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Mike Farris concert to benefit Lighthouse Ministries shelter
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Lighthouse Ministries has been operating a homeless shelter for men near the fairgrounds for more than 10 years. Pictured is the living room of the mens shelter.

Lighthouse Ministries offers homeless shelters in Warren County as a way to help men and women leave the streets and rebuild their lives.

An upcoming concert at Park Theater will fund the effort to establish the women’s shelter, says Lighthouse Ministries organizer Nathan Smith.

“We are struggling to get everything done and be able to help support more women,” Smith said. “Lisa Patton organized the concert and got hold of the artist. We had a big donation and we were able to buy the house, but more is needed. It takes money to pay the bills like water, electric, gas.”

Approximately two years ago, the ministry opened a women’s shelter in a donated house near the Warren County line in Centertown. Recently, a new home has been purchased closer to town that is more convenient.
Over a decade ago, the ministry opened its first shelter in what was formerly the Warren County Humane Society building near the fairgrounds. After remodeling, the building now serves as a homeless shelter for men with a kitchen, living room, and several bedrooms.

Lighthouse Ministries offers a hand up for homeless individuals. There are rules. Lighthouse Ministries has a no-drugs, no-alcohol policy. It offers life counseling classes to help residents secure employment and teach them about saving money so they can work toward getting transportation and a different place to live.
Mike Farris understands what it feels like to be down and out.

“I was already a drug addict and alcoholic when I was 15. I was running cocaine over the state lines from Huntsville, Ala. In and out of jail already, I was just a broken boy trying to find his way,” Farris said in an interview with Rolling Stone.

While homeless living in a park in Knoxville, Farris said he turned to God for guidance and ended up moving in with his father in Nashville. He launched a gospel music career in 2002 after making a name for himself as the lead singer of the “Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies” in the 1990s.

Today, Farris is clean, sober and entirely committed to elevating his brothers and sisters through powerhouse live performances.

Enjoy an evening with Farris on Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. and support a worthy cause. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketleap.com or locally at Park Theater, Warren County Chamber of Commerce, and Warren Arts. Tickets: Premium $25 (first eight rows), preferred $20 (row nine and up on lower level), and $15 balcony.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community