With a pickup truck full of barrels of food and monetary donations in hand, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Parks and Recreation Director Doug Bataille arrived at The Love Kitchen today to deliver the contributions collected from the Holiday Festival of Lights. 

“The love kitchen does such good work for the people they serve, and I was honored to be a part of today’s delivery, but it is the generosity of the people of Knox County who really made it happen,” said Mayor Burchett.

Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner, the twin sisters who founded The Love Kitchen, accepted the donations with obvious delight. “Oh, you can’t imagine how many more people we can help with this,” said Helen.  “This is just such a blessing.”

Concord Park’s crew brought the food in large barrels, boxes, and even a couple of rain barrels they found to contain the overflow.  “I think this is one of the best years we’ve had,” said Troy Wilson, Crew Leader at Concord.  “Even with fewer nights because of the weather, this is the most food I’ve seen.” he added.

The Holiday Festival of Lights is a free event presented during December by the Parks and Recreation Department. Visitors are encouraged to donate items needed by The Love Kitchen to continue their mission of providing meals and emergency food packages to the homebound, homeless and unemployed. Today’s delivery is the result of that effort and included nearly 2,500 pounds of food and $2,582 in cash.

For more information on The Love Kitchen, visit www.thelovekitchen.org, or contact Knox County Parks and Recreation, 215-6600, www.knoxcounty.org/parks.