Shelter plans cookout for ColorTyme after homeless ate Customer Appreciation Day food

The Catholic Action Center plans to host a cookout for customers of the ColorTyme store in Eastland Shopping Center, after the store’s manager said a crowd of people from the shelter ate up the food for Customer Appreciation Day on Saturday.

Jerry Paulley, the rent-to-own store’s regional manager, said he called Lexington police Saturday after a crowd of about 50 or 60 people formed a line that snaked through the store and refused to leave.

The store had mailed 400 postcards to customers inviting them to come out for hotdogs and hamburgers, and he had cooked 64 of each, Paulley said. He said he served the first dozen people who came in from the shelter but told them “Please don’t go back and tell everybody else.”

Ginny Ramsey, co-founder of the Catholic Action Center, said she was at the center Saturday “when they all went running over” to the ColorTyme store. She said an invitation to the event was at the center, but she didn’t know where it came from.

Paulley said Ramsey called him after seeing a news report about the incident.

“She was very apologetic,” Paulley said. “It was a misunderstanding of some sort.”

The shelter recently moved to a new location near the Eastland Shopping Center.

Ramsey said clients on the shelter’s Community Service Team have volunteered to serve hotdogs, chips and drinks for ColorTyme this weekend.

“Our people are proud to be doing it,” she said.

This story was originally published May 30, 2017 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Shelter plans cookout for ColorTyme after homeless ate Customer Appreciation Day food."