Whitney uses the “Grappler” to pickup litter(Sam Dick / WEKU )

Whitney Lewis slowly makes her way through some brambles near the Kentucky River in Jessamine County and aims her litter pickup tool called a Grappler for a beer can. She puts it in a small plastic bag.

She started picking up litter in the Spring of 2023 as part of an Earth Day challenge(Sam Dick / WEKU)

Once the bag is full, Whitney starts with another one and fills it up with litter. She estimates that in the last three years, she’s taken 27,000 bags of trash out of Kentucky woods, roadsides, and lakes.

“It started as an Earth Day Challenge. I'd always picked up trash when I was out and about, and, you know, just a bag or two, because I'd be out there and I'd be collecting nature's treasures. So, I felt like, you know, the least I could do is take a bag with me and also clean up and give back while I was there.”

The Earth Day challenge in 2023 started with a goal of 500 bags and grew to 750. And she hasn’t stopped since then. Her Facebook photos and videos have encouraged others to join her quest to clean up Kentucky.

Whitney formed a nonprofit called cleaner.org to promote her work(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“Oh, wow, we hit a million bags last year. And I honestly, I thought it had taken us three years to hit that one-million bags. And I got to looking back, we did a million bags in one year's time last year, which is amazing. That's all; over eight thousand people contributed bags to the movement. I mean, it's grown hugely. I'm getting mail from Utah and Washington State. I mean, it has touched lives in other states as well. It's amazing. Never in a million years would I have dreamt.”

Whitney started a nonprofit with a website at cleanerky.org where she shares pictures and takes donations to support her litter pickup.

“I'm very grateful and blessed. Kentucky has been so supportive of what I do. And they do donate frequently, and I'm thankful because I couldn't do it without that. I do also collect driftwood at the rivers and stuff, and I sell that at reptile shows to fund the cleanups as well. So, I found other outlets, you know, because I want to keep going at whatever cost, so I'll find unique ways of making the money to fund to clean them up.”

In 2023, Whitney won the Governor’s Award for “Beautify the Bluegrass.” People voted through the Kentucky Living magazine.

In 2023 Whitney win the Governor’s Award for Beautify the Bluegrass(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“It literally spoke straight to my heart. That is something that is voted and my fellow Kentuckians saw the importance of my work, and it touched my heart. I mean, I cried because, you know, for the longest time, everybody's like, what are you doing? This whole mother nature thing? I'm like, I don't know. I really don't. I just know that it's in my heart to be out doing what I'm doing.”

The award was started by Kentucky Electric Cooperatives to recognize people in the state who improve their community through cleanup projects. Joe Arnold with Kentucky Electric Cooperatives says they’re taking nominations now through July 20th on kentuckyliving.com.

“We ended up finding all these people that were not getting any recognition at all for just doing homegrown public improvements. It might have been a litter cleanup or a stream cleanup. Sometimes it was renovating a main street or turning a vacant lot into a public park. And these people are doing it, obviously not for recognition or for awards. They're doing it because they love their community and their families and their homes.”

It’s the 10th year of the Beautify the Bluegrass award, and Arnold encourages people to submit nominees with before and after pictures. Five finalists will be selected, and then people can vote for a winner who will be announced in the Fall.

Go to Kentuckyliving.com to nominate someone who is cleaning up their community(Sam Dick / WEKU)

Lewis is dreaming big about her litter clean-up.

“I want to take it to a national level. There are so many other people in other states that are wanting to contribute to the count. So, I believe I'm going to make a five-million bag goal this year, and I'm going to open it up to the whole country, because these people want to get involved, and why not give them a way to do that? You know, can you imagine the difference we could make if everybody walked outside and picked up one, just one, grocery bag of trash? It would be life-changing, you know, for our planet and for the generations to come.”

In snow, rain, and sweltering heat, one woman is making a difference in her state and beyond.

“I love it. I love it. I love being out in Mother Nature by myself. It is the only thing I want to do is get out there and clean up. I mean it, and it comes from something much greater than me, because it doesn't make sense, especially in the rain and the yucky weather. But I mean, I live for it.”

New Scout Executive Jessica Moses of the Blue Grass Council(Sam Dick / WEKU)

A Winter breeze sweeps across a 17-acre lake at the Scout’s Camp McKee in Montgomery County. It’s peaceful and quiet except for the occasional sounds of ducks and geese.

Come Summer laughter and joy will fill the air here. Since the mid-1940’s, hundreds of thousands of scouts have camped and enjoyed Camp McKee’s woods and water. Through the decades, scout leaders have added new facilities to help make a week at camp a lifetime memory.

Scouts gather outside the dining hall for a fun evening of skits and laughter(Blue Grass Council / Submitted)

Among the upgrades were a new dining hall in 2003, a 50-foot climbing tower in 2002, and, in 2015, the McKee Aquatics Pavilion was built. New Scout Executive Jessica Moses says Camp McKee represents the past and the future of scouting in the Blue Grass Council.

“Absolutely, we stay very true to our roots here. I think if any of the alumni come back, they remember it just as it is. But we're also staying up to date with all of the new things that we can offer the scouts. We're always looking for the future and trying to stay up with making sure we're keeping things fun for them. We're making sure that they have everything they need. But we also want to keep that sense of home. And people remember Camp McKee as it is and can get that feeling of nostalgia when they come back here.”

Moses became the first woman Scout Executive to lead the Blue Grass Council. This past December, she officially took over the job of leading the scout council that comprises 55-counties from Lexington to Pikeville, and Maysville to Somerset.

Moses is one of only seven women holding the Scout Executive title among the 230 councils nationwide.

“I think it's amazing, because I have a daughter, and I want her to always know that any anything that you want to do, you can do it. It doesn't it. It's not something that you have to be a man. You have to be a woman. I think is if you work hard and you do what you're supposed to be doing, and you do your job well, then you can do anything that you want to achieve.”

As the number of scouts has dropped significantly across the country, the program has pivoted to become more inclusive and family friendly. In 2018 girls were allowed to join the boy scouts and form their own troops. Then last year the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) re-branded and became “Scouting America.” And in January this year the Blue Grass Council opened the door to boys and girls together joining a “family troop.”

Longtime board member and Scout Commissioner Bill Beach of the Blue Grass Council is encouraged by the new direction.

The climbing tower is a popular camp experience(The Blue Grass Council / Submitted )

“So, boys and girls, brothers and sisters, and of course, moms and dads were already in the program, helping out, so it worked really well. It's a very good family-oriented program now. You've got girl programs, you've got boy-only programs, and we just recently introduced the family troop program. So that was just introduced January 1 of this year.”

Beach believes Moses is the right person to lead the council amid the changes. She worked for nine years for the council in various development and program positions.

“There were many things we saw in Jessica, but just to name a few, her management skills over the last 20 months of being an interim council executive far exceeded our expectations, and we were very pleased with how she handled all of that, her operational skills from the three positions she's held for the past nine years in the Bluegrass Council, which was district executive, then director of development and then interim counselor, Scout, executive, all three of these, she reached in her goals each year. The next thing that really showed out is her ability and her relationship building talent that she has throughout the 55-county area that we serve as a bluegrass Council. She not only has great relationships with the staff that she manages, but she also has great relationships with the 1000 volunteers that we have throughout the council, adult volunteers.”

As Moses sits next to a fireplace in a cozy cabin at Camp McKee, she looks to a new year of possibilities and challenges.

New Scout Executive Jessica Moses of the Blue Grass Council(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“I think everybody is looking forward to making scouting bigger than it's ever been. Scouting used to be very huge in America and in other countries even, and I think it's never going to lose its true meaning. It's never going to lose what scouting truly is, but the re-branding is just what every other company does. They re-branded, and it made sense for what the direction that we were going to include everyone, and it looks nice on letterhead and uniforms and everything else. I mean, you got to look nice. So, I think it was, was the right move, and I think it's been accepted very well.”

Buckshot’s grandparents started a grocery store in 1970 in Bagdad(Sam Dick / WEKU )

Passing through the Shelby County town of Bagdad, you come upon a two-story, century-old brick building. The large, light green letters above the front door say “B&N Food Market.” The owner, whose duties include but are not limited to head cook, baker, and grill master, goes by the name of “Buckshot.” His granddad named him that as a baby, and it stuck.

“Buckshot” owns, cooks and bakes at his B&N Food Market(Sam Dick / WEKU )

“I was born up in Frankfort. My granddad, he came up there to see me, I guess. And when he looked at me, he said, well, he ain't no bigger than a buckshot. And that's been since 1984, so I just go by buckshot.”

Now 41 and wearing a red apron, Buckshot says he worked as a young boy for his granddad.  Garnett Newton started the B&N Food Market in 1970.

“Back in the day, it was, you know, aisles full of stuff, groceries, all kinds of stuff. And they had a butcher block back there. He would cut up sides of beef and make the hamburger out of it and grind.”

Buckshot still has the 80-year-old meat grinder in the market kitchen and cooks the “Newt Burger” the way his grandfather did.

His granddad’s Newt burger is a big hit(Sam Dick / WEKU )

“We still do it the same way he taught us, and got to put the salt and pepper to it. Yeah, I try to tell them back there all the time, if I see them seasoning. Some people, you know, they think they know how.  I don't care how you know how to cook, but do you know how Newt knows how to cook? I'm real particular, because if you do it the same way that a legend does it, yeah, I mean, why not?”

Some grocery items still line one wall inside, but tables, seats, and a kitchen fill most of the market, which is often packed with customers looking for homemade comfort food. One of the biggest sellers is Buckshot’s barbecue, which cooks overnight in a smoke shed behind the main building. Half a dozen smokers are full of juicy meat. Buckshot went to Texas to learn from some barbecue masters.

“Let's see three racks of ribs are out there, or pork shoulders out there. Nine briskets are out there, two bone and pork loins are out there. I think six or eight turkey breasts are out there. Had to get it all prepared this morning.”

His barbecue smokes overnight in a shed(Sam Dick / WEKU )

Nearby, there’s also a small brick building called the cake house with an industrial oven. Buckshot says what happens here is special.

“A lot of magic. This is where all the cakes are made, the cobblers, the cookies, the brownies, and right now, I’m putting eight “Coon Hunter Cakes” in here.” 

The recipe for Coon Hunter Cake comes from Buckshot’s grandmother.

“I call it world famous, because people from all over the world eat it.”

Family recipes like the Coon Hunter Cake fill the menu(Sam Dick / WEKU )

B&N Food Market opens for breakfast, and by lunch hour, it’s not unusual to see a line of customers almost out the door. Many of the regulars have eaten here for years. Patsy Hart and her husband claim they’ve enjoyed meals here for 25 years.

“Yeah, when we first started coming, it was his grandfather who owned it. He made the, still the best hamburgers you ever ate, and he'd have other things, but that's what we got.”

The couple also enjoys the pork chops and sides.

“When you could cut a pork chop almost two inches thick and it's tender enough to cut with a fork, there's no discussion. And his cabbage, cooked cabbage and turnip greens or mixed greens? I could just eat double of those.”

B&N Food Market is open Monday-Saturday for breakfast to dinner(Sam Dick / WEKU)

On a weekday before Christmas, the 300-square-foot kitchen was crowded with Buckshot and several food preparers who also bring the meals out to customers. Burgers sizzled on a grill, white icing smothered cakes, and sides like pinto beans sat ready to fill plates. Kathy Robinson from North Carolina waited at the counter for a take-out meal with a roast beef sandwich.

“I plan my trips around being here on Thursday for the roast special. I have friends that live in Baghdad, and I always make sure I'm here on a Thursday to get the Thursday special.”

The atmosphere is casual and friendly. Devona Rankin is working at the check-out counter.

“People say, I don't know any other people that are coming in here anymore. I said, well, I don't know them when they come in, but I know them when they go out, because Little Miss talks a lot, has an inquiring mind. I love it. I love the atmosphere. I love the busyness. I love the craziness.”

For Buckshot, it’s all about honoring his family’s legacy and serving up mouthwatering eats.

“It's very important to me, because I take a lot of pride in this place, and my grandparents were, you know, top of the line people. I know my granddad was proud of me because he told me before he died, but he wouldn't know what to think of me now, because we took it, this place, it's gone to another level.”

Long lines of customers during the lunch hour(Sam Dick / WEKU)

The lines of customers are proof of that.

Each envelope is hand cancelled(Sam Dick / WEKU )

One tiny Kentucky town’s holiday tradition reaches people around the country every December. It began in 1947 with the postmaster of Bethlehem. The Henry County town of about one hundred people is on US 22, about 45 miles east of Louisville.

Anna Laura Peyton and her husband Lee ran the town’s post office right out of their home in ’47. Their granddaughter, the current postmaster, Melinda Spear stands behind the counter in the small building.

Melinda Spears is the third generation Bethlehem Postmaster(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“You’re standing in what used to be a bedroom in my grandmother's house. So many a Christmas dinner was right over there, out there. There was many a Christmas dinner that we had here. I have so many fond memories.”

Melinda is the third generation of her family to hold the title of Bethlehem Postmaster and adores her grandmother.

“She was amazing. She was a wonderful cook. You never came to her house that she didn't have something ready for you to eat. Always fixing soda biscuits. If she fixed one, she fixed a million of them. In her lifetime, she could make the best jam cake you ever ate, the best chocolate pie you ever put in your mouth. I wish I had her recipes, but she didn't use recipes. It was a pinch of this and a dash of that. She was a very religious woman.”

Melinda says her grandmother’s faith led her to an idea to make a special request of the US Postal Service. 

“She wanted to have something on her cards. So, she requested, could I please have something made? And they granted it to her this stamp. It is The Three Wise Men following the Star of David. And it says, on here, Christmas greetings from Bethlehem, since 1947 so that's when it came into existence.”

The stamp that started in 1947 with Post Master Anna Laura Peyton(Sam Dick / WEKU)

Melinda says word spread about the special stamp from Bethlehem, and soon thousands of people were sending their Christmas cards to the town’s post office. Melinda estimates each year her grandparents stamped 50,000 envelopes for people from every state, and later from around the world.

“When my grandmother was serving here, she used to have people mail from Europe, from Germany, from Switzerland, from England. I've had a person mailing from Japan wanting the seal.”

The number of people wanting the special red stamp has gradually dwindled through the years. Melinda says she averages about 10,000 a year. In 2015, the US Postal Service considered a change to the Bethlehem Post Office to consolidate locations, but then decided to keep it open.

That was good news to many people in the area who make it a tradition to visit the Bethlehem Post Office and get the special stamp. Ronald McAlister grew up in Bethlehem.

“I love it because it's tradition, it's family. I still have family that live all over Bethlehem. And you know, if it was to go away, it would be sad. It would be a very sad thing.”

For Melinda, the Bethlehem Post Office and her family’s legacy is very personal.

“My grandmother was postmaster for 47 years, a little over 47 years, and then when she retired, my uncle took over for her, and he became the postmaster down here. And my mother clerked under both of them. So, she was in the US Post Office service anywhere from 50 to 60 years between the two of them. And when I moved back up here, I had said, mom, wouldn't it be cool if I could get down there and be the third generation?”

In addition to the special stamp tradition, the Bethlehem community has held a living nativity across the street for 66 years in December. Olivia Herrell, President of the Henry County Historical Society, says a couple hundred people volunteer to help.

Across from the Bethlehem Post Office a living nativity is held in late December(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“It happens December the 22nd through the 25th from 6:30 until nine o'clock each night. Volunteers stand in 50-minute increments, so three shifts a night. It takes all together, almost 200 people to make it happen. The volunteers that stand, the people who work behind the scenes building the set, and the ones who donate the animals and come back to feed the animals.”

Bethlehem may be small, but its impact has been felt around the world. If you are interested in visiting, the Bethlehem Post Office is open weekdays 9am-11am, and Saturday 8:30am-12:30pm.

The postmaster offers a welcoming smile and a candy cane. Melinda says every stamp you buy helps keep the little town of Bethlehem’s Post Office open.

Merry Christmas!

Every piece dug out is organized(Sam Dick / WEKU )

A groundhog digging in the basement of an old building started it all. Patrick Donley, a Louisville artist, had no idea what was hidden underneath his two-story storage building constructed in 1920 on Mary Street in the Germantown neighborhood.

The storage building sitting on top of a dump in Louisville’s Germantown neighborhood(Sam Dick / WEKU )

Donley bought the property in 1995. He had plans of turning it into a space for artists. But then came the day in 2019, when Donley noticed something was digging up the dirt in the building’s basement.

“I saw this pile of dirt coming out from under a broken piece of slab. And I started looking at it, and there were a couple beer bottles, and I'm like, okay, well, that's just construction trash, you know, they drank when they built the building," Donley said. "But then there was a medicine bottle. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. And then there were some doll parts and some broken plates and a piece of stoneware and lots of broken glass.”

A groundhog, who Donley named Phyllis, had led him to a life-changing discovery. Donley’s building was sitting on top of a city dump that opened in the early 1870s. For fifty years, until its closing in 1919, people dumped their broken and unwanted stuff in the dump on Mary Street.

Phyliss the groundhog who helped uncover the trash to treasure(Sam Dick / WEKU )

When the storage building was finished over the dump, all the discarded parts of people’s lives disappeared from sight, a forgotten part of Germantown’s history. Who could have predicted that almost a century later, a groundhog would lead to all that trash, turned into one man’s treasure.

Donley began digging in the building’s basement. It became an obsession as he unearthed more and more things. Pieces of fine china, parts of dolls made of porcelain, holy water fonts, stoneware for storing food, inkwell glass bottles, and hand-crafted medicine bottles. Thousands of items from people who lived nearby more than a century ago.

When COVID hit, Donley and Phyllis, the groundhog, were immersed in digging, isolated like many people at that time. That’s when their discoveries attracted worldwide attention.

Thousands of bottles uncovered(Sam Dick / WEKU )

“I was posting on social media and developed a huge following on Instagram that became global because I connected with the phenomenon of mudlarking. So, through the use of hashtags, I would hashtag my posts, mudlarking finds. And suddenly, I had followers in England who were amazed by what I was digging out from underneath the floor of my basement," Donley said. "I have followers in Russia, in Germany, in Japan. And so, it's become kind of a global phenomenon, this groundhog thing. But people started asking me, who had been following me for a while, What are you going to do with all this stuff? And I honestly said, I don't know.”

The excavation became the Mary Street Midden Project. Midden is a fancy term for trash, only this “trash” is headed for a museum. Donley has plans to turn his ugly storage building and all its treasures into a welcoming museum.

“We want to create a facade that you are drawn to. We are going to configure glass and windows on the front that defy your expectations of what this building is say, today when you look at it. It's kind of a scary stucco barn, and we want to transform it into a light-filled space that is more of a transformative experience. It's not going to be a dusty bottle museum; it is going to be displays that are illuminated in ways that are unexpected,” he said.

An architects’ plan for the museum on Mary Street(Sam Dick / WEKU)

As for Phyllis, who eventually disappeared, Donley is not forgetting her contribution.

“This is not about me, and it never has been. It's really about Phyllis, and it's about the history and these objects and the stories that they tell, the people who made them, the people who used them. And hopefully it's going to be about you, the people who discover them through what we create, and that you'll learn something and take something and take something valuable away.”

Donley has painstakingly cleaned, organized, and documented every piece, some as tiny as a fingernail. He’s slowly piecing together the items. That level of organization has drawn high praise from a neighbor who lives a few blocks away. Jay Stottman is the Assistant Director of the Kentucky Archaeological Survey and has toured the dig site.

Every item is documented and organized(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“I walked through the door, and I was blown away about what I saw. All these objects being meticulously pieced back together. I really didn't know what to think. So, we sat down and talked with Patrick and his volunteers, and he showed me around, and I was just blown away, because this is exactly the kind of time period that I study. All I could think about was like, Wow, the information that's here that could be used by archaeologists and researchers, and lots of people. There's got to be a way to make this, this kind of information available. And we found out that Patrick was well on his way to doing that.”

Donley has a board of advisors and is working on making his project a non-profit. He’s fundraising as he wraps up the end of all the digging that’s gone six feet deep. It’s a new journey for Donley in his early sixties.

“There's an online magazine called Next Avenue, and their whole focus is on people in my age range who think they're getting ready to retire, and all of a sudden, life throws down a fork in the road, and they choose that fork, and it forever changes their story. And this is definitely that fork for me.”

For more information, go to the Facebook page for The Mary Street Midden Project.

An Empowerment class on making a resume at Anderson County High School(Sam Dick / WEKU )

Have you ever said, I wish they taught this in school? Balancing a checkbook, budgeting, car maintenance, home repairs, or learning how to develop a career? In Anderson County, community leaders are teaching life skills and offering free night classes to students ages 14 to 30.

The program is called Empowerment or E3. “E” stands for educate, equip, and encourage. A 20-member advisory board made up of teachers, business and community leaders, and students oversee the monthly classes at Anderson County High School. Natalie Frasure, a teacher with 28 years of experience, volunteered to teach a class on career development like one she leads in high school.

“I teach a program called Jag, Jobs for America's Graduates, and I teach career skills, life skills, career development. We do civic awareness, we do social awareness, and that's what I wanted to transfer to this program as well to the E3 program.”

Frasure says the idea for the Empowerment classes started with Donna Crain Drury of Lawrenceburg.

"Her granddaughter, when she was in high school, was like, I feel like there's a lot of skills that I'm missing and that I'm not getting in the regular classroom, because there's so much academics that I need to learn. And so the two of them kind of came up with the idea, and then Donna and I spoke about it, and my husband and I have had similar ideas, like we want to teach kids how to change a tire, how to change a light bulb, how to change out like an outlet in in their home, and things like, when do you change your air filters? There are things like this that a lot of kids just are missing those skills. And so that's how this was kind of born from that.”

Other community members stepped up to teach life skills, like Jimmy Robinson, Deputy Fire Chief in Anderson County. His class is vehicle maintenance.

Jimmy Robinson, Deputy Chief of the Anderson County Fire Department teaches vehicle maintenance(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“It’s basically from how to change the tire if they’re broke down on the side of the road. What's the importance of maintaining your vehicle so it'll last you a long time, oil changes, all that, anything that you can basically do at home without having to get into major repairs.”

Robinson says he grew up learning those skills at home.

“I grew up on a farm, you know, so we didn't have money to go fix our own stuff, so you just learn to tinker with stuff and fix it. And kids don't have that now.”

For Shawna Stratton, parent of an E3 student, the life skills classes are a tremendous opportunity.

Parent Shawna Stratton says the Empowerment classes are a great opportunity(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“I think that it was like almost an answered prayer. As a parent, I want to give him all of the resources that I can to make him a successful human and sometimes when you're a parent, what you say isn't as valuable to your child as if they hear it from other people. I can sometimes tell him how to finance, or how to budget or how to apply for a job interview, or how to look nice for those things. But I feel like sometimes when he hears it from other professionals or from someone, he respects that works in a different field, that sometimes it settles more with them.”

High school freshman Alex Small sees the benefits of learning about managing money.

“I'm in budgeting. We've gone over a couple things like the 50,30, 20 rule, 50% needs, 30 for wants, and 20 savings. We've covered the different types of banking and accounts, and we covered mortgages."

She also likes the idea of learning about vehicle maintenance.

Freshman Alex Small is taking a class in money management(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“I live out on a farm, and I've been learning to drive pretty much since I was 10. And my dad and my chief, which is my grandfather, they want me to know how to drive and work on some of the vehicles that are on the farm, so that class interests me.”

Leaders of Empowerment plan to offer more life skill classes in the future.

Frasure says, “Every time we mention it to somebody, they are on board. They want to help. The problem we're having now is just getting the word out and making sure that the community knows what we offer and how we can help.”

If you’d like to get involved with Empowerment in Anderson County check out https://e3empowermentprogram.weebly.com/

Don’s book of photos and memories is “Winds of Change”. This montage was part of a memorial for the late photographer.(Sharon Aters and Wally Gross / Submitted)

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Stones, and The Beatles…. all rock ‘n roll legends who helped shape a musical and cultural revolution in America in the 1960s.

A Versailles man was front and center to it all. Don Aters was 21 and living in San Francisco after serving in the U-S Navy, where he learned about photography. It led to a lifelong journey of photographing rock stars at concerts.

Don Aters began photographing rock concerts starting in 1967(Sharon Aters and Wally Gross / Submitted)

Don was in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco, where bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin) took the stage and flourished.

His wife Sharon, who lives in Versailles, says Don was in the right place at the right time and had a knack for making friends with concert promoters and producers.

“That was kind of the beginning of his photography, just a massive amount of people that was out there. They had no idea it was going to be what it turned out to be. No one had any idea how it was going to affect the culture going forward.”

Through his connections, Don went to Woodstock in 1969 to document what would become a symbol of the rock revolution among younger people.

Don took this photo in ‘69 at Woodstock. Later, it was the cover of his picture book.(Sharon Aters and Wally Gross / Submitted)

One of his photos shows a sea of concert goers, wet and muddy. One young man holds up a solitary, red and white umbrella. An estimated 500,000 people attended the four-day music festival.

That picture ended up as the cover for Don’s book, “Winds of Change, Life with Icons of Sixties Counter Culture.” It was published before Don passed away in March of 2022.

Don’s friend, Wally Gross, helped him publish the book that is full of photos and words describing memories with legendary musicians. Wally says he and Don went to lunch every month for the last ten years of his life.

Friend Wally Gross has dozens of Don’s rock posters and photos(Sharon Aters and Wally Gross / Submitted)

“We talked about all the different rock and roll bands, and he would give me the insights on how the bands were and who was still alive, and what the personalities were of the different members of the bands and good or bad, but these were his personal takes on all these people.”

TC Constanten, who played keyboards for the Grateful Dead in 1969, met Don in the 1990s.

“We hit it off immediately. I mean, he took a shine to me. I still don't know why, but he was wonderfully kind. He traveled with his photography bag, and he had a stack of laminates on it, like backstage passes. It was like this thick, all of these ones, like badges of honor from places where he'd been.”

Those concert passes are part of a vast collection of memorabilia that includes colorful posters from the late 60s used to promote rock performances.

Sharon says Don “knew everybody. He had everybody in his phone book. And, you know, they would call him asking for pictures because they wanted something for promotion. And he would find it and send it to them.”

Sharon Aters in Versailles with photos of rock legends from her late husband Don(Sharon Aters and Wally Gross / Submitted)

Three years after his passing, Sharon is still going through Don’s office and trying to organize all the material from 50 years of documenting a musical era.

“He really loved photography. He loved taking photos of artists. He never would retire. He couldn't retire. He had too much to do. In his mind, he had a lot to do. So, he continued this well past the 70s, like right up until he passed.”

Lynn Asher, a friend and singer, sums up the photo magic that Don left us with.

“What inspires me about Don's work is how honest the photos are, capturing people in all their natural beauty and glory. Don is a ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of guy, and I relate to that; his photography is very real. I like that most of the images show the deepest part of the person, their soul. They also tell a story by being in the present moment; nothing flashy, just raw and emotional. No fancy tricks with the camera. It inspires me to know that Don was witness to so many special moments and events in history that I can only now experience through film and music.”

The Fam Foundation’s acronym for hip hop is “Honest Individual People Helping Other People”(Sam Dick / WEKU)

Loud rhythmic music with rapping vocals pulsates inside the walls of CycleYou Fitness and Sauna in Lexington on this Thursday night. Hip hop dancers are warming up in the dimly lit studio.

This is The Fam Foundation’s weekly, free practice open to beginners. Lisa Huynh, Director and Choreographer of the non-profit says hip hop is an acronym for “Honest Individual People Helping Other People.”

Lisa Huynh leads a hip hop practice at CycleYou Lexington(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“I joined in 2018 I believe. And I didn't know about The Fam at first, I just came looking for classes. I've seen classes online, like all L.A. classes. I'm like, where can I find that here? And just like all those other kids, same thing as me. I wanted to find that here.”

The dancers’ range in age from fifteen to thirty. They wear oversized sweatpants and t-shirts. The Fam Foundation’s other Choreographer is 21-year-old Tre White, who dreams of dancing professionally.

“I started dancing when I was 10 years old in my living room, watching dance videos on YouTube. I literally haven't stopped ever since. I'm still dancing to this day.”

Most of the hip hop dancers are age 15 to 30(Sam Dick / WEKU )

The hip hop dancers practice moves with names like popping, locking, B boying, B Girling, and tutting. The hip hop moves have roots back to 1973 in the Bronx, New York where Black and Latino teenagers looked for a way to express themselves.

Hip hop became a way to deal with anxiety, depression, and violence. It also helped the teenagers find a group of people they identified with and develop friendships. Huynh remembers as a teenager searching for a place she belonged.

Hip hop has roots starting in 1973 in the Bronx, New York(Sam Dick / WEKU )

“I was just always hopping from one thing to another. I don't know, I kind of felt like alone. But then when I went into dance, I've met all these people who shared this same talent, but also, they had the same goal as coming into this to escape from whatever they're going on in the real world, just like me.  I think, yeah, that has helped in, like, making friends throughout it.”

During a break in their practice, a few of the dancers talk about what hip hop and The Fam mean to them.

Taylor Williams says, “I like it because it's very like inclusive. It's very welcoming. It just feels like I'm supposed to be here. It feels like there's no judgment, and it's a very nice place to dance. I like the lighting, like the people. I like the choreography.”

Maria Folio agrees.

“I love it. I love moving my body, and I specifically love dancing. I haven't danced since college, and I really miss that sort of outlet. This is a really welcoming environment. They welcome people of all levels, and it's just nice to come out and do something at the end of my day to move my body and make everyone happy.”

The Fam Foundation is a non-profit and dancers perform at various public venues(Sam Dick / WEKU )

The energy and free classes attracted Danica Hak.

“I love the fam specifically because it makes dance so accessible. I graduated from UK recently. It's been a little bit over a year, but something I was really worried about post grad was dancing after school, because dance isn't super accessible. Sometimes classes can be expensive. Sometimes the costumes are a lot of money. And so, the fact that The Fam offers free classes is incredible. I feel like we rarely see that, but also just the energy. It's just so welcoming, so wonderful and really amazing.”

Alex Hernadez, founder of The Fam Foundation, says the group grew from teaching hip hop at several places and students wanting to learn.

“I would end up having students that wanted to keep learning, keep doing stuff, and keep pushing. Because we it was one hour a week, you get to take my class and, like, no, we want to take it more. So, we started doing these rehearsals where we would do Saturday morning practices for three hours.”

Hernadez says he was a shy child from immigrant parents who was trying to find his place in Lexington.

The Fam Foundation danced at the opening of Gatton Park on the Town Branch(Sam Dick / WEKU)

“My anxiety was crazy bad. And yeah, once I started, when I found something that I like to do, I didn't care about anything else but just trying to do that thing. You know what I'm saying. So, I it helped me understand that helped me, kind of regulate emotions at times when I was a kid. Different styles of dance help for those kinds of things. But it helped me so much.”

Using hip hop as a form of therapy is one way it touches young dancers. NAMI of Lexington (The National Alliance on Mental Illness) collaborated with The Fam Foundation to produce a couple of dance showcases called “The Waiting Room.” Hernadez says it allowed young dancers to express their feelings. 

“The Waiting Room was divided into two parts. The first part was kind of the reasons somebody could be going to therapy. That's what it was themed after. And the second half of the show was themed after the cycle of grief, so depression, bargaining, anger, acceptance. And we addressed gun violence in the first half of the show, because that's, you know, close to the heart and stuff for a lot of people. You'd be surprised to find, I think, if you're not a hip hop fan, you'd be surprised to see how many songs there are out there that are hip hop related, that have such positive messages.”

You can watch their show and other performances on their Facebook page(Sam Dick / WEKU )

More showcases addressing mental illness are planned for the future.

“Yes, for sure. That's why we want to reopen up The Waiting Room this way, because now we can do The Waiting Room every year but also use it as a showcase to highlight all of the incredible artists that we have coming up. So, it'll be a good even for everybody.”

You can watch the hip hop dancers on their Facebook page, The Fam Foundation Inc, including their recent performance at the opening of Gatton Park on the Town Branch.

Somerset High School teacher Hank Gevedon shows off a carp caught at Kentucky Lake.(Sam Dick / WEKU)

In a flea market parking lot near the Lake Cumberland Wildlife Refuge, Hank Gevedon stood on a trailer, holding a 40-pound carp like a hunter lifting his prized trophy. The Somerset High School teacher showed off the fish to several dozen volunteers and students from his engineering class.

“Now, that's a good size silver [carp],” Gevedon told the crowd. “Oh my, guys we’ve been getting ready for this. Don't worry, I’ve got 1,000 pounds of fish. There is fish for everybody to cut today.”

Gevedon brought 1,000 pounds of carp to the feeding.(Sam Dick / WEKU)

Gevedon’s trailer has two old refrigerators and a freezer full of carp just caught at a fishing tournament at Kentucky Lake, which straddles the border between Tennessee and Kentucky.

He and his students set up several tables under a tent to filet, trim and place the carp in freezer bags. The meat will feed injured birds of prey from the refuge. Gevedon calls the event a “carp rodeo.”

“Two months ago this was a dream. A month ago we got our first load of fish,” he said. “Any day you get to fish, and then take that fish and freeze it and know that it's going to feed an eagle or an owl or a hawk in rehab, man, that's a good feeling.”

Several kinds of carp are considered invasive in Kentucky and other states. In the 1970s, carp were brought from Asia to control algal blooms at aquatic farms and water treatment plants, but floods moved them into rivers and lakes.

Carp spread quickly and can dominate waterways by feeding on plant life that other fish depend on. Invasive species specialists at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife say carp pose a threat not only to other fish, but also to people on boats. Carp weighing 40-80 pounds can jump out of the water and collide with boaters.

Gevedon saw the need to reduce the number of carp and, at the same time, use them to feed injured birds of prey at the nearby refuge.

“We're taking an invasive species, processing it and feeding it to a possibly endangered species, and that's just a lot of fun,” he said.

The Lake Cumberland Wildlife Refuge needs thousands of pounds of food for its injured birds. Executive Director Kimmi Sparkman said the nonprofit has a tight budget, and they appreciate the donation of fish meat.

“Bald eagles especially love fish,” Sparkman said. “They are fishermen at heart. If you could give them a rabbit or a fish, most days they'll choose the fish. Hank's program is perfect for us, because it allows us to give these birds what they want, what they desire.”

Sparkman said the initiative is a win-win situation that comes with many benefits beyond providing meals for the birds. It reduces costs for the refuge, removes an invasive species from the wild and the leftover parts are used by organic farmers for compost.

“This is just wonderful,” she said. “What we do gets hard. There are days where you've worked on an animal for a long time, and despite best efforts, it just doesn't make it. And those are hard days. But days like this where everyone chips in and becomes a part of what we're doing, it's just phenomenal. It really lifts my heart, lifts my spirits and encourages me to keep doing what I'm doing.”

Rylan Bradley, one of Gevedon’s students, said he enjoys the experience of turning fish into food for injured birds. The engineering class is working on developing a machine that separates the bones of a carp from the meat.

“It's very different,” Bradley said. “It's fun. It's hands on. We're using our brain a lot to think about ways to automate the process.”

Jackie, a bald eagle, has poor vision and will be an animal ambassador for the wildlife refuge.(Sam Dick / WEKU)

Gevedon was thankful for his students’ work and said he has plans for another "carp rodeo" in spring.

“All winter long, raptors in rehab — owls and hawks and eagles — are going to eat good fish because we're putting it together,” he said.

This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky and NPR.

Dr. Alan Beckman and Gus at Baptist Health Lexington(Sam Dick / WEKU )

Gus and Beckham are two therapy dogs trained to let strangers pet them and shake their paws. If there are smiles all around and some laughter, the dogs have done their job.

Radiation Oncologist Dr. Alan Beckman has Gus on a leash attached to a blue harness. The four-year-old, cream-colored Golden Retriever even has a hospital ID attached to his harness, complete with his name, picture, and the official title of “volunteer.”

Dr. Beckman said Gus connects with people, especially those who are dealing with a lot of stress.

“He'll just meet and greet and then say hi, let them pet on him, and then he'll just lay down at their feet, usually. And it's interesting how he will usually go to people that are the most stressed or distressed. I don't know if he can sense that or he senses something, because he tends to go to people that need it the most,”he said.

On a recent visit to a cancer treatment waiting room Dr. Beckman and Gus spent a few minutes with each person. He wagged his tail, loved being petted, and shook hands with his paw. Tammy Counts, a family member of a patient, sat by herself and welcomed a visit with Gus.

“Sugar, can you shake? You shake? Oh, you're a good boy. That's a good job. Oh, you're a sweetheart. I bet you make people smile. I think it's a great place to have a therapy dog would be here because a lot of people need an added support. So, it's amazing. He has just got that perfect attitude and personality,” she said.

Gus relaxes in Dr. Beckman’s office(Sam Dick / WEKU )

Dr. Beckman agrees his dog not only helps patients and their families, but the hospital staff also benefits.

“The people that are the caregivers, which are in the medical field and taking care of the patients have a stress level as well, and they are caring individuals that are technically excellent at their job, but also emotionally invested. And that is a stress on a different level that you know because they care. He gives them a little something to think about, and, you know, an animal to pet and to love on periodically,” he said.

Michele Kibbe is on the radiation treatment team, and had a big smile when Gus walked over to her work desk.

“He's just a joy to have here. He keeps us relaxed. We enjoy him as much as the patients,” he said.

Gus is rewarded by the staff who keep treats stockpiled.

“We are giving him Zooks, mini naturals, they're peanut butter and oat recipe. They're training treats so that he doesn't have too many calories during the day.”

Another therapy dog named Beckham is also spreading joy at the hospital. He may weigh only 20-pounds, but Beckham, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Shih Tzu mix, walks around confidently. His owner, Sandra Kelley, recalled what one patient said about him.

Beckham is also a therapy dog at Baptist Health Lexington(Sam Dick / WEKU )

“One patient told me, I think he thinks he owns this place.” Kelley says Beckham can’t wait to go to work at the hospital. “When I get this outfit on, this blue shirt and black pants and get his vest, he starts jumping around, just so excited. He's going to work. I've had a lot of people stop me and said when we walk down the hall, his tails wagging. He's smiling.”

The experience is also rewarding for the therapy dog owners. Kelley, who is a retired nurse practitioner, wanted to give back.

“I've always felt called to make a difference in the lives of other people. I love dogs. There's a lot of people that love dogs, and they really do help. They calm people. What you saw in the cancer unit, you'll see anywhere we go, even staff. It just helps brighten their day a little bit,” she said.

Dr. Beckman sees a lot of positives with the therapy dog visits.

“It's a win, win, win, because the patients get something out of it, positive, the staff get something out of it, and Gus gets something out of it. So, if Gus were not doing this, like on his days off, he would be at home on the couch or on the floor waiting for us to come home, and instead, he gets to hang out here and have social interactions. And he's a social dog.”

Yes, he is. Job well done Gus and Beckham.