COMMUNITY CLEAN UP DAY...
Over the years we have had many volunteers that have come through Love City. They have come from as far away as California and as close as next door. When we do orientation sessions for volunteers we always stress the importance of neighbors coming together to love each other and change our city. This past week we hosted teams of volunteers again for the first time since COVID. This is spring break season and even though our school is still in session for another week, other schools and colleges around the country are off this week and some decided to take a trip to volunteer rather than the traditional hitting the beach spring break trip.
In 2019 we hosted a group from Joplin Missouri associated with College Heights Christian Church. Joplin is also home to Ozark College, so a majority of those coming with College Heights attended Ozark. This week, College Heights was back. Every day this week we had groups of 10 -20
college age students come down to Love City and do everything from construction projects, to deep cleaning of our facilities to picking up trash in the neighborhood. On Wednesday this week, in addition to College Heights, we also had a group of 35 middle schoolers from the youth group associated with Memphis Christian Church in Memphis Indiana. We decided to pull the teams together to tackle a larger project while we had the manpower.
Trash on the streets has been a problem in Portland since before Shawn and I moved down here. It’s not always the local residents that cause the issue either. Phantom dumping and homeless camps on the edge of the neighborhood cause a lot of the trash that blows through
the streets. People who don’t live in the neighborhood routinely come down and dump their trash in the alleys in Portland, leaving a mess for the property owners here to clean up.
On Sunday Shawn and I were driving home, coming down off the ramp to Portland Ave from 64 and we spotted Judy out by the Welcome to Portland sign at the entrance to the neighborhood. Judy and her husband Gary have lived in the neighborhood for decades and are members of the local neighborhood
association called Portland Now Inc. They have tirelessly worked for the betterment of the neighborhood. We pulled over to chat with Judy. She was surveying the trash around the sign and contemplating trying to talk to the city again to try to get it cleaned up. “Well,” Shawn said, “I’ve got a group of 35 people coming on Wednesday, why don’t we come out here and clean all this up?” “That would be amazing,” Judy responded. “Why don’t you meet us at Porkland on Wednesday morning when the group arrives and you can let us know what areas you’d like to get cleaned up,” Shawn replied. Judy thanked us and said she would see us Wednesday morning.
Wednesday came, and even though the forecast called for rain in the afternoon, we still gathered in the Porkland parking lot to get ready to go out to clean up. We had the group of middle schoolers from Memphis, the group of college students from Joplin, Judy arrived along with some other members of PNI to help out, Ms. Sharon from across the street from Mighty Oak came over, Kim our new Admin assistant at Mighty Oak and her dad Larry were there and our middle school class from Mighty Oak also
came over for the day to help clean up their own neighborhood. It was a beautiful picture of community near and far coming together.
The teams set off to pick up trash all around the “official” entrance to Portland at the exit to 64 around the Welcome to Portland sign. It’s a busy intersection with hundreds of cars passing by every day. As the team picked up trash along the roadsides, cars drove by honking, and shouting their thanks as they
made their way through the intersection. Judy had even gone over to the few tents of people living under the overpass to let them know we would be out cleaning up today and that we would have a lot of kids with us picking up trash so we wouldn’t mess with them and asked them not to mess with us. It was truly a tapestry of community coming together to love one another. I drove through the same intersection today coming back from a meeting and was able to admire the green grass and flowers popping up on the roadside free from trash and debris.
Right around noon we had a short down pour, and the teams raced over to Porkland for lunch just in the nick of time to avoid being really soaked. Our Middle schoolers ate lunch with the middle schoolers from Memphis Indiana and then went back to school just in time for afternoon math class. They were beaming when they came into the building, all still wearing their pick up gloves and talking about what a great time they had cleaning up their own neighborhood. It was a fulfilling sight to see for me and Shawn as we watched our neighbors be empowered with resources and tools to uplift their own neighborhood. Equip the saints to do the work.
The middle school group from Memphis Indiana
While we may have some new menu items like burgers and rolled oysters, fish is still king! Come by and grab some fish today for lunch or dinner!
2519 St Cecilia St
Monday - Thursday 11am - 2pm
Friday 11am - 7pm
www.porklandbbq.com
PARTNER WITH US
At Love City we believe in time, talent and treasure.
Mighty Oak Academy Amazon Wish List
We've started the new semester and our supplies of snacks and breakfast items are running low. You can find some on our Amazon wish list, but if you make a grocery run or Sam's club/Costco run and can pick up an extra box of any of the following we would appreciate it!
Granola bars
Yogurt cups or GoGurt
cereal
Veggie Straws
Goldfish/CheezIts
If you would like to partner with the school, you can visit our Amazon wish list and purchase items to ship directly to the school. Visit this link to view the list: https://a.co/77dqBIT
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.
Please consider partnering financially with Love City. We are looking for sponsors for students at Mighty Oak Academy as well as partners to help fund construction of our new preschool. Click the button below to donate today.