All Around the World…
It never ceases to amaze me the amazing generosity that people have towards our community at Love City. This can express itself in many different ways whether people donate fiscally, with their time, or through other resources. This has only become even more tangible as we now get to see 5-10 people a week coming to donate goods to Merriment. We get to see neighbors from near and far providing goods that help provide our neighbors with affordable items while simultaneously helping us raise money to support Mighty Oak. And some of these items come from further than just across town.
It was the first warm day of Spring and I was working at the thrift store, still getting stuff set up before we had ever opened. One of our team members was working outside and he came in and poked his head through the curtain of the front room to tell me that there was someone here that wanted to know what was going on in this building. Before I could even respond he had brought the stranger in to me and to my surprise it was a familiar face. An old friend that I had grown up with and lost connection too. He had been looking at a house around the corner and just happened to go for a walk around the block. He saw the mural and said he had to find out what was going on. After catching up I told him about the thrift shop and what all the proceeds go to and about all the different aspects of Love City. He was hooked. He couldn’t believe so much was going on in this area of town that he thought had died. He wanted to help in whatever way he could.
Next thing I know he is bringing me carloads of donations for the thrift shop. He brought us donations from this friend and that friend and friends all the way from Virginia. One carload he brought me he told me to really look at carefully, it was donations from his girlfriend who was originally from Poland. He had told her about what we were doing and she wanted to support however she could. So she donated some of her clothes, beautiful high quality European fabric that she wanted to bless our community with. And it’s not just them. There is the North Carolina boutique owner who met Shawn and Inga and gave them a vanload of beautiful dresses for us to sell. There is the Nicholasville boot store that donated us several hundred pairs of boots to sell. There is Epiphany Catholic who filled an entire Uhaul with their congregation’s donations. It is people in Portland, Louisville, across the country, and even from overseas.
It is overwhelming, with tens of thousands of thrift shops in our country and people trust us and believe in us enough to give us their items, items that contain memories for them and that hold stories. They believe in us enough to share those things and allow us to give them a second life. It seems crazy, but that is how the Kingdom works, that is how community works. When people hear about the power of community and the real change that it can produce, they can’t help but want to get involved. It is how the world is really supposed to work, with resources shared. It is the same thing seen in the early church. In Acts 4-6 when people are giving everything they have to the apostles, not to make the apostles rich, but so that it could be distributed to each as was needed. In the letters to the Corinthians when there is a collection raised for Jerusalem thousands of miles away. It is community giving, resource sharing, and it is bigger than our neighborhood and our city, it is all across God’s Kingdom, from all around the world.
Ethan
Fish Fry OPEN!!!
Stop by the Fish Fry to grab lunch, or bring the family for dinner. Churched Up Tots or a Fried Fish Sandwich. However you do it, We’d love to see you!!!
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.