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The first of October was the 18th anniversary of State Farm Agent Randall Chewning’s office opening in Nicholasville. On the same day as the anniversary, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the opening of Chewning’s new downtown office. 

Chewning had the idea to give back to the community in celebration of his 18th anniversary of providing insurance in the county. The idea first came to him when the Director of the Jessamine County Food Pantry, Ruthann Richardson, was a guest speaker at the weekly Nicholasville Rotary Club. After being asked a question by a Rotary Club member, Richardson said one thing the pantry would like to do that it typically can’t is give away dry goods and cereal to the families they serve. 

“Let’s face it– [cereal is] probably a little more expensive, so I just planted that in my head that it would be pretty neat. So that’s where I got the idea because it’s something they don’t normally buy and something they don’t normally give out to people they serve,” Chewning said.

For the first 18 days of October, Chewning collected cereal. His original goal was 180 boxes, ten for every year he worked in the county. “I’ve been posting on Facebook, and I used radio advertisements, and I did a special program on Doug Fain’s radio show, and Ronda May promoted it in sme Facebook lives through the chamber,” he said.

“It just kept going, and we had people interested… I had some generous people who bought several boxes and cases.” By the end of the drive, Chewning collected about 580 boxes of cereal. Richardson said this is enough cereal to feed the families the pantry serves each month until the end of 2024. 

“This is not about me. I thought it may be good to [shed light] on the Jessamine County Food Pantry. I am pretty excited about it; I think it’s been successful, and I just wanted to try and create awareness for the food pantry and support them also.” Chewning said.

Richardson said the pantry serves 400 families in Jessamine County each month at the moment. “So, if you can imagine, with the rising food costs, it is very expensive to try to do that. We rely solely on donations from individuals and businesses financially. We rely on the donations that come in from that. We do not get any kind of federal or state help as far as money goes, so when we can get financial donations or food donations, that is much appreciated.”

Other than Randall Chewning, RJ Corman, Terri Ware, who specializes in feeding people during the holiday, and Officer Jackson, who organizes Pack the Cruiser and perishable food from Kroger and Walmart, also help fill the pantry. 

But, again, shelf-stable cereal is expensive, and hard to come by for the pantry, so Richardson said, “That’s why Randall Chewning doing the cereal drive has been such a blessing, because it’s something that can last a little bit longer on their shelves, too.”