About Us

WELCOME TO HAND UP FOR WOMEN!

Thanks for visiting our website! Hand Up For Women has been serving ladies in the Knox County area since 2003. We strive to be a source of hope to those with the desire and motivation to pursue a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Hand Up for Women is a life-management and career-readiness ministry that brings dignity, self-confidence and hope to women who might otherwise remain trapped in addiction, abuse, poverty, and despair. We provide long-term, healthy friendships, and a year-long series of twice-weekly classes that teach women to realize their full potential in every area of life. Because of the long-term investment in their lives made by all those involved in Hand UP for Women, participants find and own the personal strength and courage to achieve self-reliance helping them become who God created them to be.

MORE ABOUT US…

Founded in 1996, we are a response to the overwhelming number of women living in poverty and on public assistance because they had no support to do differently. We provide those support systems and more. We keep our classes small in order to make an individual investment in each participant’s life.

Our graduates have told us that our series of Life Management, Career-Readiness, and Spiritual Development classes helped them to become more personally strong and self-sufficient in every aspect of life. The relationships they form with their mentor provide them with a supportive friendship that is a source of encouragement, consistency, and accountability…something most never experienced. Our instructors and volunteers model unconditional love and acceptance to our women, and teach them about God’s pursuit of them.

Some of the life changes we have witnessed include ending dependency on public assistance in favor of satisfying employment leading to a career. Leaving unhealthy relationships and making wiser personal choices. Achieving and maintaining sobriety from addiction. Regaining custody of their children or reconciling with their spouse or family. Becoming homeowners who actively participate in church and community. And returning to Hand UP For Women to support and mentor other women through our alumni group, HUGS – Hand Up Graduates in Service.

I often tell our participants that to change their lives permanently, they must find a new playground with new playmates. I hope you will check back often to see what happens when both are provided for them, here at Hand UP For Women.

Eva Pierce, Executive Director