H.O.P.E. Clinic receives three checks totaling $43,175 from the Knights of Columbus Blessed Trinity Council and the Pickin’ Life Project on Nov. 19. Pictured (left to right): Deputy Grand Knight Sonny Finnegan of the Knights of Columbus Blessed Trinity Council; receptionist Delores Drish-Young of H.O.P.E. Clinic; client services director Jennifer Wright of H.O.P.E. Clinic of Lyon County; Grand Knight Barry Whitledge of the Knights of Columbus; treasurer Jeff Smith of the Pickin’ Life Project; Grand Knight Ed Georgen of the Calvert City Knights of Columbus; executive director Lisa Holland of H.O.P.E. Clinic; and nurse Penny Woods of H.O.P.E. Clinic. COURTESY OF PICKIN’ LIFE PROJECT
‘Bluegrass on (Lake) Beshear’ raises almost $60,000 for pro-life pregnancy care centers
BY JEFF SMITH, SPECIAL TO THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
The 11th annual “Bluegrass on (Lake) Beshear” one-day music fundraiser, created by Resurrection Church (Dawson Springs) parishioners Laura and Jeff Smith through their Pickin’ Life Project charity and sponsored by 10 Knights of Columbus councils from the Owensboro Diocese, set a new record on Oct. 12, 2024, by raising $49,514. The Knights of Columbus’ national Aid and Support After Pregnancy (ASAP) program will add another $9,900, making the total benefit of the event $59,414 for local life-affirming pregnancy care centers: Alpha PCC in Hopkinsville, Door of Hope in Madisonville, H.O.P.E. Clinic in Benton and Eddyville, and Pathway of Hope in Greenville.
Knights of Columbus councils from Murray, Bowling Green, Calvert City, Hardin/Aurora, Oak Grove, Hopkinsville, Madisonville, Princeton/Dawson Springs/Eddyville, Fort Campbell and Beaver Dam sponsored the event this year – the most ever.
The first “Bluegrass on (Lake) Beshear” music event was held in 2014 and raised a modest $2,600. Ten years later, the original idea has spawned a charitable organization, the “Pickin’ Life Project,” whose mission is to support life as a gift from God from conception until natural death. It has raised almost $300,000 and distributed all of it to pregnancy care centers, who are on the front lines protecting babies and their families. The music event also created relationships that led to establishing a pregnancy care center in Eddyville in 2017 and procuring two ultrasound machines for the center.
The 12th annual “Bluegrass on (Lake) Beshear” music festival will be held on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. More information is available at www.bluegrassonbeshear.com .
Originally printed in the January 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
