Beverly’s Hearty Slice Events in Owensboro Offer Free Pizza to the Community

Beverly Slaughter was born and raised right here in Owensboro.  Though she passed away from diabetes in 2018, her memory lives on through her son, Travis Owsley.  Last August, Travis decided to create a community event that honored his mom.  And it wasn't difficult to decide how best to do that.

See, Beverly loved to cook.  And she didn't just cook for a handful of people.  She liked to cook for a bunch of 'em.  Travis says she always cooked "big" meals and loved feeding folks in the neighborhood.  In fact, Travis told me yesterday that his mom would see someone walking down the street and ask, "Have you eaten?  If not, come get a plate."

While I didn't get the opportunity to meet Beverly, she sounds like my kind of mom.  It's clear that Travis got it honest.  Not only has he created an event to honor his mom, he's actually living out her mission with the creation of Beverly's Hearty Slice.

It's basically a community-wide pizza party that takes place every other Friday at Kendall Perkins Park here in Owensboro.  And the next one is tonight.

Travis has teamed up with Little Caesar's Pizza and, at each Beverly's Free Slice event, he and friends pass out a free slice of pizza to the first 100 people who show up and they get a bottle of water to go with it.  And Travis has plans to expand the program and feed even more local neighborhoods.

In addition to hosting the Beverly's Hearty Slice events, Travis works as a supervisor for the St. Joseph Peace Mission for Children and coaches basketball. Ultimately, he plans to turn the his late mom's passion into a non-profit so he can apply for grants and continue Beverly's mission of keeping the community fed.

If you'd like more information about Beverly's Hearty Slice and a list of upcoming community events, you can check out the official Facebook page.