“No matter the negatives going on around us, there are so many people who want to love and help others.” That message is what Tim Mettey, who works for the international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization Matthew 25: Ministries, has taken from the past year. His organization works alongside Bread of Life, which is run by community leader Pastor Rudy Rasmus.
In 2021, we highlighted organizations working to build community and help those in need in a video series in partnership with P&G called Leading with Love. In the past year, despite the mounting challenges presented by the pandemic, these individuals have continued to inspire others and be forces for good. To help usher in a new year, we reconnected with some of our previous participants and met with other community leaders to hear them reflect on the past year and to help inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
Emily Sproul, Shenandoah LGBTQ Center
Emily Sproul, whose LGBTQ+ community center provides a safe haven for queer teens in the Shenandoah Valley, says that the past year has taught her about the resilience of the community she has helped to build. Although the pandemic caused many LGBTQ+ communities to close their physical doors, Sproul explains that her center and others “pivoted and made sure the ‘virtual doors’ were open so that no one was left behind. That’s the magic and power of LGBTQ+ centers — they are the heart and soul of their communities — and through the power of technology, they’re now able to support even more people!” This support comes in the form of small initiatives like “Oreos for Allies,” which sent Pride Oreos to agencies serving the LGBTQ+ community, and initiatives with the potential for massive impact like “Hope House of the Shenandoah,” a pilot program intended to address homelessness among queer young adults. Sproul and her team have supported countless LGBTQ+ youths this year, and they don’t show any signs of slowing down.
Shane Garver and Crystal Chambers, Save the Children
Shane Garver has committed his life and career to help better the futures of young people. As the head of Save the Children’s education, protection, and resilience programs in the U.S., Garver has spent the last year adapting the organization’s early education and family engagement programs to better support children in some of the most isolated and impoverished communities in rural America. We also reconnected with one of Save the Children’s frontline workers, Crystal Chambers, who serves as the community engagement coordinator in Cocke County, TN, an area in the state with one of the highest levels of poverty and lowest levels of education. Says Garver, “Our frontline staff members, like Crystal, have continued to stay closely connected to families in their communities, meeting them where they are and filling critical gaps in services for kids as the pandemic persists.”
When asked whether a particular child in the program in eastern Kentucky, where Garver lives, made a real impression on him this year, he answered without hesitation: “A 6-year-old named Malachi was struggling with foundational reading skills when he entered our early learning programming before the pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve maintained regular check-ins with Malachi and his family, providing them with consistent educational resources and tools — including videos, activities, books, toys, and more — and helped him continue his learning progress. Malachi’s mom told us that, thanks to Save the Children, her son hasn’t missed out on learning opportunities during Covid and was more than ready for kindergarten this school year. She says Malachi ‘loves every minute’ of school.” Success stories like Malachi’s are what make Garver love going to work every day.
Breanna and Brooke Bennett, Women in Training
Breanna and Brooke Bennett, the teenage sisters we met last year whose organization Women in Training aims to eradicate period poverty by providing sanitary items for women in need, are optimistic about what they’ve accomplished in the past year. They established a leadership team with the intention of having their work spread by participating students after they graduate from high school. “As these girls go off to college, they start building their own communities,” says Breanna. “The hope is that as these women move to other parts of the country, they continue to spread the message and mission of Women in Training.”
Pastor Rudy Rasmus, Bread of Life
While there have certainly been huge strides made by community leaders in the past year, others, like Pastor Rasmus, noted they continue to face struggles. As the co-founder of the nonprofit organization Bread of Life, Pastor Rasmus is focused on providing resources to underserved communities and the homeless population through weekly food distributions, health support, disaster relief, and community outreach. The past year has revealed to him the lasting impact that the pandemic has had on his community. “The pandemic really did more damage than we anticipated to economically challenged people,” he says.
Leading with Love in 2022 and Beyond
Although the past year was trying, this group of community heroes has plenty to be proud of. Sproul cites her center’s new housing initiative as a point of great pride, saying “despite one of the toughest real estate markets in years, we managed to house 80 percent of our clients in those first six months. The program has been so successful that we’ve just expanded our service area to the next county and city to the north, which doubles the number of potential clients we can serve.” Garver, on the other hand, is thrilled that even with the odds completely stacked against them, Save the Children has continued its mission to set kids up for success. “Amid all this change, we’ve continued to help kids be successful in school and in life,” he says. “That makes me proud.”
We hope that in 2022, you are inspired to join in and lead with love. “You only need to impact one person,” says Mettey. “That’s what leading with love is all about.”
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