years CELEBRATING women who go into the military at age 18. Because they don’t have family or don’t have structure, they need somewhere to go, so it’s the military. Well, there’s one thing that the military doesn’t teach you, and that’s how to handle your money.” After a decade of traveling while serving, Seavers said many Veterans don’t truly understand how to structure their lives or finances after the service. His camp helps to fill that need. Seavers, along with St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Owensboro Diocese, and the Presbyterian Church, is working on a housing and learning facility on Broadway to help Hispanic residents. “When we were handing out fuel, which is something else that we did during the tornado, we took fuel door to door to 200 homes that lost power and heat,” he recalled. “We met a ton of wonderful Hispanic families that, during the tornado, didn’t know to get the help, so they didn’t. They just went back to work.” In time, Seavers said the Cat holic Church will take over that program. Coming soon is a camp for children who age out of the foster care system at 16. The camp will be called “Fostering Potential” and will provide stable housing for foster children as they finish high school, pursue employment, or attend either college or trade school. “I came up with this at 2:00 in the morning,” he said. “I woke up as I do often. I guess it’s a problem. I don’t sleep a lot.” Seavers plans to take six units of his camp and turn them into housing for these foster children who are close to aging out of the system. The teens will stay at the camp for about two years and will receive help with finances and learning independence. “Because if you do your research, the percentage of kids who go straight from the foster care system, to free on their own, to jail… these statistics are sad.” Groups from Miami and New York have heard about his plans and want to shadow. “We are not about selling ideas or anything like that,” he said. “So we love this idea of other groups wanting to take it on. I don’t like the idea of people profiting from an idea, but we are and we believe in the word non. As in nonprofit.” To prove that idea, Seavers quickly points out that his nonprofit has just two paid employees. Everyone else, from board members to volunteers, are just that, volunteers. The tornado forever changed Mayfield, Graves County, and the entire region. What didn’t change was the hearts of volunteers like Seavers who continue to put in work in the shadows to help people recover and thrive. 56 JULY 2024 | INTHEVUE.COM Micah Seavers
