To Lend A Hand: A History and Analysis of the Lend-A-Hand Center in the Stinking Creek Community of Knox County, Kentucky

This thesis documents the history of the Lend-A-Hand Center, Inc., a nonprofit community service provider in Knox County, Kentucky, that has served the Stinking Creek watershed since 1958. The brainchild and lifework oftwo women from the North, Irma Gall and Peggy Kemner, the Center has had a significant impact on the Stinking Creek community. With an original mission "to lend a hand," the Center provided a wide variety of services-ranging from medical to agricultural and beyond-including Sunday school services, volunteer opportunities, and programs for both children and adults. The Center has made an important contribution to the discourse on the history of nonprofits in eastern Kentucky. The rich history of the Center demonstrates how service providers can impact local communities. The exemplary work ofthe Center and its impact on the local community, the influence of a particular philosophy about poverty and uplift work, the web of affiliations that affected the work ofthe Center, the central role of women and women's empowerment in the history of the organization, and the great potential for the future of the Center and organizations like it in Appalachia are explored through this analysis.