Chapel Tinius, 24, was born and raised in Bowling Green, KY and is the daughter of Jim and Dana Tinius. She is the granddaughter of two World War II veterans, which ignites her Community Service Initiative of Operation gratitude: For the Fallen, For the Fighting, For the Veterans.
"When I was a little girl, I would go on walks with my papaw and when I reached up for his hands, I would instead find metal hooks due to a land mine explosion during WWII. When I was 6, I did my first community service project for our military community by asking my classmates to donate a children's book and VHS tape to be sent to deployed soldiers. The soldier could then read the story and send it home as a bedtime story for their little one. After this, I remember my papaw entrusting me with his Purple Heart for "safekeeping." I always found it so intriguing how he used the word safe, because some had given so much or even everything to protect us."
Since the inception of Operation Gratitude, Chapel has run over 25 half marathons and 3 full marathons to raise funds for the Honor Flight Network. She also started her own 10k series called "Run to Fly" where she runs ten 10ks, in 10 days in 10 different Kentucky counties to fundraise for Honor Flight Kentucky. Over the past three months, Chapel has closely partnered with Honor Flight Kentucky to implement the inaugural Youth Ambassador Program. This program focuses on ensuring that the next generation of Kentuckians understand the importance of thanking our veterans and how we can take our simple words of "thank you" and turn them into an action. For the month of May in 2021, 2022, and 2023, Chapel served as a National Relay team member with Carry The Load, a non-profit organization that focuses on finding an active way to restore the meaning of Memorial Day. During these national relays, Chapel and the Carry The Load relay team walked over 20,000 miles across the US while raising 2 million dollars to be given to Carry The Load's non-profit partners who provide resources for Veterans, Military Members and their families. Chapel's favorite project though has been creating a violin/harp CD titled "Gratitude". This is gifted to veterans as a music therapy tool. "I watched how music helped heal my Papaw. It was a huge part of his journey to being the man he was and finding the joy in what could have been the worst."
Throughout her childhood, Chapel was heavily involved in the arts community. She loves to sing at her home church of First Baptist, Bowling Green. Growing up, you could see her performing in musicals and plays in south-central Kentucky, playing her harp at various events and the fiddle in the Red River Fiddlers band for 12 years. Chapel is a proud Bowling Green High School Purple and went on to receive a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre and a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Corporate Communication from Belmont University. She was the first musical theater major to ever complete dual degrees. After this, Chapel spent 6 months as a part of the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida as a Cast member. Chapel now resides in Lexington, Kentucky and loves to explore local coffee shops, run, and horse-back ride in her spare time.
Chapel is beyond thrilled to bring the title of Miss Kentucky to Bowling Green once again. This year, she plans to work with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to spend time in all 120 counties to promote healthy and local foods as well as homemade "KENTUCKY PROUD" products. She is excited to put her own spin on this year of service by using her violin to make animal noises, etc. making education engaging and fun! Chapel also wants to bring a veteran into as many community events as possible. "I can stand up and tell you a veteran's story all day long, but for people to actually put a face with a name and recognize their fellow citizen's stories first hand is a whole new level. I want community members to truly see the heroes around them everyday who served". She is also looking forward to talking to Commissioner Shell to put a greater spotlight on the Homegrown by Heroes (KY Proud Veteran's) program.
