BUILD Nehemiah Action
Tuesday night at the Central Bank Center over 1000 people showed up to make Lexington a better place to live for all people. We had 200 tickets counted so far from MQ! The MQ Praise Band provided the music and did a fantastic job!
The talks were excellent. So good to see and hear Pastor Owens give the opening reflection before he retires this year. So inspiring and his leadership in starting BUILD has made Lexington truly a city closer to being a city for God. It was great to see Fr. Dan there as well. He is greatly responsible for the culture of doing justice at MQ and is really missed. Thanks and congratulations to Frs. Miguel, Ramiro and Ben and Dc John and our BUILD organizer Mary Kate for their leadership in the Hispanic community. Also our dedicated team leaders Diane Monahan, Pat Clark, Kit Donahue and Lise Roemmele and Kabby Akers have worked with passion for our parish’s justice ministry. We have worked very diligently. Thanks to all who attended and lived out our call to justice. You have made a difference.
Highlights of the evening are the presence of 7 of our city council members who were celebrated for their support of increased funding for affordable housing and their support of microtransit. They agreed to vote for the Lextran budget containing $75,000 for the microtransit feasibility study and follow up with the progress of the study. A major step to getting microtransit in Lexington. We had 2 powerful witnesses from disabled people telling of their struggles and hurdles in trying to get around in Lexington and how microtransit would be a game changer for them. They both said that it would help them to participate in Lexington life more like able bodied people. .
The progress on the new Elder Care issue was presented. We learned that 90% of seniors want to grow old in their own homes but there are barriers that we believe adopting “The Village” model would help. Bill and Fredda Moody powerfully shared their story of fears and needs as they age (Bill is 90 and Fredda 87). We want the city to take the lead in doing a needs assessment and help with the organization of the Village Model, but they declined to attend the Nehemiah Action and address this issue. While we didn’t make progress with the city we feel that we did shine a light on the needs of our seniors in Lexington and expect you all to continue the fight for our seniors!
We moved justice forward but there is always more to do. Our next big event is the Celebration at MQ on June 6. Dinner at 6:30, program at 7. Contact Kabby if you have questions or would like to be more involved ([email protected].)
The Herald Leader has a great article on the event: https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article288142595.html?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2xisrs4MtrbYuPCzDGtnkRa1UqWVnf-CM3ADJZzlxFbOQWtJtbYO9qrlQ_aem_AYKsDQE2WH7XhXsdxQGgbE68gaeWMqoxqZx3VERk8Cr5GlHJ7fGBBvhEtwvSkvW6tLKqhsb5bESgJRHa2MY6QdCB.