuckers in the park would rather call the cops than look at us over there sitting at the tables.”
Keys said she often eats free food from Lisa’s Fifth Street Diner. She said she also spends time writing and performing songs at Roland Bland Park.
“If you talk to God real good, he’ll tell you where I am,” Keys said. “And if you open your ears while you’re walking around here, you might hear me singing.”
