Each year, Love Your Neighbor embraces a theme that guides our staff and volunteers in how we serve. This year, we are called to love like Jesus. Love Your Neighbor strives to do exactly that. We can often and easily be caught up in who deserves our time and our love, but as Christians, our calling is simple: to love others freely, unconditionally, and without hesitation.
Love Your Neighbor started out offering rides to medical appointments for community members back in 1984, and quickly found a greater need in our community. Today, Love Your Neighbor and our community partners provide our neighbors with a long list of services. From providing medical equipment like wheelchairs and walkers, to hosting five Life Skills Programs that offer weekly groceries, vouchers, budgeting skills, and community support, Love strives to create a space where everyone’s needs are met and all have the opportunity to thrive.
When we love like Jesus, we are opened up to opportunities we would typically shy away from. We volunteer at a place we have never served at before, we have a conversation with someone we would usually avoid, or something as simple as buying someone else’s coffee at the drive thru window. This theme is not only a challenge to Love Your Neighbor as a whole, but to each and every person who walks through our doors, whether staff, volunteers, shoppers, or clients. We hope to spread the love and joy of our faith by serving others where they are at.
Our guiding Bible verse for this year’s theme comes from John 13:34-35, which reads, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” We are called to love our neighbors as Jesus loved us, and with more than 94,000 households in Ottawa and Kent county living in survival mode, unable to make ends meet, we need your help!
Love Your Neighbor functions as a bridge, offering services and connecting other organizations with those in need. We are a volunteer run organization, and are always looking for more helping hands to serve our local community, as the needs of our neighbors are ever growing. We have a multitude of ways to use your talents, with over thirty-five ways to volunteer, we can find the perfect fit for you!
Reach out to [email protected] to start living into this theme, today!