By Paul Semisch

The Lewis County Interagency Council met last week and heard a presentation from Andrea Miller and Mary O’Doherty with the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association.

The two presented information on the programs available through the KASI, an asset building project that provides free tax preparation services and financial education to low and moderate-income working families.

KASI has established free tax preparation sites throughout the state and is looking to branch out into other rural counties. In 2009, these tax preparation sites helped approximately 8,500 families in Kentucky receive almost $8.8 million in tax refunds and saved those families over $2 million in tax preparation fees and refund anticipation loan fees.

Other available programs which aid families include: Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) which allow families to build savings by offering a $2 match for each $1 saved by the family and micro-loans which allow families to build a strong credit history by offering short-term loans as an alternative to payday lenders.

Representatives of KASI are willing to partner with organizations in Lewis County if there is an interest in bringing some of these services to our county.

Mary and Andrea also discussed the Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending. The Coalition is currently seeking to combat predatory payday lending in Kentucky through education and legislative efforts.

Due to the efforts of the Coalition, the state legislature has imposed a 10 year moratorium prohibiting the establishment of any new payday lending stores in Kentucky.

The Coalition is also pursuing legislative efforts to cap predatory payday loans at 36 percent. Such a cap already exists on loans to military families and is considerably lower than the average 400 percent interest rate currently charged by many payday lenders in Kentucky.

The Coalition needs more organizations willing to support their efforts on behalf of Kentuckians. For more information,

visit www.kyresponsiblelending.wordpress.com or contact Mary at modoherty@kdva.org.

During committee updates at the meeting Meredith Johns with FTSB reported that there were almost 500 rides provided on the L-Trans system last month. 

A tentative schedule for the vans has been established and will soon be made public. The majority of riders are utilizing the vans to attend classes at Maysville Community College but several are also using the vans to go to work at the hospital, Wal-Mart and other businesses in the Maysville area.

Marketing efforts are ongoing and the schedule of pick-up times and locations will be made available as soon as it is finalized.

The Christmas Committee met on September 28 to begin preparations for this year’s Christmas programs. Sign-up for Project Merry Christmas will take place October 26-27 from 9:00 a.m. to Noon at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall.

The Family Resource/Youth Service Centers are already working on their Christmas programs, including the Angel Tree, Christmas Cops and Children Incorporated. As in years past, names of recipients for all programs will be shared among the programs to avoid duplication of services and to ensure efficient use of resources.

Agency representatives had the opportunity to share information about upcoming events, special announcements and general program updates.

The resource guide has been updated for 2009 and will be sent via e-mail to everyone on the interagency mailing list within the next few weeks. The resource guide can be printed or utilized online. If you are aware of any corrections or updates to the guide, please contact Paul at paulpshh@windstream.net.

Judy and Gordon Geagley have had lots of experience turning otherwise discarded items into creations which have an entirely new life and purpose.

Their most recent reincarnation was to turn an 1800s tobacco barn into a workshop and display area which houses the creations which the Geagleys have been turning out for more than three decades.

Judy Geagley by Hand was chosen as the name for what was formerly Judy’s Kentucky Crafts in Tollesboro, a shop located in an old house on Ky. Rt. 10.

An opening for the new location, in the Geagley’s back yard on Garrad Road at Tollesboro, is set for this weekend.

“We were green when green wasn’t cool,” said Judy Geagley of she and her husband. “I’ve been using fabric from old clothing to make doll clothing and animals for years.”

She said the beginning of the business was about 1974 when she put together some doll clothing and corn shuck dolls in her basement. The items were sold around the area by friends who would take them to work and offer them to coworkers.

In 1983, she said, she and Gordon attended their first craft show as vendors and cleared a whopping $20.

By 1986 the couple expanded the line to include handmade stuffed animals and Judy’s Kentucky Crafts moved into an old house on Ky. Rt. 10 at Tollesboro, a stone’s throw from their home, where they remained for the next 10 years.

Judy Geagley said she became interested in reaching a larger market and in 1997 she and Gordon traveled to New York City (her first trip on an airplane) where they were exhibitors at the International Gift Fair. There, she said, they met buyers from outlets far and wide. Many of those same high-end stores still offer her creations for sale today.

Gordon Geagley said the old barn, which sat near where their old shop was located in the old house, was in danger of falling down. It was constructed of hand hewn posts and put together with cut nails and wooden pegs.

Last April he began the task of dismantling the barn and hauling the usable lumber across a field to their back yard where the new shop would be located.

Judy Geagley had shown him some photos in a book which had caught her eye. His ambition had become to construct the building in the photo by giving new life to the lumber which had earlier protected scores of tobacco crops from the elements.

He used the same foundation rocks from the barn to

make the foundation for the new building, the same posts, pegs and siding. Over the porch is a trellis made from the tobacco sticks which had supported stalks of burley inside the barn years earlier. 

Judy Geagley said she identified the vines shown in the book photo as potato vines. She plans to get them started around the porch early next year.

Gordon Geagley added a flowing stream with complete with a footbridge and ponds inhabited by goldfish.

The Geagley’s have been busy the past few weeks decorating the inside of the shop with Judy’s creations. From custom bears (one made from Gordon’s old Marine uniform trousers) to Christmas decorations designed by grandson Michael Geagley, age seven. Also on display, and for sale, are a mirror and fireplace fabricated from identifiable fragments of plates, saucers and cups.

Among the other creations in the menagerie inhabiting the shop are a family of rabbits who live in a stove, various sea creatures, farm animals and one of Judy Geagley’s more popular stuffed critters, Tattered Old Bear.

Some of the animals have illustrated stories attached with their origins going back to Judy Geagley’s childhood on Lee’s Creek near Dover.

There are also baby quilts and toys along with several Christmas decorations offered for sale in the shop.

Judy Geagley said she plans to host a series of workshops in her new space and has scheduled the first one, Christmas gifts and decorations on a budget, on November 16. “It’s about using things you already have on hand to create something new,” she said. Another planned workshop will be on getting a craft business started.

The shop will open with special hours this Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. with refreshments and registration for door prizes. The shop will be open this Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. each day.

Regular hours for the shop will be 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Judy Geagley said the shop will be dedicated to former Kentucky First Lady Phyllis George Brown on Thursday at Noon. A buyer’s preview will also be held Thursday for commercial accounts.