Director, Jenni Hypes

Love INC amidst Covid-19

OUR WORLD HAS BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN…
My husband and I have always enjoyed sitting outside and watching the rain roll in from across the fields around our house. Before you can even see the rain, you notice a change. The temperature usually drops a bit, the breeze picks up, the leaves on the trees turn over, and I can usually even smell the rain in the air. You can just tell it is going to rain. And then, as predicted, the clouds roll in and we see the rain starting to fall over the fields as it makes its way toward us.

At the beginning of March 2020, Love INC found ourselves in a similar situation. I kept an ear to the news and listened for updates on COVID-19 and how it was impacting communities around the world. As the virus started to show itself on American soil, we took note of communities being impacted, families being asked to stay at home, and places of work being shut down. As the storm began to head to Marion, we braced ourselves for what we predicted would happen.

As predicted, Ohio (and Marion) was greatly impacted by the virus but we had worked together and managed to slow things down and “flatten the curve”. Many businesses, schools, and churches slowed down or closed temporarily, and many individuals were laid off from their jobs or asked to work from home. 

Because of our work supplying food and other resources for our community, Love INC was qualified as an essential service. As director of Love INC, I had concerns about how we would be able to continue to serve our community when the needs would inevitably increase dramatically, and yet our number of volunteers would undoubtedly decrease. As the shutdowns started, we braced for impact.

QUIET BEFORE THE STORM
As one week turned into the next, we kept reviewing what was happening around us. None of our predictions came true. It was quite the opposite really.

CALLS FOR HELP…
Our neighbors call the Love INC Clearinghouse (Call Center) for help and are able to leave voicemail for us 24×7 if we aren’t able to answer the call in person. Prior to Covid-19 hitting our community, we would likely have on average 20-25 calls on our voicemail from the weekend. However, we were seeing 3-6 calls over a 3-day weekend.

Calls for Emergency Food boxes through our partners at Emanuel Lutheran Church and Cornerstone Alliance dropped dramatically. Calls for Gas Vouchers, through our partners at Prospect Street United Methodist Church, were nearly non-existent because nobody was going anywhere. Requests for our Diaper Ministry, through our partners at First Presbyterian Church, remained somewhat steady but declined as well.

TRENDS LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY
During this time, none of the Love INC staff, board, nor volunteers, were sitting on our hands waiting for things to go back to normal. We continued to serve and sought out new opportunities to minister as we pivoted into our new reality.

Our CommUNITY Collaborative meetings actually increased from monthly to biweekly meetings as Love INC helped Marion’s community agencies and organizations work together to address new needs during this time. In many ways, our community worked together better than ever before! Our board and its committees continued to meet via Zoom as we continued to work on fundraising, growing our Transformational Ministry program, and strengthening our affiliate. We established a growing Mask Ministry that donated masks for our neighbors being served by several of our community partners. 

NEW TRENDS

Many of our community partners saw the same trends in fewer requests for help that we saw at Love INC Marion AND these same trends were also predominant in other Love INCs across America. (About the only exception was when a Love INC affiliate provided the primary or sole food pantry in their community. In that case, they oftentimes increased their call volume and had fewer volunteers available to manage the requests.) Due to the extra unemployment benefits, stimulus packages, bonuses, and more, requests and needs indeed changed. 

While the calls for material goods and financial assistance in Marion decreased dramatically, the need for Love INC did not decrease. Marion and other communities saw a dramatic increase in cases of abuse, depression, anxiety, suicide, loneliness, and other areas related to mental health.

We worried about families that assumed incorrectly that “no evictions or shut-offs” during this time means they “don’t have to pay rent or utilities” during this time. Some misspent their “extra” financial relief assistance on other things. We knew a time would come when landlords and utility companies would have to ask for payments again.

As mentioned earlier in this post, we could see the rainstorm coming. These storms can be scary, but they can also be a healthy part of growth. During this particular storm, we nurtured relationships and programs that were healthy for growth and we pruned areas that were no longer needed so we could focus our engergies on areas that were critical.  

Love INC is grateful for the support of our community, our financial supporters, our churches with Gap Ministries that continued to serve and our partner churches for your continued financial and prayer support. Thanks to you we were able to continue to meet our community’s needs, even as those needs were continuously changing. Thanks to you, we were able to continue ministry in our community and we could to pay our bills. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU.

How and Why does Love INC work?


Please call Love INC at 740-382-3340 or email mail@loveincmarion.org if you have further questions.


 

Frequently Asked Questions…


How does Love INC work?

Love INC takes a “clearinghouse” approach. All resources and calls for help are funneled through our local clearinghouse. Here requests are screened and matched with the most appropriate sources for help.

 

Why does Love INC work?

There is an untapped army of volunteers in local churches who are ready, willing, and able to build relationships with those in need. Love INC gives safe, manageable, and specific opportunities to put their Christian faith and love to work.

 

 


 

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“…making Marion a better place to live, work, and learn.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if all the organizations in Marion would just work together? This is a phrase I’ve heard a number of times and even uttered myself in the past couple of years that I’ve served as executive director at Love INC. As we’ve met with leaders of other organizations, agencies, ministries, and other grassroots efforts in Marion, the thought has been echoed throughout our conversations. 
We are happy to announce that the Marion community IS solving that concern! Love INC is now co-hosting monthly meetings for a group called the CommUNITY Collaborative. This group is open to anyone that is interested in working with others to improve communication, educate one another on details of our organizations’ services and upcoming events, and to collaborate on addressing concerns within our community. We work together on community-wide projects. One of our early projects included establishing a single Marion County resource directory instead of each organization creating their own and expending their own manhours to keep them updated. We also coordinate county-wide family adoptions for holiday meals and gifts to avoid duplication and abuse of the programs. 

Our meetings are held on the 4th Tuesday of each month. These are informal meetings and we realize lunch is an important part of the day. Feel free to bring your lunch with you and prepare to meet some new faces as we network together to make Marion even better!

Monthly emails are sent to subscribers. These emails contain announcements and flyers from our community agencies and organizations and include meeting dates, times, and locations.

 

SIGN UP to receive CommUNITY Collaborative emails.

We share community resources and flyers online. Connect with us on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/MarionCommUNITYCollaborative/

We hope to see you soon!

Our Core Values

 

    • Christian
    • Prayer
    • People in Need
    • Unity
    • Transformation
    • Churches
    • Relationships
    • Connectedness
    • Excellence
    • Maturing

What We Value Speaks Volumes


Love INC Core Values

We believe that people are transformed from the inside out and our Core Values guide us. The Love INC ministry provides holistic help, respect for each person served, involvement of churches, connection, and prayer; all while striving for excellence! Our #1 core value is to be true to who we claim to be: Christian.

  • We are a Christian ministry. Everything we think, say, and do is In the Name of Christ.
  • Prayer is an integral part of who we are.
  • We follow Christ’s example in valuing people in need.
  • We value unity in the Body of Christ (a unity of purpose in serving our neighbors in need.)
  • We value transformation in the lives of people and our community.
  • We value churches living out the two Great Commandments, to love  God and love their neighbors.
  • We value building Christ-like relationships.
  • We value connectedness in the Love INC Movement.
  • We model excellence.
  • We value continually maturing in capacity to meet people’s needs.

At Love INC Marion, our core values drive every aspect of our ministry. Before we create new partnerships, ministries, or processes, we pause and ask a few critical questions. First, do they line up with our mission? And, secondly, do they align with our values? 

 

 

Love In the Name of Christ

Serving Marion County Since 1991


Our History

 

In 1990, several ministers were concerned about the many people stopping at their churches asking for aid. This began a search for information about a program called Love In the Name of Christ sponsored by World Vision. It took about a year to gather together interested people from at least 6 denominations to make the program a reality in Marion.

On February 10, 1991, the dedication service was held at Salem UCC. When Love INC was organized, each member church had a lay person involved to take care of needs when the Love INC office contacted them. After several moves, many attempts at various ministries, and much help from the Love INC National headquarters, the Love INC office moved to its present location at 196 South Main Street in 2009. Despite hard economic times, it has continued to grow and meet the requirements of people in need in our community.

God continues to bless us as we look forward to becoming more involved in relational/transformational ministry – ministry characterized not only by hand-outs but by hand-ups as volunteers build trusting relationships with people in need, encourage and include them in the solution to their need, and allow the Holy Spirit to work to bring about physical and spiritual transformation.