© 2024 WUOT

WUOT
209 Communications Building
1345 Circle Park Drive
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0322
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ellen, Helen And The Origin Of The Love Kitchen

lovekitchen.org

This week, Ellen Turner,one of the founders of Knoxville’s fabled Love Kitchen, passed away at the age of 87.   Since 1986, Ellen and her twin sister Helen Ashe have been providing meals, comfort and care to some of Knoxville’s less fortunate residents.  In the meantime, they’ve emerged as local folk heroes with an international following, even appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show.  But those who know the sisters say the notoriety never changed them--- they remained humbly committed to their mission of feeding Knoxville’s poor. 

In 2010, Ellen Turner and Helen Ashe stopped by the mobile StoryCorps booth in Knoxville, where they talked about the origins of the Love Kitchen and the fact that not everyone appreciated their grand idea …