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From staff reports

Barbara Rendel along with her husband, Wally, who is the retired minister from Jessamine Christian Church have lived in Jessamine County for 37 years. Barbara leads ScatterJOY, Inc., a non-profit organization she established in Nicholasville in 2012.
ScatterJOY recently partnered with Jessamine County Schools and family resource centers by providing food, clothing and shelter – and Christmas gifts to the students and families associated with Jessamine County Schools.
Since 2012, thousands of dollars have been raised and thousands of people have been served. Individuals and families in Jessamine County have been supported with payments for rent, utilities, food and clothing. ScatterJOY was also instrumental in the financial resourcing and the construction oversight for the establishment of the homeless shelter that opened in 2016 in Nicholasville.
Barbara began an annual event called BRIDGES in 2014 in Nicholasville. She had previously done such an event in Lexington.
In 2015, ScatterJOY provided a Christmas day dinner for all less fortunate in Jessamine County, held in the Wilmore Free Methodist Church. More than 300 people were served with a wonderful Christmas day dinner, given coats, toys, Bibles, family portraits and a Christmas program. More than 75 volunteers served.
The 2019 BRIDGES took place in Nicholasville in facilities provided by Armster & Better Bruner.
Three hundred volunteers, called Agents of JOY, including children and people of all ages came together to share, serve and give hope to thousands of other people here and around the world.
The volunteers wore T-shirts that read “with passion, purpose, and impact.”
More than 80 volunteers gave clothes (some purchased new clothes) to give to the less fortunate people in the Appalachian area of Eastern Kentucky. Twenty five volunteers sorted, sized, boxed and loaded a truck full of clothes to be hauled and distributed in that area.
Al’s Auto & Repair and Justin’s Auto & Repair served more than 27 individual single moms and widows with free oil changes.
All of the 12 locations in Jessamine County with first responders were visited and given homemade baked items and thank you cards thanking them for their service to Jessamine County residents.
Music programs and baked goods were taken, and visits were made to residents of Sayre Christian Village and Diversicare along with 12 other individual homes of elderly shut-ins and residents of Jessamine County.
One hundred volunteers also worked together to pack 15,120 meals that were shipped to hungry people in Haiti.
Hundreds of homemade cookies baked by 50 people were distributed to inmates at the Jessamine County Detention Center, where Barbara Burton and her team of volunteers go and share Bible lessons with inmates every other Saturday. This ministry, in a small way was started with BRIDGES in 2015. Since that time, more than 570 men and women from the JCDC have been baptized.
A large number of toiletries were donated by volunteers to be given to the residents at Revive Life House locations. More than 30 of these men volunteered with ScatterJOY 2019 BRIDGES.
In addition, hundreds of water bottles were donated to be distributed to people of Jessamine County.

For more information, contact Barbara Rendel at bjrendel@gmail.com or call 859-940-7520.