Hopkinsville native and retired pro basketball player Chris Whitney was visiting in his hometown earlier this year when he drove by the Aaron McNeil House one afternoon and saw a small crowd milling around the side door.
Whitney didn’t know the people were there for an early supper — but when he noticed his old friend Bill Green helping distribute boxed meals and bottled water, he pulled over to say hello and see what was happening.
That’s how Whitney first meet Donna Williams, founder of the Breaking Bread Community Dinner Church that provides free meals every Thursday afternoon to hundreds of people in need.
“I was on my way to see some friends but I stopped when I saw the line,” Whitney told Hoptown Chronicle.
After hearing about Williams’ ministry and learning that she and a team of volunteers were serving 400 to 500 people every week, Whitney said he would be back because he wanted to help.
On Thursday, May 2, he returned and presented Williams with a $1,000 check.
The donation is a big help, said Williams, because the weekly feeding program relies on a patchwork of donated food, money and labor. The donors include church groups, business owners and individuals.
Often the help seems to come out of the blue, and Williams can relax a little and not worry how she’ll fund the next week’s meal. Recently, Amish volunteers drove down from the Crofton area in tractors pulling trailers of food for the dinner church.
Williams, who is pastor of Christian Heights United Methodist Church, established the dinner church in 2019. For several months before the pandemic began, she served a few dozen people in the Aaron McNeil kitchen every Thursday evening. A brief devotional and singing followed the meal. If there were leftovers, the volunteers prepared to-go boxes for the diners.
When the pandemic made it impossible to safely feed people inside, Williams and the volunteers shifted to carry-out meals they handed off through the side door.
As word spread and the pandemic took a toll among poor and displaced residents, the demand for a good meal grew. In 2022, the dinner church served about 2,200 meals. In 2023, they served nearly 20,000 meals. This year, through the end of April, they had served about 6,300.
“The number we serve has doubled, and the food costs have doubled,” said Williams.
Whitney said he’ll keep in touch with Williams. He lives part-time in Washington, D. C., and in Atlanta, but still visits Hopkinsville. His mother and two sisters still reside in Hopkinsville. He said he’s also involved in a project to build affordable homes in Hopkinsville.
A graduate of Christian County High School, Whitney played college ball at Lincoln Trail College and Clemson University. He played 11 years in the National Basketball Association, retiring in 2004.
Anyone interested in helping the dinner church can contact Williams through email at dwilliams945@gmail.com.
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.
