LOVE (Let Our Valley Eat) Flows Project

Love Flows began in November 2012 as a UUCSV project to help Staten Island recover from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy.  For the next six months, we raised close to $25,000 and helped provide food, tools, building materials, clothing, household items, rent relief, and senior housing to victims of Sandy.

Now, we’re beginning the next chapter in the Love Flows story: the LOVE Project, which stands for Let Our Valley Eat. We’re using a system we devised for the Sandy Project, using grocery cards to leverage our purchasing power for the organizations we’re supporting. Learn more about our work here.

In our five counties (Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Union) nearly 30,000 people receive SNAP (food stamp) benefits.  More than 40% of the school-aged children in the Valley qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. Many other families are on the verge of poverty, but are not eligible for these federal programs. The tight federal budget, cuts in heating assistance programs, threatened cuts in SNAP benefits, and the lagging economic recovery are creating a “perfect storm” for the Valley’s food banks and other nutrition aid programs. Many are overwhelmed, serving far more people than they have ever served before. Some are in danger of closing.

So we here at UUCSV are channeling Love Flows along the Susquehanna River where we will raise money to support these vital assistance programs. Even more importantly, we will be working to build partnerships throughout the Valley among food banks, other nutrition programs, congregations of all religions, and other organizations (for-profit and non-profit). Together, we believe that we can help the Love (and the food) flow throughout the central Susquehanna Valley. We’re asking you to help us make a difference. How can you help?

• Make sure your religious or social organization is supporting your local food bank/pantries with time and goods. Food banks are going to be overwhelmed this year. They will not only need money, they’ll need people to shop, stock shelves and hand out food.
• Participate in can-drives. And bring real food.
• Find out what projects are helping people eat. Let us know. We’ve supported Caring for Kids a Shikellamy school project making sure kids eat on the weekends. $1.25 a weekend. $45 for the school year. What else is out there?
• Donate to Love Flows. Here at the Love Project, we’ll make sure your money gets to organizations that are making a difference.
• Come join us as we do this important work.

There are three ways you can donate – and have your contribution matched.

• Donate by Paypal
• Donate by cash or check in person at UUCSV on any Sunday (or during other UUCSV events)
• Mail a check or money order to: Love Flows c/o UUCSV, 265 Point Township Drive, Suite A, Northumberland, PA 17857.  (Please DO NOT send cash through the mail.)

Thanks for your help! You’re making a difference and helping the love to flow to our neighbors who need us.