30 Apr Trenton Resident to be Honored as SELF Celebrates 25 Years of Service
Butler County’s SELF (Supports to Encourage Low-income Families) will be celebrating 25 years of service to Butler County residents at its virtual awards celebration, entitled “Together Again”. At this celebration, successful clients and outstanding volunteers will be featured!
One volunteer we would like to recognize is Kyle Montano. He will be receiving the Janet Clemmons Service Award at SELF’s celebration! Kyle is the co-founder of SLIM (Savings Lives In Ministry), a volunteer-run street ministry serving the homeless and addicted with basic needs and connections to services.
In 2018, Kyle was in addiction recovery at Sojourner Recovery Services. During this time, he began to volunteer weekly with a group of individuals to feed the homeless at a “tent city”. What started off with making and handing out sack lunches to homeless camps quickly grew into much more. The group decided to give a name to this project, calling it “SLIM” in honor of a group member who had died.
“Kyle became interested in volunteering when the clients would come to the Church to volunteer. He continued volunteering throughout treatment at Sojourner. Once he completed treatment, he did not stop, and he made volunteering part of his recovery.”
Among his volunteer efforts, Kyle spends 25+ hours a week picking up donations of food and clothing to be distributed on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Knowing the struggle and hardship of overcoming homelessness and the challenges that come with addiction, Kyle knew the help and support was greatly needed in our community. His hard work and diligence is truly inspirational.