Home » 3rd annual Ed Lane Memorial holiday dinner giveaway gets under way

3rd annual Ed Lane Memorial holiday dinner giveaway gets under way

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The third annual Ed Lane Memorial, in conjunction with Red State BBQ, will be providing holiday dinners to deserving families again this year.

Organizers say that starting last year’s campaign earlier helped by giving people more time to nominate deserving families. This year will include the Thanksgiving holiday. Nominations are being taken now through Nov. 16 for Thanksgiving and Dec. 19 for Christmas.

Lane, a commercial real-estate broker in Central Kentucky for several years was also the founder and publisher of The Lane Report. In addition, he was a five-term council member representing the 12th district in Fayette County. Lane passed away August of 2015 after a two-year battle with cancer.

“Ed was one of our regular customers from about the time the business opened,” said David Carroll, owner of Red State BBQ. “It was often quite random. Sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner, sometimes with a dining companion. Sometimes I’d walk out into the dining room and he’d just be sitting there in his suit by himself eating barbecue. He was a business and civic leader in our community, but Ed also loved barbecue and he loved Red State.”

Carroll says the opportunity to honor Lane came about when Lane’s daughter, Meredith Lane, stopped by one night to pick up some food and to try and find her father’s signature on the wall. Signatures and graffiti on the walls are commonplace at Red State. “Ed was actually one of the first to sign the wall near the fireplace” says Carroll. Meredith’s name is now next to Ed’s on the wall.

When asked about donations being named in honor of her father, Meredith says her father would be flattered “and probably a little embarrassed.”

“I thought it was such a great idea, that I wanted to help and am donating a meal to a deserving family as well,” she said.

Last year was a success. There were many people that donated, including one person who purchased 10 of the dinners. Altogether 25 were donated to deserving families.

To nominate a family, Carroll says they just need a couple of paragraphs on why a particular family should be nominated. “It could be a family that’s maybe had a rough year, or they have an inspiring story or maybe they’re charitable of their time to help others in our community.”

Nominations for the Ed Lane Memorial may be emailed to [email protected].

For more information about the Ed Lane Memorial visit their Facebook page or you can call (859) 233-7898.