The Danville City Commission held a special-called meeting Monday at 5:30 p.m.

Stephanie Blevins from United Way gave an update about how the non-profit has served Boyle, Mercer, Garrard, and Lincoln counties over the last year.

United Way provided 400 care kits to seniors across the four counties and gave personal protection equipment to the Boyle County Health Department. During the quarantine, they did grocery shopping and delivery to families who didn’t have resources or were already living in poverty and didn’t have family in the area. They also gave 320 gallons of hand sanitizer in Boyle county and conducted sign-ups for booster shots and vaccines in Mercer and Boyle counties.

Blevins delivered a check for $2500 from United Way to the Garrard County food pantry in Lancaster. The food pantry burned in an arson fire Nov. 14. The pantry feeds 400 seniors and 800 families a month and lost all food in the fire. Organizations and community members have already donated food and thousands of dollars to the pantry for rebuilding. Blevins said she saw about 100 people in line for food when she delivered the check. The pantry should have enough food for Thanksgiving with help from the Christian Appalachian Project.

United Way will continue to fund 44 programs over the next year, focusing more on generational poverty, suicide prevention and the homeless population. They support the 211 program, which is a phone line for anyone in Boyle, Mercer, Garrard or Lincoln county with any need. People can call 211 if they need rent or utilities assistance, mental health services, suicide prevention and other resources.

United Way is holding a free training event called Bridges out of Poverty Dec. 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The training teaches about poverty and how people can help others get out of poverty. Commissioner Denise Terry, who has attended the training in the past, highly recommended it.

“I cannot recommend it enough; it is very enlightening because you don’t just learn about poverty, you learn about all walks of life,” Terry said.

“This training just teaches you a lot about what you didn’t know you didn’t know.”

Bridges out of Poverty will be held at 118 N. 3rd Street in Danville.

City Clerk Ashley Raider said the tree lighting ceremony will happen virtually because the county is still under COVID restrictions. The ceremony will be streamed on Facebook Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. People can attend in-person if they practice social distancing and wear a mask, but there will not be a reception.

City Manager Earl Coffey said the city commission will meet with the Danville-Boyle County Airport Board either Dec. 1 or 2 about the airport’s annexation. Two of the airport’s board members spoke during the public comments section about concerns they had with annexation. They said annexation might result in loss of businesses at the airport due to more taxes. The meeting next week will be a workshop to discuss these types of financial policies with the airport.

In other business, the city commission:
• Unanimously approved a zone change recommendation from the planning commission for 1695 Lancaster Road from agriculture and highway business to light industrial for 50.432 acres.

• Unanimously approved a zone change recommendation from the planning commission for 1103 Hustonville Road from single family residential to highway business for 0.24 acres.• Unanimously approved a zone change recommendation from the planning commission for 201 West Broadway from multi-family residential to central business for 0.082 acres.