After homeless misunderstanding, ColorTyme, Catholic Action Center host community cookout

Representatives for a Lexington homeless shelter and a rent-to-own store say a misunderstanding last weekend has turned into a community-building opportunity.

“It is going to end up being a good relationship,” said ColorTyme regional manager Jerry Paulley.

Last weekend, Paulley called police after he said a crowd of 50 to 60 people from the nearby Catholic Action Center came to the store’s Customer Appreciation Day and refused to leave before they had eaten nearly all the hotdogs and hamburgers that had been prepared for the event.

Afterward, the Catholic Action Center offered to host a cookout at the store. Paulley said that event, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, is open to the entire community, including clients of the shelter.

The hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and soft drinks for the event were all donated to the Catholic Action Center, and they’ll be served by the center’s Community Service Team.

“We want to be good neighbors and they want to be good neighbors,” said Catholic Action Center cofounder Ginny Ramsey. “It’s a nice ending.”

ColorTyme is also donating $500 to the Catholic Action Center. The money will go toward starting the center’s new Food Service Training Program, which will prepare clients to work in the hospitality industry.

The donation “will be used for the uniforms (we were praying to find a way for them), their food handlers permits, and for the transportation costs to work when they are hired,” Ramsey said in an email to Paulley. “Often the barriers of basic training and transportation are what keep people from getting on their feet and with your generous donation we will have the resources to get this program started.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 10:28 PM with the headline "After homeless misunderstanding, ColorTyme, Catholic Action Center host community cookout."