Marlene’s Kitchen Foundation

06/01/2026

I cannot adequately express the gratitude I feel for the incredible turnout we had on Saturday at our Marlene's Kitchen Foundation Clothing Drive!

My hometown truly defined the word community and came out in a way that left me humbled and overwhelmed with a gracious heart. We had the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, meet new ones, and hear so many beautiful stories about Mom. We started this foundation to honor her legacy, and to see her name and memory inspire such generosity, compassion, and service to others is beyond anything I imagined. Watching people come together to help those in need and glorify God through their actions was a blessing I will never forget.

A special Thank You to Brenda Russell and God's Food Pantry for graciously allowing us to use your property and for being beside us throughout the day! Brenda is truly someone we should all model ourselves after and I am honored to be your friend and partner. I look forward to many years of serving this community and doing great things together.

I was also so happy to meet Angi Adams and Bobbie Jo Dopp from The Good Samaritan Thrift Store. These ladies are both remarkable people doing vital work in Somerset. I am so grateful that we were able to support your mission. I look forward to spending more time with you in the future and collaborating on more events.

A huge Thank You also goes to the Sons Of Thunder Boxing Club for coming out and spending the day unloading and loading boxes, bags, and items of all kinds. These kids worked incredibly hard all day and represented themselves and their organization so well. We were so fortunate to have you there. Thank you to Jaren Emerson for being a fantastic leader to these kids and for volunteering time for us.

And now for the part that still leaves me speechless...

We filled the truck! And then we filled it again!!

TWICE!! And then some on top of that....

I knew you guys would show up, but the generosity of this community exceeded my expectations and then exceeded them again. I am still in awe of what was accomplished together. It has taken me until now to find the words that even begin to express how much this means to us.

From the bottom of our hearts, Thank You! Thank you for every person who donated, volunteered, shared our event, offered encouragement, or simply prayed for its success. Your kindness is helping carry forward a legacy of faith, service, and love.

Mom is definitely smiling!

05/30/2026

05/30/2026

This is a wonderful day for community! God has been so good to us already! We are here with God's Food Pantry and Good Samaritan Thrift Store and the blessings are in abundance! I know there will be so much more come through today and am just blown away by the outpouring of love!
🌟We’ll be here until 4:00

05/27/2026

We hope for a great turn out on Saturday! The weather looks beautiful (as of now)and I hope to see so many familiar faces! Allison and I will be there from 8:00 - 4:00 for Marlene's Kitchen Foundation! There is still time to clean out those closets and help make this first official event a huge success!

What happens when a motorcycle drive and a clothing drive meet? Only good things, as far as the community is concerned.

05/23/2026

One week until the Marlene’s Kitchen Foundation Clothing Drive! One more week to clean out all the items you are ready to purge from your house and donate them to support neighbors around you who are in need.

I have cleaned out so much that I either can’t wear or simply don’t need anymore and I feel so much lighter already 🪶 🪶 🪶.

I want to answer a couple of questions that I’ve been getting from some of you.

🌟We are graciously accepting clothes for any age and gender.💥Men’s clothing is in highest demand💥

🌟We are accepting clothes for all seasons.

🌟We are accepting household items like kitchenware, bedding, cleaning tools, baby gear, etc…

🌟We are not accepting large furniture directly. If you have items like this, please message me privately and we can discuss possible options.

🌟If you live in the Lexington area you can donate without driving to Somerset😃. Please reach out to me and I will arrange a drop off or pick up for you this coming week that is convenient for you! We want everyone to get to donate!!

I am already so grateful for everyone who has reached out. This is truly a blessing. Thank you to all who have shared our post or reached out. We are so thankful 🙏🙌🤗

05/12/2026

Marlene’s Kitchen Foundation is excited to announce we are holding our first annual Clothing Drive! This is an extension of our amazing partnership with God’s Food Pantry and the event will benefit the The Good Samaritan in Somerset, KY.

Just in time for Spring Cleaning!! We invite you to join us in supporting your community by donating gently used clothing for all ages as well as household items. Every donation helps extend kindness and hope to neighbors in need.

*Men’s clothing is especially needed at this time.

04/05/2026

In 2025, Eli Sloan, the son of our North America Operations Manager, Chris Sloan, became unexpectedly ill with a form of kidney cancer. Last week, we received the heartbreaking news that Eli passed peacefully, surrounded by his loving family.

Inspired by Eli’s passion for life and love for others, the Sloan family has launched the fund. Proceeds will support scholarships at local Lexington schools Eli attended and organizations across Central Kentucky that were meaningful to Eli and his family.

Through the fund, we celebrate Eli’s life and help other young people thrive.

Contributions can be made through the Pearse Lyons ACE Foundation website by selecting “Live Like Eli” from the “I’d like to support” dropdown in the donation form, or through the 2026K Charitable Challenge.

Those who join — or make a donation to — the 2026K Charitable Challenge between now and April 30 will earn the Live Like Eli badge and +250 bonus points. Funds raised during this period will be dedicated to the fund.

Click here to make a contribution: https://pearselyonsace.org/?campaign=507777

03/27/2026

Marlene’s Kitchen Foundation is a faith-based, non-profit foundation. My sister has poured her heart & soul into this. I am so proud of her & I know Mom is too. I am also sharing Julia’s post, hers will tell you so much more about this foundation that is her brainchild. Mom was a giver, a true angel on Earth. It’s the reason Marlene’s Kitchen Foundation was born, to continue the work she did to feed the hungry & help those who needed it. Please take a few minutes to read my sister’s post and follow our new page to see what we are doing & how you can help support Marlene’s Kitchen Foundation.

I want to share some thoughts that I couldn’t manage to put into words for Mom’s funeral. Dad & Julia both spoke so beautifully at her funeral. I wanted to, but I just couldn’t put the right words together, even though I’m usually pretty good with words. On the eve of the 1 year anniversary of her meeting Jesus, I laid in bed, unable to sleep, thinking of Mom & the year that had passed. The words began to flow, along with the tears. I saved it, didn’t shared it with anyone, and I didn’t look at it again until today. I decided to share a small part of it in honor of launching Marlene’s Kitchen Foundation. She fought cancer for 44 years. 4 times she was diagnosed with breast cancer, 3 times she won. She was first diagnosed when I was 6 & Julia was barely walking. It was always there, but our lives didn’t revolve around it. Mom was a mom, a wife, a daughter, a Nana, a friend, a teacher, & a survivor 3 times over. She was the bravest, strongest person I knew. She never complained. She was strong, even when she wasn’t. Losing Mom doesn’t get easier every day, it gets different. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s just different. I just hope she knows the impact she had on people, on her family, on me. How much I love her and miss her, but how happy I am that she is healed and reunited with her parents & brothers. I know I’ll see her again. She was beautiful. Love, Allison 💞

03/27/2026

Dear family and friends, most all of you connected with me on social media knew my mother, Marlene Chaney, and you know that we lost her in August of 2024. What many of you don't know is that she fought her courageous battle against breast cancer for over forty years. Her original diagnosis came in 1980 at just 31 years old and she lived her life through multiple diagnoses thereafter. Mom was a quiet and private warrior and kept her battles close to home. She never let cancer impose greatly on our lives and she did not let cancer keep her from living hers. From the time of her first diagnosis, both of my parents dedicated their lives to Jesus and have had hearts full of gratitude to Him every day since.

We lived in a home where we learned to give thanks for the blessings in our lives not just by saying thank you to the Lord but by taking action through almsgiving as well. Mom was passionate about feeding people. She loved to cook and she was incredibly gifted in the kitchen. She took her passion outside of our home and spent many years in the kitchen of the Lower Fellowship Hall at the First United Methodist Church where she and several others prepared countless meals. Mom served on the Board of Directors at God's Food Pantry after she retired from a career of teaching. During Covid she committed to making additional donations, saying, "We have food on our table and everything we need while others do not." She felt ardently that everyone deserves to have their basic needs met and believed that curing someone's hunger is the first step in helping them out of poverty. Instead of living in fear of cancer, Mom lived in gratitude for the life she knew was a gift to her from God.

In June of 2024, she bravely made the decision to enter hospice care and live her remaining time gracefully and peacefully in her home. Sitting at dinner with her shortly after this decision she reminded us how blessed our lives are, how grateful she had been for everything and how important it is to give back to our communities. She said, "Giving back is the easy part." We stayed sitting at the dining room table with her for hours after that dinner and despite the looming presence of sadness, I just remember feeling overwhelmingly thankful. Thankful that Mom never lived in fear or with resentment of cancer, and thankful that she lived her life in gratitude for every experience knowing that it brought her closer to God and her family. I'm going to wrap this part up now because she is in my ear telling me that this is enough about her and to get on with my point.

I knew that losing Mom would be one of the most difficult things I would ever deal with, but I have been determined to live by her example and be grateful for everything in my life. I have taken the values I was raised with and I have made a commitment to give back to my community and in doing so, honoring her. I am so happy to formally introduce you to Marlene's Kitchen Foundation. We are a faith based, non-profit foundation that will work in our region to support people in need. We are here to help provide essential elements to our communities.

I am most grateful at this time to Brenda Russell and the Board of Directors at God's Food Pantry in Somerset, KY for embracing Marlene's Kitchen Foundation into their circle as we have entered a partnership allowing us to work together to serve our region. We are embarking on a journey that will have a monumental impact for South-Central Kentucky and I cannot wait to tell everyone more about this extremely remarkable venture! I have no doubt Mom is just as excited about this as we are!

Please visit our website at www.marleneskitchenfoundation.org, and follow us on the Marlene's Kitchen Foundation page as well as Instagram. We will continually post updates on our projects as well as events we will host.

Marlene's Kitchen Foundation is a faith-based, non-profit foundation that supports people in our community during their time of need. Partnering with God’s Food Pantry in Somerset, KY

03/27/2026