WILMORE, Ky. (LEX 18) — When you talk to people in Wilmore about what makes their town special, they'll likely talk to you about its sense of community. For the past few weeks, something has been happening there that illustrates that perfectly.
If it's Tuesday at Fitch's IGA in Wilmore, it's stocking day. The IGA has been the main grocery store for locals for generations.
"My wife and I shopped here when we first got married back in the '70s," said David Riel as he put items onto shelves.
That's all thanks to Leonard Fitch.
"We shop here. We live here. This is our store. Everyone loves Leonard. This store has been here for generations," said Marcy Thobaben, who was working on some bookkeeping.
As a group of people got the Tuesday restocking done, they didn't appear to be the typical collection of grocery store employees. None of them work there. The Tuesday restocking group began meeting a few weeks back. Thobaben was doing her usual shopping, and something occurred to her.
"I'd seen the shelves were kind of bare, and I said, "Leonard, I'm semi-retired. Do you need some help?' and he said, 'Well, sure!'" So, Fitch got some volunteers.
"For the last two and a half, three weeks, we've been pitching in and trying our very best to fill in," Thobaben said.
It spread from there.
"Local community members are just coming to help, too. We meet here at 4:00 on Tuesday afternoons and stock until the pallets are empty," said Miriam Allison.
"I've been doing this work for a month or two. I'm actually on city council with Leonard," Riel said.
Riel and his wife have made it a weekly tradition.
"We were students here and shopped here as young newlyweds, so it's just a way of giving back. It's a way of trying to make the world a better place," he said.
For the man who's run the store for so many decades, all this help is priceless.
"They come in and check the order off and they stock it and they go to a lot of trouble to be sure it's in the right place. It really means so much to us," Fitch said.
That's the goal—to ensure that Fitch has everything he needs to keep this local lifeline up and running through that same sense of community.
"There's a gentleman I've never met who just popped up third shift for us to help us finish. It's a great way to have community conversations and relationships and help Leonard. That's the whole point, to help Leonard," Thobaben said.
Fitch said anyone interested in helping stock shelves on Tuesday afternoons is welcome to stop by.
