Helping Hand of Hope: Hope Burke on Winter Storm Fern Relief

Key Takeaways

• Winter Storm Fern pushed Helping Hand of Hope's Homeless/Transient Program past its budget; even funds raised in the first 24 hours of an urgent plea were gone almost immediately
• During the storm the team distributed 65 emergency food bags and more than 40 hygiene kits, depleting the donation-only Client Select Food Pantry
• The Transient Program covers bus tickets, week-long hotel vouchers, and gas — keeping people off the streets during the freeze
• Helping Hand of Hope is celebrating its 55th year as Hardin County's oldest nonprofit, running entirely on donor and local/state grant dollars with no federal grants and none going to payroll
• How to help: donate at helpinghandofhope.org, mail to P.O. Box 642, Elizabethtown, KY 42702, drop off food at the office (9 AM–12 PM and 1 PM–4 PM), or call/message 270-769-3092

Summary

With her own children doing NTI and the roads still iced over, Rachel Brantingham welcomed Hope Burke, Executive Director of Helping Hand of Hope, for a timely conversation about how Winter Storm Fern landed on Hardin County's most vulnerable neighbors. Rachel, who sits on the organization's board, framed the interview around urgency and dignity — the two themes that run through everything Helping Hand of Hope does.

Hope described a brutal week: on call 24 hours a day, fielding calls at 2 and 3 in the morning, watching demand blow past the Homeless/Transient Program's budget until she had to message her board and say, plainly, "I'm out of money." The team gave out 65 food bags and more than 40 hygiene kits during the storm, emptying the donation-only Client Select Food Pantry in the process. Her message to the community was direct and personal: she has been homeless herself, and "it could be any of us at any moment." As the organization marks its 55th year — Hardin County's oldest nonprofit — every dollar goes straight to neighbors in need.

Watch this segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mskpYty9JUE&t=652s Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mskpYty9JUE

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Rachel Brantingham introduced the interview the way she knows Hope best — personally. "I sit on the board for Helping Hand of Hope, and I've just had the privilege of getting to know you," she said. For over 54 years, Hope's organization has served Hardin County neighbors with emergency assistance — food, utilities, rental help — and after Winter Storm Fern, Rachel noted, "their work has never been more critical."

A week of nonstop calls

Asked what the past week had looked like, Hope didn't sugarcoat it. The store had to close, but the need didn't. "I was pretty much on call for 24 hours a day during this storm," she said. She told her staff to take care of things at home while she fielded the emails, calls, and messages — "phone calls at 2 o'clock in the morning, 3 o'clock in the morning, 7:30 in the morning." The trouble started before the worst of it, with that first dusting of snow midweek, then peaked with the weekend's mix of snow and ice. "It was just — I feel like chaos," she said.

Out of funding for the most urgent program

Rachel raised the urgent post Hope had made: the Homeless/Transient Program was out of money. Hope explained exactly what that program does. "We have a transient program that we help people with either A, bus tickets," she said — getting stranded people to Louisville, Bowling Green, or family elsewhere when the local shelter is at capacity — "or we do the hotel vouchers, which during the storm, that was, like, for a week at a time." The program also helps with gas. Coordinating with Room in the Inn and the Elizabethtown Police Department, the team scrambled to find people somewhere warm.

But the demand had already pushed the program over budget for the year well before the storm. "By that day that I made that post, I had to message my executive team on the board, and I was like, 'Guys, I'm out of money,'" Hope said. The hardest part came next: the calls she couldn't say yes to. And the relief was fleeting. "Even the money that was raised, in 24 hours, we were out again."

The ripple reached the food pantry, too. Hope's warehouse manager went out repeatedly — once driving a woman to the pharmacy himself because she couldn't get to her blood pressure and heart medication. "During that storm, we ended up giving out 65 food bags," Hope said, plus more than 40 hygiene kits, "just in that week." That run depleted the Client Select Food Pantry, which she described as fundamentally different from a handout. "When our neighbors come in, they get to actually go in and get for their amount of their household... it's almost like a grocery store because we still want to give them that dignity aspect."

The most critical need right now

When Rachel asked what people could do today, Hope was clear-eyed. "Monetary is always important," she said — flexible dollars can go wherever the need is greatest, "straight to our neighbors in need," never to payroll. For food donations, she pointed to the specific list posted on the organization's Facebook and Instagram: cereals, oatmeal, canned soup. Not everything helps. "We don't need any canned green beans or canned corn. Like, please don't bring that," she said, offering a simple rule of thumb: "Anything that you would feed your family, that's what our neighbors like too. It doesn't have to be the Dollar Tree stuff... if you're at Kroger, pick up an extra couple of items."

Food drop-off started Monday at 9 AM, with office hours of 9 AM–12 PM and 1 PM–4 PM, weather permitting. Donors can also mail a contribution or call with questions. Mid-segment, a viewer asked whether the organization helps with life bills — and the answer was yes: utility assistance, water bills, rental assistance, and deposits, now offered on a walk-in basis rather than by appointment. Another viewer offered to donate the entire contents of a pantry from a home remodel; Hope's response was immediate: "Sure would. Call me."

Why this work is personal

The heart of the segment was Hope's own story, which Rachel had heard in full when the two sat down for the Hometown Hustle podcast. Without giving too much away, Rachel asked what drives her. Hope answered candidly: she was a single mom, and she was homeless at one point. A married couple came into her life "and they showed me what living a life like the hands and feet of Jesus were really like without judgment." That experience shapes how she runs everything, right down to the organization's boutique, which she designed so people "could come and shop to where they felt their dignity."

Her larger point landed hard. "People don't realize that most Americans don't have a savings account. And if one thing happens, that can throw somebody's world upside down," she said, citing her stepson's transplant that stopped their lives for a year, or something as ordinary as a hot water heater or a transmission. "It could be any of us at any moment."

A 55-year vision

Looking ahead, Hope shared a goal: more space and capacity to meet more needs under one roof, so neighbors who are low on gas don't have to drive all over town for help. When she started, the budget was around $300,000-plus; now it's over half a million, and could reach a million within a year — all without a single federal grant. "Helping Hand of Hope is celebrating its 55th year this year," she said, calling it the oldest nonprofit in Hardin County. Her ask was simple and scalable: "Even if you can donate $55 a month, $55 one time, like, that's just so important."

Rachel distilled the action step. "Every dollar matters," she said. "And if you're able to make a donation of any kind, that's gonna go directly right this minute to making sure that people are off the streets and have housing or have bus tickets to get back to family, or have enough food to eat right now." Scott Lucas added a practical note for the audience: for business owners, donations are tax-deductible.

Before letting her go, Rachel pointed viewers to Hope's full story on Hometown Hustle — a full version and an 18-minute abridged version, both linked at HardinLocal.com — and to the ways to give. "No donation is too small, guys," Rachel said. "This is neighbors truly helping neighbors. So Hope, thank you so much for everything you do for our community."