Drive along Jefferson Street in Paducah and you will see a bright red food truck awaiting your arrival. The Coney Express is Paducah’s newest food truck and rests at its home location of 814 Jefferson Street, next to Home Pro Advantage, when not attending any events or opening up shop at other locations.
The Coney Express food truck was launched as a way to provide funding to a local ministry, Freedom Forever Ministries. Founder and CEO of Freedom Forever Ministries (FFM), Lee Rust, has been leading a team of volunteers for the past 20 years to minister to women in our community’s prisons. Prior to the pandemic, Lee and her volunteers consistently held ministry sessions at McCracken County Regional Jail, Ross-Cash Minimum Security Facility, and the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women. Since the ministry’s establishment in 2000, FFM has reached thousands of female inmates annually through the ministry’s purpose of glorifying God by providing Biblical principles through worship, scripture, and life application.
Disheartened about the absence of the ministry’s presence inside the prisons, Lee sought an alternative to helping female prisoners. Though she has often been asked about helping female inmates after release as they reaccumulate to life outside prison walls, Lee always felt strongly that her ministry was designed to help incarcerated women inside the prison. That was until the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. For the first time, Lee started thinking outside of prison’s walls for the future of the ministry.
Last year, FFM purchased land beside its current office space. The plan is to construct a building where Lee and her ministry team can rent out spaces to raise funds for the ministry, create additional office space for the ministry, and host classes to teach life skills to formerly incarcerated women. Because this project requires a large amount of funding, Lee developed the idea of starting a food truck to serve as an ongoing fundraiser for the ministry to raise funds and construct the building.
Through this idea, The Coney Express came to be. This unique food truck serves authentic Flint Coney dogs. The Coney dogs and Coney sauce are shipped fresh from Koegel Meats, who has been making the protein ingredients for this famous Northern dish since 1916. The Coney dog is topped with the Coney sauce—a Mediterranean meat sauce blended with a variety of spices—freshly cut onion, and a drizzle of mustard to create this mouthwatering delicacy.
Why Flint Coney dogs? Lee is a native of Michigan and grew up near Flint, the home of Koegel Meats. The Coney dog, especially the Flint Coney dog, is a popular and sought-after dish in the North. An avid cook, herself, Lee wanted to provide the best Coney dog possible to her customers through the food truck and was intrigued by Koegel’s quality of meats and how they shipped fresh products to their customers.
“The Coney Express is my idea born from my Michigan roots. I thought, ‘Why not bring some of my Northern roots to the South? It’s something different, unique, and all American!’” says Lee.
Lee’s big goal for the food truck is to be able to raise enough funds to begin the construction of the FFM’s structure on its property so the ministry can continue to help incarcerated women beyond life in prison. She also envisions partnering with other ministries to collaborate for a greater cause—to help women in need in our community.
“Overall, our ministry wants to help these women leave a legacy for their family. I want them to know they are important to God, to their families, and to our community.”
The Coney Express food truck debuted at the Friday Night Food Trucks event on July 24th, hosted by the Paducah Convention Center, and plans to continue to attend the community event this summer. The Coney Express is also available for private events. 100% percent of the proceeds from The Coney Express go to Freedom Forever Ministries.
