By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher
There’s calm quiet resolve in John LaCook’s expression and a sparkle in Robyn LaCook’s eyes when they talk about their plans for this year’s Moore County Resource Center Christmas parade float. Like many successful couples, she is the mastermind of the duo, and he is the worker bee. They like it that way.
Together, they operate as a quiet force in Lynchburg — one that moves behind the scenes making sure everybody, and often folks beyond county lines, has enough.
By day, they both work at the Jack Daniel Distillery — she in finance and he in vehicle maintenance. After hours, they volunteer their time to a long list of worthy causes. She runs the Moore County Resource Center, a local non-profit that serves as a one-stop site for anyone in our community who needs a little help. She and a dedicated staff of volunteers, which includes John, coordinate Second Harvest food distributions as well as the annual Back-to-School Backpacks for Kids and Lynchburg Angel Tree Program.
They spearhead the fundraisers that keep those programs running — things like the annual Rubber Duck Race during Spring in the Hollow and Oh What Fun It Is 5K during Christmas in Lynchburg. Frontier Days wouldn’t be the same without their collective efforts on the event committee. That kids’ pedal tractor pull event that your little one enjoyed? That was his idea and her planning.
John also serves as a member of both the Moore County Volunteer Fire Department and the Jack Daniel’s Fire Brigade as well as volunteering with area programs like the Lynchburg 9/11 Memorial 5K, Buddy Ball League, and Tullahoma’s Soapbox Derby.
Oh, and all those flags you see flying along Majors Boulevard for Memorial and Veteran’s Day? Yeah, he made that happen too.
With the exception of responding to an accident scene or house fire, where you see one, you likely see the other — though by necessity, she’s tagged along at more emergencies than she cares to remember.
Both say their sense of service was formed in childhood.
“Growing up military, we didn’t have a lot but we had everything we needed,” Robyn says. “My dad served as Staff Master Sergeant, Security Police in the United States Air Force. Every holiday, my parents invited any single airman or those stationed away from family to our home. We lived by an open door policy.”
John says he recognizes the need to give back to those less fortunate because he was one of those people.
“I know what government cheese tastes like, if that gives you any idea,” he jokes.
They’ve passed down the tradition of volunteering to their two daughters as well. Taylor, married local Moore County Sheriff’s Department deputy Douglas Carson and also serves on the Jack Daniel’s Fire Brigade. Tiffany married Chris Richards and they volunteer with her parents at the Moore County Resource Center and with Buddy Ball League events.
“If you don’t plant the seed earlier, it doesn’t have time to grow,” Robyn says.
“People support everything here.”
By Moore County standards, they’re transplants. She grew up in San Antonio as an Air Force brat — her words — before relocating to Coffee County with her family. He grew up in Tullahoma, but spent much of his youth in Lynchburg hanging out with locals like Lee Byrom. Together, they moved to Lynchburg 15 years ago so their daughters could attend Moore County schools.
From the beginning, they dove in — running concession stands at basketball games, selling cupcakes at early morning Project Graduation bake sales, bringing their girls along everywhere they went.
“It helped us get to know local families and helped the girls get to know their new classmates,” Robyn says. “They volunteered right along with us. We always took them everywhere with us.”
From the beginning, John says Moore County impressed them with its tight-knit sense of community and the ways in which people show up for each other.
At their very first home Raider football game, John says he looked at Robyn and said, “The only people not in this stadium are the ones watching from their front porch across the street. People support everything here.”
It’s an ideal that appealed to them then and still appeals to them today.
Robyn says it also feels especially meaningful to volunteer in a place that offers help without shame. When she agreed to take over the Resource Center, she says she focused on treating every person in front of her with respect and dignity.
“I always want people to understand that it’s okay to ask for help. We all need help sometimes,” she says.
John says when he spots a need, he often nudges people to reach out for help because too often pride gets in the way. When his nudges get ignored, he sometimes steps in to anonymously help.
He recalls a young mother whose husband had been recently laid off. Together, they were caring for aging parents. With Thanksgiving around the corner, he wanted to make sure they were okay.
“I told her about the Resource Center and assured her that it was okay to ask for help, but she resisted because pride was in the way.”
So, John quietly set aside a food box at the next Second Harvest event, and discreetly placed it in her vehicle.
“I explained that once she was back on her feet, she could help someone else. That’s how you change the world — by paying it forward,” he says.
They say it’s important in order to be good stewards of the money they raise to be mindful of potential grift, but they also say in their experience that rarely happens and it’s important not to judge the way things look.
One backpack distribution day, he and a couple of other volunteers noticed the expensive vehicle one of the mothers drove. So, John made a point to deliver the family’s items himself and comment on the ride as a subtle form of investigation.
That’s when the mother explained that before COVID hit, the family could easily afford it. Then, suddenly both she and her husband got laid off. Now, they owed more on the vehicle than it was worth and they were stuck with it.
“That’s going from everything’s good to bust,” John says. “It happens more often than you think.”
“We’re all just one emergency away,” Robyn adds. “Nobody knows each other’s story, one hundred percent. We don’t know what folks are dealing with just by looking. You cannot judge.”
“Not everything’s about money,” John adds. “If you do the right things, the good Lord takes care of you. You’ll be blessed in other ways, whether that’s health or finances. You are going to be blessed in other ways. I’m a firm believer in that.”
Both Robyn and John say when they see people they’ve helped out in the community, they make a point to stop and say hello — that they want people to know that they care about them outside of their official capacities.
The circle of kindness and gratitude
When we ask them about the most memorable moments in their volunteer life both offer heartwarming examples.
Robyn recalls receiving a thank-you note from a local child after one of her first Lynchburg Angel Tree events, thanking her for being one of “Santa’s helpers”.
“Kindness grows,” she says. “Many people who receive help, once they’re back on their feet, come back and volunteer to help others. They recognize that what we do helps everyone.”
John says that during a recent Angel Tree distribution a grandmother now tasked with raising five of her grandchildren cried as he filled her trunk with toys and gifts.
“That’s when you know that the help hit the right place. It reminds you why you do it,” he says.
They both say that they are far from the only helpers in Lynchburg — that many locals would be surprised by the army of volunteers who quietly move through the community observing need and filling in the gaps when no one’s looking.
Neither does it for the applause, but in March, John and Robyn LaCook will represent Moore County in Nashville as they receive the Governor’s Volunteer Star Award. It’s given annually to outstanding adult and youth volunteers who made a lasting impact in their communities. Moore County UT Extension Director Brenda Hannah nominated the dynamic duo for the award and says she can think of no one more deserving.
“You just see them everywhere in the community. They go above and beyond in everything they do,” Hannah says. “They have the heart and care-mode for everybody, and when an organization comes up short, I’ve seem them come out of their own pocket to make sure everybody is taken care of in our community.” •
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