Community is a Practice
At Highlands Community Ministries, belonging starts with showing up for your neighbors.
On Thursday mornings, the Highlands Community Ministries food pantry opens its doors.
The shelves are stocked with staples—cereal, canned vegetables, peanut butter—and volunteers are ready to greet the first neighbors of the day. One of the first faces you’ll usually see belongs to Laura Walker.
Laura has been volunteering at the pantry since 2019. What started as a once-a-week shift grew into something more during the early days of the pandemic.
“I just kept coming,” she says. “It gave me structure. It gave me purpose.”
Now, she volunteers three times a week.
“It’s my work week,” she says, smiling.
Laura retired from her career years ago, but in many ways, she never stopped working. She simply shifted her focus—to her neighborhood. “These aren’t just people I see at the pantry,” she says. “They’re my neighbors. I see them at the park. I see them walking to the store. I know where they live. I know they need help.”
When Laura talks about Highlands Community Ministries, she doesn’t call it their pantry or the pantry. She calls it our mission—because to her, it is.
Before joining HCM as a volunteer, Laura spent her career as a social worker. That work taught her a lot about systems and barriers—and how sometimes, even the best-intentioned help comes tangled in red tape.
At the pantry, things are simpler.
“You come. You get what you need,” Laura says. “No judgment. No hurdles. Just kindness.”
Of course, she knows there are assumptions people sometimes make—about who needs help, about who deserves it. She’s heard them before: the idea that people are lazy, that they’re taking advantage, that if they worked harder, they wouldn’t be here.
Laura’s response is full of quiet conviction:
“I have eyes,” she says.
“Remember—I live here. These folks are my neighbors. I’ve seen where they live. I know what they’re dealing with. And when you see that, you help.”
There’s no anger in her words. No judgment in return. Just a simple truth: proximity builds understanding.
This is what it means to be a good neighbor:
Not assuming.
Not judging.
Just showing up.
And when we think of good neighbors, we think of people like Laura.
People who make sure the doors are open, the shelves are stocked, and the welcome is real.
People who believe that community isn’t a program—it’s a practice.
If you’d like to be part of this work, we’d love to welcome you.
Email scarr@hcmlouisville.org to learn how you can get involved.
