IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR..
Love City is now in it's 7th year and it's amazing what the community has accomplished during that time. Around New Years I was reflecting on the past seven years and all of the changes we have seen, all the people that we have and how the core identity of the community has deepened over time. I remembered a story from not long after Shawn and I moved to Portland that gave us a glimpse into the true heart of the community.
It was a Friday and it was early days at Love City. We had the fish fry happening in the back of the Mackin and a gym full of kids playing ball that afternoon. Shawn and I were in the back, he was at the fryers and I was at the counter taking orders. One of our very young, very new staff was working the front desk at open gym checking in kids. She rushed back to the fish fry to grab Shawn, saying she needed help up front there was a woman who had ran into the building off the street.
Shawn handed off the fryer and went to the front. This was prior to the renovation from a couple of years ago, so the open now foyer was still chopped up into sections. Hiding behind the short staircase between the gym and the access to the ballroom upstairs he found a woman huddled in a ball with nothing more than a t-shirt on her knees hugged against her chest rocking back and forth. "excuse me," he said, "is there anything we can do to help you?" he asked. The woman looked up and Shawn and the growing crowd of curious kids from the gym, clearly disoriented and dazed. Shawn quietly leaned over to Sopha, who was working the front desk, told her to call 911 and then see if we had any clothes from a recent donation that we could give her. Sopha came back a few minutes later with a pair of pants and larger t-shirt. The woman dressed and Shawn said, "how about we go sit on the front porch." They walked outside away from the prying eyes of all the kids straining their necks to see what was going on.
Once on the porch, the woman started to tell her story. She had been out a few evenings before with friends at a club in the Highlands. They had met some people and came back to a house here in the neighborhood, she wasn't sure where. She had been drugged and couldn't remember what had happened. She woke up that afternoon and ran out of the house she was in, she had no ID no clothes nothing she just ran. As she was running down the street she saw our sign at Love City and said she heard a voice that told her to run inside that she would be safe there.
As she was telling her story, Ms Sharon from across the street walked up with a bottle of water. "I saw you running down the street, I thought you might need some water."
About that same time, Kevin who lives around the corner came up and said, you look like you needed some food, I got you a fish sandwich from the fish fry."
The woman gratefully accepted both and started to eat. Shawn witnessed these exchanges and then asked the woman, "what would you like to do?" He had experience from previous encounters with people in the neighborhood, that sometimes if they hear sirens they panic and run, he wanted to make sure she felt safe enough to make decisions for herself.
"Well," she replied in between bites, I think maybe we should call the police. Not 30 seconds later the police pulled up into the driveway at Love City. An officer got out and walked up to Shawn and the woman. Shawn explained what had happened. The officer happened to be from Portland and waited while the woman finished her fish sandwich to take her to the hospital.
Fish Fry days at the Mackin.
That was the last that we saw of that woman. But looking back on it, even in the early days of Love City, the true colors of the community showed themselves. Even in the midst of what was then a crazy time on the streets, with frequent shootings, open drug use and prostitution the community loved on another. Love City didn't provide water or a fish sandwich, the neighbors in Portland did. When Shawn went up front to see what was going on, I stayed at the Fish Fry taking orders. I took Kevin's order when he came back and ordered two fish plates instead of his usual one. "There is someone out front that needs to eat," he said as he paid for both fish plates.
Seven years later the neighborhood might look different, the drug houses and brothels have been run off, but the way the neighbors love one another hasn't changed. If anything it's gotten deeper. We see it every time we have a school event and parents show up to help set up and run it, every time we have Tuesday night community dinner and members of the community come early to cook the food and set up, or bring desserts to share.
The goal of Love City has always been to equip the neighbors to build their own community. As we start our 8th year at Love City this fall we feel that we are entering a new phase of equipping, no longer do neighbors need reminding that they love one another, now they just need the resources to make it happen. Below you'll see a high level over view of the plans for Love City for the next few years, our focus areas, goals as well as our core guiding principles.
If you would like to be involved in the community whether through time, talent, or treasure, please reach out and we would love to get you plugged in. The journey is far from over, we're excited about this next phase of community!
Love CIty Strategic plan for next three years.
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.