Rent help via Love In the Name of Christ of the Greater Livingston Area

Love In the Name of Christ of the Greater Livingston Area, also known as Love Inc, is a branch of a nationwide organization. Love Inc’s mission statement is to mobilize the Church and transform lives and communities in the name of Christ. They provide food, transportation, financial assistance, and money management services to those in need.  Love Inc is a very large nationwide organization, with a branch in the Livingston area.

Love Inc provides their services by helping churches in a given area cooperate and collaborate in providing for those in need. Love Inc desires to spread God’s love through loving your neighbor. Therefore, they encourage strong community involvement. Love Inc helps connect those in need and those willing to give through the use of local churches. Furthermore, they assist churches in fulfilling their missions by providing churches with people to help.

Love Inc refers to their model as the clearinghouse model. The way this model works is that someone applies to Love Inc for assistance. The applicant then meets with a staff member of Love Inc, one on one. At this meeting, the staff member determines what the situation of the applicant is and what their needs are. Then, the staff member contacts the best organization in the area to help satisfy the applicant’s needs and refers the applicant to said organization.

The services that Love Inc provides are generally temporary, emergency assistance that are intended to help someone out a tough situation and return them to their feet. They offer temporary financial assistance for rent, mortgage, and utility payments. Also, the food pantry offers both food and clothes to those in need. The money management service is a six week course designed to help those in need develop a budget, live within their means, and get out of debt. This course is a one on one mentoring process.

A new program that the Livingston area Love Inc offers is the Embrace program. This is a mentoring program where volunteers work with the local homeless in an effort to help the homeless make a change in their life. In the Embrace program, someone comes to Love Inc and expresses a desire to make changes in their life. Then, that person is matched with a Love Inc volunteer, who lives in their community. Once they are matched, the person seeking to change and the volunteer work together to accomplish goals one step at a time.

Currently, Love Inc is looking for volunteers. For information on how to volunteer or to receive assistance, Love In the Name of Christ of the Greater Livingston Area can be reached by telephone at 517-552-3620.