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The Shepherd’s House, the harm reduction team and the Jessamine County Health Department have teamed up to provide warm clothes for those in need this winter.

The Shepherd’s House at 104 North Main Street is open on the weekdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from 12 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays and is closed on Sundays.

Although the Shepherd’s House always has clean clothes available for people in need, the director of the harm reduction team, Sydney Bisschop, said she noticed another need in the county.

“We started to see a need in our community for winter clothes in our homeless population and people that go through our various programs in need of winter items. We thought it was a good idea to start collecting new, gently used clean items. And then we put them all at the Shepherd’s House,” Bisschop said. “The shepherd’s house is doing a great job distributing those and handing them out to people who need them.”

Kate Holway, director of The Shepherd’s House, said the Shepherd’s House has plenty of toiletries, jackets, and sweatshirts. Even though the organization could always use more to give out, Holway said the Shepherd’s House needs hats, gloves, scarves, and sleeping bags.

“And if people want to give a monetary donation, and then we can go out and buy that stuff, they can do that. Anything like that would be super beneficial,” Holway said.

Holway and Bisschop require, however, that anything donated be either new or gently used and, most importantly, clean.

“The public has been wonderful with donations. We want to say thank you to everybody who has helped us. Anybody that has helped or is planning to will make a difference to these people out in the cold who need help.”
“We had a guy that came in here the other night, and god bless him. He was freezing. I got him a pair of tennis shoes, sweatshirts, and a coat. You don’t think it’s a lot, but when you have nothing, it means the world. It just makes me sad. But here’s the thing: we’re doing what we can as individuals and as a group to make a small dent and impact what is happening in Nicholasville. Any help we can get doesn’t go unnoticed,” Holway said.