From Roots to Roses de Nancy Herzberg

From Roots to Roses

Nancy Herzberg

Tilda Kemplen

en Limba Engleză Paperback – 30 oct 2012

Hailed in her native Campbell County, Tennessee, as the Mother Teresa of the coal country, Tilda Kemplen was a teacher, activist, and founder and executive director of Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers (MCCCDC). In recognition of her work on behalf of impoverished children and families in central Appalachia, Kemplen was presented in 1980 with the American Institute for Public Service s Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefi ting Local Communities.

Kemplen movingly describes her struggles to educate herself, her years as a teacher in rural schools and mining camps, and the establishment of MCCCDC. The book is more, however, than a catalog of Kemplen s accomplishments; it is a testament to the personal qualities that fueled them. Kemplen s straightforward observations on her life and work offer unique insight into a range of issues related to Appalachian and Native American life and culture."

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From Roots to Roses is the autobiography of teacher and activist Tilda Kemplen. Hailed in her native Tennessee as "the Mother Teresa of the coal country", Kemplen is founder and executive director of Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers (MCCCDC). For almost two decades, MCCCDC has responded to the needs of impoverished central Appalachia through its child care, education, health, nutrition, and economic and agricultural development programs. In a region where such enterprises routinely fail--and where unemployment rarely falls below fifty percent--MCCCDC has succeeded by fostering community involvement in its undertakings. This approach has helped restore esteem and self-reliance to a despondent populace and has also ensured MCCCDC of a degree of autonomy in its operations. In recognition of her achievements, Kemplen was presented in 1980 with the American Institute for Public Service's Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities. Tilda Kemplen was born into a coal-mining family and married a miner. She knew how crippling the work could be, in more than one sense and to more than just the miners. Long before the incorporation of MCCCDC in 1973, long before the "bottom dropped out" of coal markets and the mines began shutting down for good, Kemplen was already committed to her vision of a better life for miners and their families--especially the children. From Roots to Roses follows the gradual flowering of that vision from Kemplen's early struggles to educate herself through her years as an elementary and special-education teacher in rural schools and mining camps; from the establishment of MCCCDC's daycare program to the expansion ofthe organization's services to involve the area's Native Americans and to include adult activities. The book is more, however, than a catalog of Kemplen's accomplishments; it is a testament to the personal qualities that fueled them. Kemplen's straightforward observations on her life and work offer an understanding of a range of topics related to Appalachian and Native American culture, government and private relief programs, education, religion, family life, and women's issues.