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Campbellsville and Taylor County were hit hard by an EF3 tornado two weeks ago during the tornado outbreak that killed 76 Kentuckians.
The area is also Winchester vocal coach Erika Gaines’ hometown.

Gaines wanted to help her hometown because it cared for her family when they needed it the most.

“My whole life growing up, my hometown helped me,” Gaines said. “We grew up very poor, and my parents, they struggled because they didn’t have the funds a lot of times to take care of us. So the community, honestly, took my family in and brought us groceries.”

Last Sunday, Gaines organized a benefit Christmas concert at Christ Church of Winchester that raised over $6,000 and counting for needy Campbellsville families.

“I am very, very excited and very pleased with how the concert went, and the funds that we raised went way over my expectations,” she said.

Gaines hoped that the concert would raise $200 to $500, an amount that at the very least would help purchase Christmas gifts.

So, the result of the fundraiser was jawdropping.

“I am completely overwhelmed with joy, and I am so excited because I feel like God put his stamp of approval on this and made it way better than I even dreamed,” Gaines said.

There were many options for where the funds would go, but the church decided to split them among four families that Gaines knows. She plans to deliver the money personally to them on Christmas Eve.

After being generously taken care of all those years ago, Gaines finally has the honor of being that kindness forward.