The Angels for Ashley cooking team is back at it this week, hosting its annual St. Jude fundraiser. The team will smoke and sell meat for 3 days straight, with stops all over Daviess County.
Whitesville native Jerry Morris heads the several-person cooking team, which joined forces with WBKR in 2013 and has partnered with them ever since. Morris’ goal this year is $100,000, and even though he’s taking chemo and fighting his own fights, he refuses to slow down.
“People from all over are very generous when it comes to this fundraiser,” Morris’ wife Vickie said. “We join with Chad [Benefield] and WBKR to make this a well-known event all over the United States. Jerry has an awesome team of cooks, sellers, buyers, and several who put in a ton of prep work leading up to the event.”
This year, the team will offer an assortment of Boston butt, smoked chicken, and other smoked meats and sides. They start the journey at the Whitesville Mercantile on Wednesday before setting up camp at Norman McDonald’s Weber Corner, Shoe Stop, the Whitesville Mercantile, and potentially Knottsville on Thursday.
They’ll finish up on Friday at Whitesville Mercantile, Shoe Stop, Weber Corner, and Knottsville again. And when it’s all said and done, they hope to march into WBKR covered in sweat, entrenched in smoke, smelling of meat, and completely exhausted as they dump a fat sack of cash on the floor.
Morris retired from the construction business a few years back, and while he formed a positive reputation in the industry, his passion has always been helping others. He launched Angels for Ashley in 2011 to erect a home for Ashley Johnson and her family after ABC didn’t select them for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
He leaned on the Whitesville community, fired up the smoker, and got busy. Thanks to an incredible outpouring of support, he had $50,000 after completing the project and a namesake for his new nonprofit.
Morris and his team will cook for 50 hours straight this week, squeezing in some 2-hour naps when possible. Several of the volunteers even take vacation days at work to contribute.
Morris said in a 2018 Owensboro Living story, “It’s rough, but I enjoy it. People with cancer aren’t going to quit just because they’re tired, so why should I?”
In 2017, Morris joined Benefield and the WBKR staff on a trip to St. Jude, where he witnessed firsthand the fruits of his labor. Then, he learned it took $860 million a year, which equals $2.5 million a day, to keep the lights on at St. Jude.
That number has risen to $2.2 billion per year, and the Angels for Ashley team is committed to keeping those lights on, even if it’s for 15 minutes. So, despite the knee surgeries and chemo, Morris and his team will turn to the smokers for what they hope is a record year.
