About Us

"The person has two hands, one for helping himself, the other for helping others." - Sayings

OCARE Inc., is short for Owsley County Alliance for Recreation & Entertainment Incorporated. Our mission is to improve our county by bringing new social, cultural, educational, and economic opportunities to our small, yet wonderful community.

In 2014, OCARE became an established non-profit, set on the goal of restoring and reopening the blighted Seale Theater. The hope was to provide economic and positive recreational opportunities for our at-risk youth and flailing community.

OCARE is Comprised of Two Separate Initiatives

The Booneville/Seale Theater Project which is focused on:

Arts
Economic impact
Community redevelopment
Community wellness
Tourism

The Parent Taskforce is focused on:

Educational impact
Family engagement and parent advocacy
Supporting at-risk youth
Supporting individuals who are raising children other than their own
Supporting families who are in recovery and re-entry

Our Story

OCARE became an official 501©3 in 2014 but the original work began in 2010 during a place-based education project with a group of 10th graders at Owsley County High School and their teacher Mr. Brett Burns, Eastern Kentucky University and a dedicated group of community volunteers. The focus of the project was finding out about the impacts of the vacant and blighted Seale Theater, as well as what it would mean to the community to restore it. The group came to the consensus that since one of the only positive places of recreation for Owsley's at-risk youth and families had been closed, things had steadily fallen into decline. Youth were getting involved in nefarious activities. Drug and substance abuse were on the rise and people were spending their money going elsewhere for recreation. Businesses were closing and the town became more vacated and blighted during each passing decade. Crime had also greatly increased, and our community was a reflection of the blighted buildings that time had left behind.

Since our inception, we have delivered programming to our community in multiple different ways with only a dedicated group of volunteers/or no paid staff.

We are an organization that is an all-volunteer staff that is exclusively woman led who works hard to improve the outcomes for our community and citizens.

Our Vision

Is to create a place where our community is once again proud of our people our place and our heritage but who is also able to envision a brighter future for ALL of our town, county and citizens.

Meet Our Volunteer Working Board

Sue Christian

Founder & Director of the Seale Theater Project

Sue is the founding volunteer member of OCARE. Throughout her life, Sue has worn many hats. She has close to two decades in the data solutions and services field and is a former Education Liaison for Eastern Kentucky Pride and is a first-generation college student who holds a degree in Middle Grades Education. Sue is a Commonwealth Institute of Parent Leadership Fellow and has worked for Partners for Rural Impact since November 2011 as a Family Engagement Specialist/Training Coordinator. A role that she contributes to helping her with her volunteer work at OCARE She also served as president of the Owsley County PTSO for 8+ years. Currently, Sue oversees the Seale Theater Project where she wrote a winning EPA Cleanup Grant for over 305,000.00. She is the director, writer and producer for the local Booneville Theater Company. Sue is a community scholar of the Kentucky Arts Council, graphic designer and former business owner. She also helped OCARE to establish the 2nd Chance Thrift Shop that helps to provide workforce development to young mom’s and WIOA students, as well as affordable alternatives to clothing and free support resources for foster families and those in need of disaster relief.

christia@prtcnet.org

Mamie (JoAnne) Richardson

Chair

JoAnne is the volunteer chair of OCARE, and she holds a degree in Human Services. Throughout her years, she has served in many roles. She began her work history in the factories of southern Ohio before moving back to Kentucky where she served as a technology librarian at the local library for roughly ten years. From there, she went on to serve her community as an AmeriCorps VISTA in the GEAR Up Program as Family Engagement Liaison. After completing her degree in 2018, she worked in Behavioral Health as a Targeted Case Manager, but her real passion is truly serving Owsley Countians in a more holistic way. Currently, she oversees the day-to-day business of OCARE and supervise six young ladies as they seek their own degrees through the HCTCS Ready to Work program. There she provides workforce development and soft skills training that will help them to achieve their dreams. She works to support our organization by seeking out partnerships that will help our community become a thriving place where at-risk students and their families will have positive things to do in our community and economic opportunities. JoAnne is also one of our lead performs in the Booneville Theater Company.

richardson.mj40@gmail.com

Cheryl McCauley

Director

Education: 1968 BS in Education from Bowling Green State Univ., Ohio; 1979 Masters of Science of Social Work from University of Louisville, Kentucky.

Military Service: Served 5 years in the Marine Corps 1968-1974.

Work Experience: Have worked with juveniles in treatment centers, outpatient mental health adults with mental health and addiction issues at the private, state and federal levels. Have served and am serving on a number of non-profit Boards and volunteered extensively within my community.

cherylmccauley@rocketmail.com

Lisa Botner

Parent Task-force Director

For the past eight years, Lisa has had the opportunity to provide services in family and community engagement programming. Learning firsthand some of the needs and concerns of Owsley County citizens encourage me to be a part of something bigger than myself. Being part of the OCARE team is my way to give back to the community and hopefully leave a footprint for years to come. Lisa has served the county in multiple different roles throughout the years such as serving as an AmeriCorps Family Engagement VISTA, Financial Literacy Coach and Associate for Partners for Education and a regional credit union. She has also served as Owsley County Tourism Coordinator and worked with City and County government to provide tourism opportunities for our county. She is also heads up the Military Banner Campaign for veterans and their families in our community and serves as the lead for the Owsley County Parent-Taskforce.

lbotner479@gmail.com

Latoya Burns

Board Treasurer

Latoya is the mother to five children, Hailey age 15, Twins- Sophia age 13, Sean age 13, Molly age 10, and Alaina age 5. Her children attend school in the Owsley County School District where she also works. Latoya is an Early childhood educator at the Owsley County Head Start. She began working in that field approximately 14 years ago. During that time, she has filled several roles – from classroom volunteer, to substitute teacher, teacher assistant, asset mapping and now lead teacher. As lead teacher her duties include engaging with families of young children and helping to set the foundation for learning that every child needs to succeed. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University in Child and Family Studies and is currently pursuing her Master's in Education degree. Her passions include child development, early education and bettering her community. Through a variety of services, she gives back to her community. Latoya participates in community theater, she provides childcare for a variety of family engagement events. She also facilitates family Math and Literacy night for the program she works for. As well as is on the board of OCARE and helps to plan and implement.

latoya.burns@owsley.kyschools.us

Tanya Brandenburg

Secretary/Historian

Tanya has worked as a data entry processor since 1995. She has a daughter, two bonus daughters, and in 2014 gained custody of her niece and nephew and raised them as well. Now, as she watches her five grandchildren grow, she has slowly watched as our small community diminished since her youth. Tanya would love to see our small-town flourish once again and be able to watch as her grands enjoy it.

ocaretourism@yahoo.com

Our Goals

Are to create a bridge between all community partners and resources that will enable us to have an expansive holistic approach to healing our community.

Our Values

Empowering Individuals: We believe that ALL people have great potential. Providing individuals, the social capital and support to thrive, our citizens will feel more empowered to take on new challenges of growth and innovation.
Community Commitment: We are strongly committed to helping our community flourish and grow by developing workforce opportunities for ALL the citizens of our community.
Equity and Inclusion: We believe that everyone deserves to live a full and fulfilling life in a community that is safe and that provides opportunities for all backgrounds to succeed and grow.
Wellbeing: We work to provide safe spaces for the youth and families in our community to live, learn, play, work and grow. We take a community wide holistic approach in helping our community to become a better place.
Community Collaboration: We appreciate the importance of teamwork through a diverse group of partnerships within our community, as well as partnership regionally and nationally that can help us to reach our goals. Working together for the betterment of the whole will, help our community to thrive, grow and to heal.

Our Work

Programming for At-risk Youth (Mentoring such as the Red-Tie Club for Middle School boys
Proactive programming for students and families (Adults Raising Other's Children (AROC)
Parent Leadership Development
Arts and Healing Workshops
FAFSA Completion
Volunteer Opportunities
Life Skills Training
Financial Literacy
Ready to Work and WIOA Placement Opportunities
KTAP Service Location Opportunity

Testimonials

A Few of Our Accomplishments

Became owners of the Seale Theater
Won a competitive EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grant
We have nine Commonwealth Institute of Parent Leaders in our committees and Board
We have written and produced six original plays
Our Booneville Community Theater Group has members ranging from 13 - 70+

Photo Gallery

Our Partners

This is not an all-inclusive list of partnerships of OCARE. We are always looking for new partnerships, resources and support to help us to achieve to work and the goals of our organization:
- Partners for Education/Partners for Rural Impact
- Mountain Association (formerly MACED)
- Owsley County Action Team
- Partnership Housing
- City of Booneville
- Owsley County Public Library
- Save the Children
- UNITE
- KRADD
- Owsley's Faith Based Community
- Owsley County Fiscal Court
- Owsley County High School FRYSC
- Owsley County School District
- SOAR
- Brushy Fork Institute
- Hazard Community and Technical College
- Middle Kentucky WIOA Program

Our Future Dreams and Plans

Grow our Workforce Development Program
Establish more childcare options for working parents/caregivers
Grow our Community Theater Program
Grow our Mentoring Program
To increase our outreach to Adults Raising Other’s Children
Continue to provide a location for Ready to Work and WIOA Students as well as the possibility of permanent job placements.
To serve on the City’s Strategic Planning Committee to contribute to their community development plan that includes new businesses, workforce development, entrepreneurial opportunities, tourism and the redevelopment of blighted buildings and infrastructure.
Continue supporting the school district in areas of family engagement and student supports.
Using community engagement as part of treatment for recovery and aftercare.
Helping those who are in recovery and aftercare to find their place within the community without the stigma of addiction or incarceration.
To help our youth to learn about a “sense of place,” through authentic and relevant learning opportunities that will encourage them to invest in their community as changemakers.
Increase financial literacy
To find funding sources that will enable us to secure a full-time staff that will support the work of our organization