LOVE and SERVE with the heart posture of Christ!

What is the mission of your company or project?

Love Your (Thy) Neighbor’s mission is to encounter, embrace, and LOVE people as Jesus does, individually and as they are! Our mission is to encounter individuals “where they are” and serve in any way possible. Through our programs and services, we aim to serve people on an individual basis, without judgment, or bias, and attempt to meet immediate needs while working to establish self-independence and self-sufficiency through long-term community-based referral programs.  

Describe the problem you are solving.

In true humility and transparency, I can’t confidently state we are “solving” any problems/issues; however, we ARE taking an ACTIVE approach to ACKNOWLEDGE that there are problems and issues currently plaguing our communities. At Love Your (Thy) Neighbor we recognize the NEED to be proactively involved with our fellow neighbors during the good, bad, and the “ugly” (problems of society). We recognize that we all encounter times of grief, lack, failure, mistakes, loss—times of struggle, defeat, which of all often trickle into what society often defines as “problems”.

Our goal at LTN is to embrace individuals where they are, working to help them through whatever “problems” they are currently enduring. We work often with individuals who are seeking immediate help and often find they are at “a loss” after contacting other local businesses and non-profit organizations. Our program is unique in that we don’t make individuals seeking services “jump through all the hoops” in order to receive help. Our goal is to embrace the individual, SEE THEM, HEAR THEM, and work to SERVE THEM. Many of the problems we tackle pertain to homelessness, working with families to establish safe living conditions for their families (including assisting with domestic violence) job placement, transportation assistance, financial assistance within housing, utilities, and food, as well as working with incarcerated or recently incarcerated individuals to obtain identification, jobs, housing, and reintegration into society.

What is the market size/opportunity?

Opportunities to serve individuals “in need” or otherwise categorized as underserved, underprivileged populations seem to be almost endless. As many of you all have probably encountered and can testify, through those your organizations serve, there always seems to be more IN NEED than less. 

According to Washington State, Rural Resources (2022), programs and services that aim to support individuals and families within rural and underserved communities [in the state of Washington] “have their work cut out for them”. With a slated estimated population of roughly 7,512,465, and that’s just the rural communities of Washington State, opportunities to serve are endless!

On a more personal level, we are currently experiencing the reality that we don’t have enough resources to serve all those who need immediate assistance, resulting in the need to attempt to access outside funding resources. 

What is your company/product about and how does it solve the problem? 

At LTN we are about ENCOUNTERING individuals “where they are”, EMBRACING them “as they are” and working to SERVE them, as we are able. Our main goal is to encounter, embrace, and LOVE our neighbors as Jesus did when he was on earth. The LOVE, compassion, empathy, and embrace of Jesus is still very much alive and apart of the world that we all live within. Often times, the hustle and bustle of life becomes overwhelming, and we all forget that WE are ALL just people. We forget to encounter one another with empathy, grace, and with a heart posture of love, compassion, and brother/sisterhood. 

Our mission at LTN is to treat each individual we come in contact with as brothers and sisters in Christ, without judgement, bias, and without ego. We want nothing in return for serving and helping when and where we can. Our reality remains [one of humble, Christ-centered & Holy Spirit driven] our efforts aren’t being executed with the agenda to “solve the problem” instead, we strive to Love our neighbor one at a time, working towards bettering the ‘problem climate’ that continues to plague our world. 

Why are you seeking funding and how will you spend the funding?

We are currently seeking funding resources for LTN programs and services because to date, we have yet to receive grant or donation funding from outside sources, resulting in our organization being at risk of being discontinued. Any and all acquired funds will be applied directly to LTN programs with the agenda to help as many individuals as possible. Currently, we are in desperate need of funding to support and grow our team of employees. As much as we appreciate and take great pride in those who continue to work with us to advance our mission within the community (without compensation or recognition), the reality remains that even those wanting to serve, help and donate/volunteer of themselves for the progression and building-up of others, it is unethical for us to continue to ask our current staff to give of themselves and their families resources without offering them compensation to meet their primary/essential needs. Our staff members and their families have primary and immediate needs as we all do, continuing to work as they have up until now, we fear they will be forced to utilize programs and services like those we offer, and this is not the way to combat “the problems” we been referring to throughout this campaign.

Positioning ourselves on a stronger financial foundation would also enable us to professionally market our programs and services digitally, through marketing materials, host community events and work towards our goals of establishing community partnerships with other like-minded organizations with hopes to maximizing our services to as many as possible, while establishing professional relationships with other community organizations that work to assist our target demographic. This will not only allow us to work more effectively within our industry, but it will link like-organizations with hopes of establishing a referral chain within the community that enables those utilizing our services to gain access to other organizations that may be effective in helping them achieve their short and long-term goals.

Lastly, it is with great faith we declare to receive funding for LTN programs, present-day but also for years to come. It is our prayer to be able to receive the financial backing needed to launch us into an established organization that will be able to confidently forecast the next 2-5 years of innovative, effective, and progressive, consistent programs the community can rely on.

Who is on your team?

Currently, our team consists of Trina Cooper, founder and Executive Director of Love Your (Thy) Neighbor and Administrative Assistant/College Intern, Heaven Jackson. Both members of the team have dedicated endless volunteer hours working to serve the Eastern Washington underserved communities in need and continue to utilize personal resources (vehicles, computers, phones, financial resources-Ex. Director) to ensure needs are being met when and where able. 

The LTN team has worked endlessly over the past 1.5 years to serve communities without outside funding sources but realize, it does indeed take a village. For programs and services to remain active, LTN find themselves in immediate need of assistance to maintain and advance efforts to help those in need.

From the bottom of our hearts with the love of Jesus, we thank you! 

How do you thank someone who SEES beyond the surface, beyond all “the hoops” and SEES YOU for what you truly are, and not for what society labels and categorizes you as? I’m not sure there is a way to put into words the gratitude that is felt when one is received and accepted, “where they are” without judgement, bias, and without leaving feelings of shame and defeat. Being able to help those in need, especially when it’s done from a genuine, loving heart posture without seeking recognition or something in return; this is the LOVE of Christ. 

To all of you who have taken the time to learn a bit more about Love Your (Thy) Neighbor, who we are, what we’re about, and our efforts [and desires to maintain & advance our efforts] to spread the love of Christ through serving and helping our neighbors, according to Jesus instruction, “This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12). We thank you with abundant gratitude, humility, and LOVE.

To those who feel compelled to help and are willing and able to do so, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You need to know you’re not just “doing a good thing”, you’re not just “paying it forward,” you’re leading our industry by helping other organizations (in need) establish a stronger foundation to stand on so that they may continue to implement their organizations mission within the community but you’re embracing the Love of Jesus Christ, obeying his word, giving of yourself to build up others; This isn’t just the start of solving the problems that plague our nation, it’s a gesture of compassion, a LOVE that ignites healing, hope, and progression. It’s also a domino effect that continues to tackle the problems we all face, one individual at a time. 

Thank you!