One person’s spirit of generosity helped hundreds in Eastern Kentucky

After reading Teri Carter’s op-ed about her friendship with Ragan Phillips, I’m compelled to chime in about another important quality of Ragan’s: His generous spirit.

I met Ragan this fall, six months after he had died, when a hand-addressed envelope found its way to my desk.

Amid long hours driven by great need, these envelopes always make me smile, knowing there is a community alongside us. They often come with a note of encouragement and a few dollars or a check tucked inside.

But when I opened this envelope, I pinched myself. In the middle of the COVID crisis, right when we most needed it, a man I had never met sent us a donation large enough to almost support an attorney’s salary for an entire year. My mind raced thinking of the possibilities. It could mean 100 + additional closed cases and endless hours of legal advice. A hundred more people and their families who can meet their basic needs for food, shelter, income, personal safety from all forms of abuse, and stability. I could see the gift and its power rippling out.

Perhaps because it near the holidays, Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” comes to mind. Ragan, of course, is the opposite of Ebenezer Scrooge. He is a man so generous and dedicated to achieving equality and helping the poor that he sent his spirit to us to continue the fight for justice.

On the eve of AppalReD Legal Aid’s fiftieth anniversary, I feel like the one in a stocking cap, hunkered at my desk, visited by the ghosts of AppalReD Legal Aid’s past, present, and future. Except there is nothing terrifying about any of them.

AppalReD Legal Aid remains grounded in our history of fighting for miners’ and their widows’ benefits. Our present during this strange time is powerful as we use technology to practice poverty law and reach into isolated pockets of Appalachia to meet struggling folks’ basic needs. Our only lamentation is that we cannot serve everyone who needs it (240,000 people in our region qualify for legal assistance) and we must make tough choices daily. While that specter looms, Ragan’s generous spirit makes the future feel even brighter. He reminded me during a period of social distancing and isolation of the power of the human spirit and community.

Ragan’s generosity endures, inspires, and calls us all to bring joy, kindness, and a helping hand into the world. It is for this reason we launched the AppalReD Legal Aid Legacy society. His spirit will walk beside us for a long time to come and for that we are forever grateful. It seems fair to let Ragan have the last word: “Kindness is powerful. . .and that this is what makes our society work . . . I want to carry that ‘joy’ and my desire to love into my next incarnation.”

Robert Johns is the executive director of AppalReD Legal Aid in Prestonsburg.

This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 10:24 AM.