Rural Partners Network Helps Deliver More Than Just Results in Boone County
Pictured from left to right: Ryan Thorn, West Virginia State Director, USDA Rural Development; Kayleigh Kyle, Senior Community Liaison, USDA Rural Development; Adam Stollings, Community Liaison, USDA Rural Development; Tracy Starkey, Assistant Director, Boone County Community Organization; Keith Stephens, President, Boone County Community Organization Board of Directors; Gary Williams, Executive Director, Boone County Community Organization; Tony Arkola, Delivery Driver, Boone County Community Organization.
It was fall of 2023 and Keith Stephens was attending the Greater Kanawha Valley Boone County Community Luncheon to speak about the Boone County Community Organization (BCCO), where he serves as President of the Board of Directors. It was a presentation he’d made numerous times to discuss the vital services BCCO offers.
From it's seven service centers, the BCCO delivers meals to approximately 6,500 residents in Boone County. The residents that receive these meals are homebound and some of them don’t have any family or friends to look after them. So, the delivery service also allows BCCO staff to do a wellness check and make sure that the resident is ok.
Stephens wasn’t aware, but also attending that board meeting was Adam Stollings, one of USDA Rural Development’s Community Liaisons. Stollings covers Boone, Wayne, Mingo, Lincoln, and Logan counties in Southern West Virginia as part of the USDA-led Rural Partners Network. The Rural Partners Network is an all-of-government program that helps rural communities find resources and funding to create jobs, build infrastructure, and support long-term economic stability on their own terms.
“We just happened to be at the same meeting,” said Stephens. “Adam came up to me after the meeting and I told what we did and what our needs were, and he just fell in line and got to work.”
One of the needs that Stephens expressed to Stollings was to replace BCCO’s aging fleet of five hot and cold food trucks, which are crucial to their operation. Stollings approached Stephens to see if he could provide some assistance and things just took off from there. Stollings helped Stephens and BCCO Assistant Director Tracy Starkey identify other funding opportunities.
Over the next few months, Stollings helped them secure $198,903 in grants through seven different philanthropic, county, and state organizations. While Rural Development offers over 60 programs to support small business, infrastructure, and housing needs, it's not always able to be a funding partner. That’s where RPN can step in and help those communities or organizations connect the dots and fill that gap to find funding for their projects.
“It was just like one after the other,” said Starkey. “He put me in contact with one and then another. He had the connections to get us to those funders that we did not have.”
In the Spring of 2024, BCCO was able to purchase two 2024 Ford F-150 Hot and Cold Food Trucks, a 2024 Kia Sportage, and a 2024 Subaru Outback to help make their deliveries and ensure those homebound residents continued to receive meals and wellness checks. In addition, BCCO secured a $40,000 donation which will go towards the purchase of a third truck.
“He’s been a god send to us, let me tell you that, he’s helped us tremendously,” said Stephens. “The work that you all have done has helped secure this organization for years and years. We could have never afforded to buy those vehicles. It’s just been amazing.”
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