Shelter holds its annual drive-thru housewarming 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday
Kendall Dean, the new executive director for the Fr. Bradley Shelter for Women and Children, said her own experiences will allow her to help better the women who come to the shelter get back up on their feet.
“I don’t want to tell our residents what to do,” she said. “I want to walk beside them.”
The women who come to the shelter often are dealing with mental or physical health problems or their boyfriends have kicked them out of the house or they’ve fallen on hard times, Dean said. Or, like Dean once dealt with, are working through substance abuse issues, she said.
“I’ve lived a lot of different lives in my 38 years,” she said.
Among her lives, she said she’s been a teenage mother who has also navigated substance abuse recovery, the criminal justice system and the family court system, all pieces of knowledge that she can use to help current or future residents at the shelter.
A native of Louisville, Dean came to Henderson as a resident of the WARM center. She said if life circumstances had been different, she could have just as easily been a resident at the Fr. Bradley Shelter.
This Saturday, the shelter will hold what’s become an annual tradition—its Drive-Thru Housewarming Shower to collect items for women who are leaving the shelter and starting at their own place. The needed items range from pots and pans to dish soap and shower curtains.
Dean said the shower started in 2020 and has a Covid-19 pandemic type feel to it. People can stay in their car and hand out donations they’ve purchased.
People can also donate via Amazon by going to the Registry and Gift page and searching “FB Women and Children Shelter.” Monetary donations are also accepted via Venmo at “fbsdirector.”
Saturday’s event will be kicked off with a 11 a.m. Easter Egg hunt. People can drive-thru till 1 p.m.
After Dean graduated from the WARM Center, she started working with Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams, a program that aims to improve outcomes for children and families affected by parental substance abuse and child maltreatment.
She was also trying to finish up school and was interested in pursuing a degree in dental hygiene. But somewhere in that time, she changed her mind and her degree plan to social work. She’s now taking online classes at the University of Kentucky and plans to obtain her bachelor’s degree by 2026.
When she saw the job advertisement for the executive director at the Fr. Bradley Shelter, Dean was a bit intimidated by what the job entailed, such as grant writing.
“I didn’t think I had those qualifications,” she said.
But she went ahead and applied, she said, because the worst that could happen was not getting an interview.
Now, as the executive director she said she wants to raise awareness within the community as she looks to find more partners. Currently the shelter works with partners such as the Habitat Re-store, the Daniel Pitino Shelter Henderson and the Salvation Army.
“We can’t partner with folks if they don’t know we exist,” she said.
She praises her staff which consists of five monitors and two case managers, and said she tries to remain hands-off to let them do their jobs.
“I couldn’t ask for a better staff,” she said.
Just three months in, Dean said she’s found what she’ll do the rest of her life. The Fr. Bradley Shelter for Women and Children, she said, is her “forever job.”
