While my husband and I were on the road Friday morning to Lexington, a number I didn’t recognize lit up on my cellphone. I assumed it was a sales call, so I didn’t answer. This happens so many times a day, it’s no wonder that talking on the phone has become the thing we are least likely to do with our phones. A call from an unfamiliar number immediately raises suspicion — and even our closest friends and colleagues often prefer a text before a call. We ask permission to call before we call.
Even though there are seemingly hundreds of callers eager to sell me an extended vehicle warranty or something else I don’t want, I’m never all that comfortable ignoring a ring. What if an unknown caller has something I want to hear? You never know.
I worked in a newsroom for years before our desk phones had caller ID or voice mail, and it was almost a sin in those days to allow a call to go unanswered. It didn’t matter if the call was ringing on our own desk or someone else’s in the newsroom, there was an urgency to pick up every call. That habit lingers in me.
That’s why Friday evening I couldn’t resist a second call from the same number that I’d “stood up” earlier in the day. I answered. It took a couple of minutes for the caller and I to sort out our identities. It turned out the caller was a Hopkinsville woman who rang up Hoptown Chronicle in hopes this news outlet could help her secure a turkey for Thanksgiving. Plain and simple, she needed help and believed we knew how to find it. I love this kind of request, and I knew where to turn.
I told the woman I couldn’t promise anything but I knew a group that might respond to her need. After we hung up, I emailed a member of the Knights of Columbus, the men’s group at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. I explained the request. A member got right back to me and said the Knights had already identified 50 local families who needed help with Thanksgiving groceries. Unfortunately, everything they had was spoken for, and the deliveries would be made on Saturday, he said. On the outside chance that a food basket couldn’t be delivered to someone on their list, they would attempt to help my caller. I passed along her name and address.
I had a feeling this was going to work out. Things often do when the Knights get involved. Late Saturday morning I heard from them. The chapter’s Grand Knight, Richard Hornbeak, let me know they had delivered a turkey and other Thanksgiving essentials to my caller. And I heard from the recipient, as well. She called me again and sounded very thankful. She said she’s planning a meal now for her daughter and family. The help she got was exactly what she needed.
It’s what I needed, too.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
