Mayor Madeline Rogero served as Honorary Chair of Volunteer Ministry Center's Carry the Torch event today at the Knoxville Convention Center.

The event included a Mission Fair and featured speaker Jeannette Walls, author of the book The Glass Castle, for the event's luncheon.

The Glass Castle has been a New York Times best-seller for more than three years and has sold 2.5 million copies in the U.S. alone. It was named one of the "Top 10 Books of the Decade" by Amazon, and has won numerous awards including the Christopher Award, the American Library Association's Alex Award, and the Books for Better Living Award.

For more information about Jeannette Walls please visit http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Jeannette-Walls/19723841

The Volunteer Ministry Center is a non-profit, interfaith agency serving the poor and homeless of Knoxville. Our mission is to facilitate permanent supportive housing for those who are homeless and to provide services to prevent homelessness. The Volunteer Ministry Center helps people find their way out of homelessness by offering “tough love” programs that work. It’s not enough to meet the basic needs of food and shelter. Real progress means that people face their problems and overcome them. It means that they set goals and achieve them – and in a timely manner. It means that they are held accountable.  The work of The Volunteer Ministry Center has one purpose - to help our clients achieve housing and a higher level of self-sufficiency so that they are no longer homeless.

For more information about the Volunteer Ministry Center please visit http://www.vmcinc.org.