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Metro Council Honors Links Foundation and Fern Creek/Highview United ministries "Building to Serve" Campaign

Last Thursday evening, Councilman Engel and the Louisville Metro Council honored the Links Foundation and Fern Creek/Highview United Ministries for their efforts in completing the new ministries facility located at 9300 Beulah Church Road, on the property of Beulah Presbyterian Church. At the meeting, Links Foundation Board members, Dan Henle, John Vidal and Brian Habermel presented a $15,000 donation to Rev. Ron Loughry for the “Building To Serve” Campaign from a recent charity event they hosted in honor of the ministries.

The new building is a $700,000 project, and was officially dedicated on May 28, 2008. The ministries group moved its offices at the Fern Creek Community Center and its operations at St. Bernard Catholic Church to a new and larger building so all of its services would be under one roof.

The nonprofit organization, which celebrates its 20th (1988-2008) anniversary this year, is supported by 18 member Fern Creek and Highview churches representing 12 different denominations. It is one of 15 community ministries groups in Louisville.

One of its projects is operating the Individual and Family Assistance Center, at Fern Creek Community Center, which offers emergency financial aid and food and clothing to families in crisis. The food storage area in the new building, which, at 1,000 square feet, is more than double the size of its previous space. It also has the Adult Day Center, a state-licensed health facility serving the elderly, in a former convent at St. Bernard, on Tangelo Drive. Both programs are now at the new Beulah Church Road location.

The recent move was helped by the Rev. Ken Hockenberry, pastor of Beulah Presbyterian Church who decided to lease some of the church's land to the ministries group for $1 a year. Erecting the building became a community effort among the congregations of member churches. "We put the call out and everyone responded," Loughry said. "Some people gave us things at cost, and others donated labor," he said.

General Electric Co. donated all the appliances, while the Fern Creek Woman's Club offered to provide a flower garden.

Semi-retired builder Bob Beard, a member of Cedar Creek Baptist Church, volunteered to be the contractor. Larry Clark of St. Gabriel Catholic Church, who owns a construction company, volunteered to handle all the digging and earth-moving needed on the project. Mechanical engineer Glenn Hall, who attends Summit Heights United Methodist Church, did all the wiring and other tasks on the building.

St. Xavier High School Freshman, Drake Henle, son of Dan and Jean Henle, served as the District 22 Page for the evening’s program.