Bath County family inspires community to give back

BATH COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) – If the government shutdown continues past the deadline, many families could lose benefits that help them in their daily lives.

There are multiple voices asking for help and many who are responding to the call.

WKYT reports one Bath County family is showing that no one is too small to give back.

Marcelle Doggett, executive director of the Christian Social Service Center, says, “You’re talking 1,153 families that are on SNAP in Bath County, which is about 3,300-3,400 people. So yeah, yeah. It’s gonna affect.”

There are two more days left to wonder whether needs will be met here in Bath County.

Thousands of community members will not be able to access certain resources if decisions in Washington aren’t made by the weekend.

The news has affected brother and sister Kallie and Kolton Sword.

Their mom, Mercedez Sword, started a fundraiser to help aid the Christian Social Service Center as they prepare to help those in need.

Doggett says the center helps with “food, clothing, utility bills, rent” and mortgages.

The siblings knew they needed to get involved.

The siblings say, “I wanted to donate because some people need food out there. They could be starving.”

Their mom says, “They both just gave me what they had and I just, that really kickstarted it for me.”

They gathered all of their money and gave it to their mom as the first donation. The $150 donation has turned into over $1,000 from the community.

Mercedez Sword says, “I was just getting message after message, payment without message, people requesting to be anonymous when they donated.”

Their family goal is to raise $5,000 for their community and inspire others to take action with them.

“I’m just one person that took it upon themselves to help any way I could and if that’s raising money, that’s what I’ll do,” Mercedez Sword says.

Doggett says, “You have to look and see Jesus’ eyes. You have to look and see Jesus in them, because we are all brothers and sisters.”