'We are here and we matter.' Kentucky woman wins national award for fighting food insecurity

The original version of this story included incorrect information about the number of 2023 James Beard Foundation leadership award recipients from Kentucky. There are two, including Jim Embry, the founder and director of the Sustainable Communities Network, a member of Slow Food USA and a board member of the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance.

Whitesburg, Kentucky — When the catastrophic floods hit Eastern Kentucky last summer, Valerie Horn and her team served their first free meal to those in need before the water crested.

Displaced residents were evacuated and brought to the old high school where Horn operates CANE Kitchen, which was used as a shelter following the flooding. From that point to the end of the year, Horn and her team served more than 150,000 free meals.

"I don't think we got more than $100,000 total in cash donations and we stretched it to do meals for six months," Horn said. "Most of it was smaller donations — I think the largest one we got was $15,000. There was no landslide. We just felt a commitment and saw a need and honored it. And I have a very strong team of committed workers."

It's not the first nor only time Horn has turned straw into gold when serving her local community. A retired school counselor, Horn has spent the last 10 years creating an ecosystem of social enterprises and programs to serve low-income families in Letcher County, providing them with fresh food to which they wouldn't otherwise have access.

The assistance stems from organizations Horn leads, as Executive Director at Cowan Community Action Group, founding partner and board chair of Community Agricultural Nutritional Enterprises (CANE), and board chair of the City of Whitesburg Farmers' Market.

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Now, her impact on Kentuckians is being recognized nationally. In early June, the James Beard Foundation honored Horn as a recipient of this year's National Leadership Award. She is one of only six people across the country to receive the honor, and one of two from Kentucky.

Jim Embry, the founder and director of the Sustainable Communities Network and a board member of the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, also was awarded a 2023 National Leadership Award.

If you ask Horn about her award, she won't mention her 14 hours of work a day, the endless Zoom meetings, or the planning it takes to seek new sources of funding. She'll tell you she is doing this work because Whitesburg is home, her parents did this work before her, and everyone deserves a choice when it comes to work, food, and family.

"I want this place to have choices so young people can stay here if they like it," Horn said. "I think we're at a tipping point, and I think food and agriculture are at the root of a healthier community."

Horn has started or helped start many partnerships and programs to serve Whitesburg, like the "FARMacy Program" partnership with Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation, which provides "prescriptions" for fresh, local fruits and vegetables at the farmers' market; offering a prep space for the USDA Summer Feeding Program, which feeds kids for free during the summer; a program to incentivize walking a trail by offering money to spend at the local farmers' market and more.

Horn's programs even partner to provide paid internship opportunities for local youth.

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Many of the programs revolve around or partner with the farmers' market. Horn's work is credited with growing the city's farmers' market from $7,000 in annual sales to over $100,000.

Looking forward, Horn would love to find more secure funding sites so her organizations can plan for next year, instead of "holding our breath and planning for next month."

"People definitely describe me as driven," she said. "I have high hopes and I challenge myself and others. Sometimes it comes out well, sometimes it doesn't. I do not want our community to be satisfied with mediocrity."

More than anything, Horn wants the rest of Kentucky to understand their doors are open.

"We welcome a friendship and connection with you. We would love to share common bonds and work together," she said. "Just as I enjoy coming to Lexington or Louisville, we invite you to Whitesburg and Eastern Kentucky to share in the opportunities that are here. We are here and we matter. We're not that different."

Reach food reporter Dahlia Ghabour at dghabour@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: James Beard Foundation grants Eastern Kentucky woman leadership award