BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PILGRIM — Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) is bringing high-speed internet to 30 households in the Meathouse Fork area of Wolf Creek.
Residents within a 10-mile radius of Meathouse can receive a free Starlink satellite dish and service for a year provided by SOAR. After one year, a customer would have the option of keeping service for $110/month.
Meathouse resident Mack McCoy was the first recipient of a Starlink satellite Sept. 20. He has been an assistant in the school system for 19 years and uses the internet daily to perform work from home. Before Starlink, he had satellite service through HughesNet, which he describes as “horrible.”
“There is no comparison,” McCoy said. “[Starlink] is very good internet. It’s like having LTE full service.”
McCoy was most thankful to Martin County Judge/Executive Colby Kirk.
“I commend our judge for his help and commitment to all citizens of Martin County.”
McCoy wrote a letter to Kirk earlier this year detailing the utility issues plaguing his part of the county.
“We have a lot of elderly folks and no communication,” added McCoy.
On the campaign trail this past spring, Kirk visited this area of Wolf Creek, which has a long history of constant phone, power and water outages.
“Internet was something Mack and I talked a long time about on his porch,” said Kirk. “He works at the school, and when we had COVID, and when we have NTI days during the snow, he’s not been able to engage with the kids he works with at school because his internet connection was so unreliable.”
When the opportunity of the SOAR Starlink program presented itself, Kirk’s thoughts went immediately to McCoy.
“So I asked him, ‘Would you be willing to be a guinea pig for us just to see if this works?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Kirk and SOAR COO Joshua Ball hand-delivered the first Starlink satellite dish to McCoy’s residence and helped with installation, which was largely automated.
The mission was successful as the installation went off without a hitch and McCoy immediately reported faster internet speeds.
“I guess it sounds too good to be true, but that’s literally all it is,” Ball said. “I just take it out of the box, plug it in, it works, and I shake their hand and leave. It’s not cumbersome at all.”
SOAR has equipment on the way for the other 29 units.
“I’ll be going out over the next two or three weeks as folks get approved and just connecting them,” said Ball, who is originally from the area and knows the connectivity issues all too well.
“I grew up on Wolf Creek, so it’s nice to come home and be able to do something like that.”
Those eligible for the service include:
• Households with low-income seniors on Medicaid;
• Households without connectivity, limited connectivity or current satellite internet service;
• Residents who have a desire to utilize telehealth services.
Check your eligibility and apply at https://soar-ky.org/starlink/. If you have questions, email starlink@soar-ky.org or call (606) 766-1160.