Volunteer Spotlight: Jamie Hollis-Reaver & Open Tab Entertainment

Jamie brings her love of music, smiles and hugs with her each time she comes to the Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky. For Jamie, music is more than just a beat, the songs she plays at ESNKY serve as music therapy for its guests. On New Year’s Eve, Jamie and her family business, Open Tab Entertainment, brought karaoke equipment and an endless playlist to ESNKY. She says the memories she made with guests were priceless.

“Bringing in our karaoke equipment on New Year's and watching people quietly and shyly come to the front to try to sing. Then more and more people were getting into it and having the best time of their lives. It was just the most beautiful part of humanity to me. Forgetting for five minutes that they weren't in their own homes, they weren't without their own shoes and just singing songs that everyone knew – just laughing and hugging,” says Jamie.

Jamie spent more than two decades in property management before starting her own business, Open Tab Entertainment, with her husband. Jamie donates the profits from her business to non-profits, including ESNKY. But it’s not just her love of music and karaoke that she and her family and friends bring to the shelter. She also volunteers regularly in other roles, such as cooking for the guests. 

Jamie says volunteering at ESNKY has changed her perspective on community needs and social issues.

“It's really humanized everything I look at in life. It's made me realize how many things I take for granted at home every single day. No matter how poor I've been, no matter how many times my gas or electricity were shut off, I always had food to give my children. Often these people don't have any food and are just looking for some comfort and love and I get that every night. I am the luckiest person in the world,” explains Jamie.

If you’d like to become a volunteer, like Jamie and her family, contact Maya Mintu, ESNKY Volunteer Coordinator at maya.mintu@esnky.net or (859) 291 – 4555.