A Legacy of Love: The story of The Love Kitchen

The humble beginnings of twins Helen Liddell Ashe and Ellen Liddell Turner began in Abbeville, South Carolina in 1928.

“When I start thinking about the wonderful parents that we had, it just makes me happy all over. We had a wonderful childhood, didn’t we? Our parents were talented people. Daddy could make anything, repair anything. Mama could cut clothes. She made our clothes without a pattern," said Helen Ashe, co-founder of The Love Kitchen. 

Given their upbringing, the twins learned at an early age the meaning of a hard day’s work.

The Liddell family were sharecroppers. They worked in the field, grew their own food and raised their own livestock. 

Normally well-behaved, Helen and Ellen were known to get into a little mischief from time to time.

“We decided that we were going to go back and see what Pa was drinking. He’d smack his lips like it was good. We drank that stuff, and it made us drunk. Mama got onto us, and didn’t we get a whipping? We really got it.” said Ellen Turner, co-founder of The Love Kitchen. 

Helen and Ellen graduated high school in 1946. Their parents gave them bus tickets to Knoxville as a graduation present. Before leaving, the twins’ father also gave them three pieces of advice:

1. There is only one Father and that is the Father in Heaven. 
2. There is only one race, the human race. 
3. Never take the last piece of bread. Someone may come by in need of it.

With these things in mind, the sisters departed for Knoxville.

The twins attended Knoxville College and earned their nursing certifications. Helen and Ellen then began their careers at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. 

During her time at the hospital, Helen would often notice that some E.R. patients could not afford food while waiting to see a doctor. She took it upon herself to purchase meals from the cafeteria out of her own pocket to feed the hungry in the waiting room. It was this generosity that sparked the idea that would eventually become The Love Kitchen.

Helen retired from the hospital on May 10, 1984. The following night, she watched a news story about a soup kitchen at the Church Street United Methodist Church. 

Inspired by the story, Helen would frequently tell Ellen about her desire to follow her passion and help the less fortunate. It came to the point when Ellen had to tell Helen to “shut up about this or do it.” So, Helen did.

On Valentine’s day in 1986, Helen and Ellen officially opened The Love Kitchen in the basement of the Bethel A.M.E. Zion Church on Parkview Avenue. 22 people were served.

By the following year, the Love Kitchen expanded to over a dozen volunteers and over 300 meals prepared weekly. 100 of which were delivered to area sick or shut-ins. They served everyone, no questions asked. They provided clothing and began an emergency medical fund for those in the community that needed it. All on a $100-a-week budget.

“A lot of people have been laid off and have profited from this pantry. We would just like to thank the community for being so supportive of this too, because it has helped a lot of people,"  Ashe said. 

Helen and Ellen kept serving the community out of the Bethel location until the summer of 1991. By that time, their clientele had grown to over 800 people per week and The Love Kitchen became its own incorporated entity. 

Due to this fact, the Bethel A.M.E. Zion Church board mandated a new set of rules that The Love Kitchen was expected to follow. Helen and Ellen felt this was unreasonable, and The Love Kitchen was forced out.

“The church and The Love Kitchen are in the same business: to serve God and to serve people, so I don’t understand the politics behind it," said Dhyana Ziegler, a Love Kitchen board member. 

Reverend George White of Bethel A.M.E. Zion felt that the church was left with no choice. 

“If people would just go ahead and live by the rules that the church has established, everything would be fine. If you want to make your own rules, what choice do we have," White said. 

The sisters were undeterred.

“Regardless of what we have to do, our home-bound people and our walk-in recipients will not go lacking for food. We will find a way. God will make a way for us," Ashe said. 

Helen and Ellen indeed found a way. The week after leaving the church, The Love Kitchen held a picnic lunch, but would soon find a temporary serving location.

For the remainder of 1991, The Love Kitchen served out of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA, but the sisters still needed a permanent place to serve their community.  

Helen and Ellen’s prayers were answered when the owners of Coleman’s Printing and Awards on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue offered to sell the sisters their building for only one dollar. Hellen and Ellen accepted, but the building needed renovations and funding. 

In February of 1992, Helen and Ellen took out a year-long lease at a temporary location on McCalla Avenue.

In the years following their move to McCalla, The Love Kitchen received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to renovate their new headquarters. By late 1995, the new home for The Love Kitchen was almost ready to open.

“Where we are now, we are operating from a closet. You can’t know what it feels like to be in this much space,” Turner said. 

People of all ages from the community came out to help put the finishing touches on the new Love Kitchen.

“Isn’t it wonderful? All these kids could be watching cartoons or anything, but they’re here. God is blessing all of us,” Ashe said. 

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1996, the new building was finally ready. A decade after their journey began, Helen and Ellen finally had a permanent home for their mission. 

Since their work began, the sisters were frequently honored on a local level, but now, they were starting to get national attention. 

In April of 1996, Helen and Ellen received the Publisher’s Clearing House Good as Gold Award on The Sally Jesse Raphael Show.

With things settled in their new home, the Love Kitchen now served thousands of people a week.

In 2001, Helen and Ellen opened a community center above the kitchen to offer training classes and be a haven for Knoxville's underprivileged children.

“We’re going to bring kids in for some training. Teaching them some of the basic skills they need to know, and these kids will have a quiet place to study. We’re excited about it because it’s going to help so many people and touch so many lives,” Ashe said. 

With the completion of the 5,600-square-foot community center came the accomplishment of honoring their family.

“One of the things we often think about is how hard our great-grandparents worked. This is our way of saying thank you so much,” Ashe said. 

In 2011, after 25 years, the twins and The Love Kitchen were still going strong. That’s when Helen and Ellen got the call of a lifetime: the opportunity to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

The sisters took off to Chicago to see the daytime talk show queen and were given the VIP treatment as soon as they landed at the Chicago airport.

After an evening at the Four Seasons, Helen and Ellen were ready for their moment in the spotlight.

Helen and Ellen received a large donation while on the show, but the biggest treat was meeting Oprah herself.

The twins were soon back in Knoxville, and back to making a difference.

“It was wonderful, marvelous, and I enjoyed every moment of it. It’s beautiful up here and everything and everyone’s been just wonderful, but there’s no place like home,” Ashe said. 

In 2011, Helen’s home was in disrepair after living with Ellen for the past 11 years. After giving so much to the people of Knoxville, the community came together to give back to the founders of The Love Kitchen.

“I’ve watched these ladies for years and years and years and they’ve given to the community and asked for nothing in return. I can’t cook, and they can’t fix houses, so we’re going to keep doing what we can do so they can keep doing what they do,” said Mike Stevens, owner of Mike Stevens Homes. 

Volunteers worked on their home from top to bottom. The sisters went shopping for new beds and were given all-new appliances, countertops, cabinets and new flooring. 

“I can’t believe we’re finally getting to this point. We’ve planned about it and talked about it. So much has gone into this from the community and the homebuilder’s association, that I’m just so happy to see it actually getting started and us going down this road of actually getting this house fixed up,” said Patrick Riggins, Director of The Love Kitchen. 

After weeks of repairs, Helen and Ellen’s new home was complete.

The twins crossed the threshold for the first time and were taken aback by the efforts of the community they had served for the last two and a half decades.

“It was a dream that it was complete. I had to walk around for a while to absorb this beautiful house,” Ashe said. 

For the first time in 11 years, Helen Ashe could sleep in her home. A home that love built.

For the next four years, things were business as usual for Helen and Ellen, and The Love Kitchen served up to 3,000 meals a week.

“This wonderful organization keeps growing, keeps growing, keeps growing, and we want to keep up with the growth,” Ashe said. 

However, on April 22, 2015, Ellen Turner passed away with her family by her side. She was 87 years old.

“Although we lost an angel here on earth, heaven has gained a beautiful angel. She has been so much more to me than just an Aunt. The same thing their father taught them. They passed along to us,” said Jacoby Yarbro, Ellen's great-nephew. 

Governor Bill Haslam recalled his favorite memory of Ellen. 

“The day after I had been elected mayor, Helen and Ellen told me that every young, white mayor needs two Black grandmothers, and we’re yours. So, if you ever need help, you call us,” Haslam said. 

Ellen Turner’s funeral was held at Sevier Heights Baptist church. Through song, scripture and prayer, friends and family gathered to say farewell.

Inseparable since birth, Helen was at Ellen’s side during the proceedings.

Following their loss, the staff and volunteers of The Love Kitchen kept Ellen’s spirit alive by continuing the work she and Helen began nearly three decades prior.

“She inspired us. She’s our inspiration. This was their dream and they worked really hard to make it come true. I don’t ever want to see this stop. I want to come until I can’t come anymore. I think everyone else feels that some way,” said Mary Kerr, a Love Kitchen volunteer. 

Once again, the community came to the aid of the Love Kitchen. Teaming up with the Tennessee Smokies baseball team, the Home Run for Helen baseball game promised 100% of proceeds from the game would be given to The Love Kitchen.

Helen Ashe remained a bright light at The Love Kitchen until 2018. 

Helen Ashe died on February 13, 2018, on the eve of The Love Kitchen’s 32nd anniversary. She was 89 years old.

Helen’s funeral service was held at 5th Avenue Baptist Church, right around the corner from the kitchen.

“She put so many people before her. Helen and Ellen both. Now she’s being honored in heaven by the savior himself,” Riggins said. 

Today, The Love Kitchen is standing strong and keeping the memories of Helen and Ellen alive by still serving thousands of meals per week to those that need them.

“This is really a community institution started by the sisters out of the kindness of their heart. Out of love. That’s why it’s called The Love Kitchen. They provide a great service. They give people hope,” said Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. 

The Love Kitchen is now in the hands of Executive Director Martin Riggins, brother of former director Patrick Riggins who died in 2021. 

“What we do, I think it’s special. There’s a lot of places in Knoxville that serve, but the sisters did it in a way that was very human-focused. You saw the love they had for the people,” Riggins said. 

“There’s just so much love. That’s what keeps you going. We say God sent two of us to take care of The Love Kitchen because there’s so much to do,” Turner said.