New food pantry supports Knox’s fight against hunger

Lend-A-Hand Center and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kentucky have teamed up to create a new food and basic needs pantry in Walker, Kentucky. The facility will support families struggling to afford healthy, nutritious meals or to access diapers, household items, or cleaning supplies. UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kentucky has funded the project with $12,000.

According to the latest data from Feeding America, the food insecurity rate in Knox County, Kentucky is 20.5%, with over 6,000 people not having access to a reliable source of food. This food insecurity rate is 7 and 8 percentage points higher than the Kentucky and national averages, respectively.

Knox County has a poverty rate of 34% and a child poverty rate of 47.5% and Stinking Creek, where the pantry is located, is one of its poorest areas. The county is categorized as “distressed” by the Appalachian Regional Commission as low educational attainment, poor health indicators, and lack of economic opportunity present struggles for individuals and families.

Good health encompasses more than visiting a doctor’s office. According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, nearly 80% of what influences a person’s health relates to nonmedical issues, such as access to food, transportation, and the financial means to pay for basic daily needs. For so many individuals and families, the current economic situation continues to affect their capacity to control costs, which impacts healthy behaviors and exacerbates disparities.

This is the first food and basic needs pantry in Stinking Creek. For more information and hours of operation, please visit www.lendahandcenter.org.

About The Lend-A-Hand Center

The Lend-A-Hand Center is a private, nonprofit community service organization located on a farm in southeastern Kentucky off the Cumberland Gap Parkway between the cities of Barbourville and Pineville. The Center began in 1958 as a result of a dream of Peggy Kemner, a nurse-midwife from Pennsylvania and Irma Gall, a school teacher and farmer from Indiana. Both women wanted to work with the people along Stinking Creek in Knox County, Kentucky, by utilizing good farming techniques, by the provision of medical services, by providing Sunday school and Day Camp programs for children in the area and by setting an example of Christian service and cooperation with one another.

Our campus consists of 500 acres of forest and farmland. Our main Center building was built in the 1960s and houses living quarters, a large kitchen and dining area, and volunteer space. The Center is a working farm with livestock, gardens, and a large stone barn and several outbuildings.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.6 million physicians and care professionals, and 8,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow UnitedHealthcare on LinkedIn.