“I trusted them, and they trusted me.”

These were the words Robert Reid used to summarize how our programs helped him transition from being an unhoused father with a temp job to leasing-to-own a home with a well-paying job and bright future for himself and his son.

We think these same words are the key for every bit of progress we see in the lives of the people we serve through Love Columbia and for our community as a whole. Building trust is essential. It usually takes time and personal investment, but is well worth it. People and communities flourish in an atmosphere of trust, where commitments are kept and failures are seen as part of the learning process and opportunities for growth.

Car Breakdown Leads to Happier Life

“Who knew a car repair would change my life?” Tamera asked this question when we interviewed her about her recent completion of our Extra Mile money management program. She reached out to us when she could not afford an expensive repair and eagerly accepted our invitation for financial coaching to help her avoid being in this situation again.

“I have just been overjoyed and crying and just blessed ever since I got linked up with Love Columbia," Tamera said. "In the first Extra Mile meeting, they told me that we're going to work out what I'm doing right and wrong with my finances and then help me get on track with my life. This way I don't have another anxiety attack and give up. But that's what I have been doing for years. I just got used to struggling, and making ends meet, and raising my three kids by myself. When I met my coach Julie, she had this glow, and I felt comfortable talking to her. I didn't know how to look at my money. I needed training, and it was tough at first because I had to decide what to eliminate from my budget. I learned I wasn't as broke as I thought I was. Now when I get paid, I'm okay. I don't have an anxiety attack because I'm paying bills on time instead of waiting on a disconnect notice. I’ve also quit over drafting my bank account. My credit score has gone up 100 points. My coach Julie and I have become great friends. We do hard things with my budget and then take time to laugh and talk. I have so much more peace and my kids say they have noticed a big difference.”

We asked Tamera if she had any suggestions for improving the Extra Mile program, “It needs to be longer than 16 weeks," she said. "I’m just getting started making changes so Julie and I are going to keep meeting.”

Never Too Busy To Serve

For the past three years, John Bassford has volunteered his Fridays to partner with the Furniture Bank and help bring essential household furniture to families in transition.

“When I first came to an open house event to learn about Love Columbia, I had no idea the opportunity I was about to step into: the opportunity to enter into my neighbors’ lives and to even experience personal growth through weekly furniture deliveries with Tully Douce, the Love Seat Furniture Bank Manager,” he says.

John’s passion for finding ways to love and pray for people is what fuels his desire to stay close to the Furniture Bank’s mission and be a key part of helping families experience a new sense of home and safety. “Many times, I’m delivering furniture with a team of volunteers to households who have just recently experienced homelessness or have had unstable housing. It’s a hard journey they’ve been through, and I love being able to come to their new home and help support them. Their joy always rubs off on us!"

Not The Person I Was

Antonio’s Story

Antonio came to Love Columbia seeking rent assistance after being laid off a construction job. Since that first connection, he has participated in career and credit building coaching and completed Good Dads parenting and healthy relationships courses. He secured temporary employment and is in the hiring process with City of Columbia, after connecting with them at our job fair.

“I called for help with rent, and the person asked me if I’d also be interested in any career coaching," Antonio said. "I’m happy I wasn’t close minded and only wanting financial support because a rent check would have just been for one month. I would have missed out on all the amazing programs and friendships here, much more valuable than one month of rent. I always tell people, if they are in trouble they need to check out Love Columbia. They’ve become like my extended family. They did help me out with rent, but after I got my job, I was able to sustain myself.”

Antonio praised the benefits of career coaching where he received help with job applications, creating a resume, and practice interviewing. He also received help navigating a difficult work situation. “It’s all about your drive," Antonio said. "If they see you are willing to try, they’ll help you. It’s just unlike anything I ever experienced.”

Antonio also gained hope through credit building and pre-homeownership coaching. “I always thought it would be too much, but I realized it’s feasible," Antonio said. "I just have to work at it.” 

Beyond the practical skills and tips Antonio learned, he said he experienced tremendous personal growth and found community through Love Columbia. “When I first came here, I can say that I know I wasn’t the person that I am now, as far as perspective or growth," Antonio said. "I came here not knowing which direction to go because I don’t have support people here in town. Love Columbia has made living in Columbia a hundred times better. I really feel like I’ve got some community, people that I can count on no matter how hard things get. That’s major for me. It saves you from feeling hopeless. I’m trying not to get too emotional about it, but I believe they really care about me and my kids and that means a lot. Hopefully, I'll make it big one day and I can help Love Columbia."

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Want to hear more encouraging stories?

Never Too Old to Volunteer

Edwina Prinster is a very young 84 year old. She started volunteering with Love Columbia six years ago and says,“The relationships I’ve formed have changed and greatly enriched my life.” 

Relationship is key for Edwina. She coached three women through our 16-week Extra Mile money management program and is still in close contact with them all. Edwina says she started financial coaching with trepidation because she isn’t great at math and had never coached anyone before. “It all worked out great in the end because the budgets were small and the women mostly needed a safe place to share their concerns and get support to take steps forward,” Edwina said.

Edwina was much more confident stepping into a volunteer role at The Love Seat. She immediately tackled the donated items that needed the most loving care. She takes great pride in scrubbing a cooking pot or pan until it shines with its original luster.

Edwina calls The Love Seat “a sacred place” where every person and donated item is lovingly brought to its fullest beauty and usefulness. She encourages everyone to volunteer, no matter how old (or young), with this invitation: “It is an oasis for one and all.”

Brandon: Finding My Calling

A friend encouraged Brandon Pepper to volunteer to meet new people and become less isolated after going through a difficult time in his life. After a year of volunteering at The Love Seat, Brandon accepted a position in the electronics department. He says, “I was so on board with what they were doing,  I wanted to be there full-time.”

Brandon recalls being very impacted by delivering furniture to families in great need. He felt the work was extremely important and it gave him a sense of purpose and significance to be part of it. He shares, “The thing that surprised me the most is that it's softened my heart to realize that little things really matter. And that's why I love The Love Seat so much is because we're taking literal trash and making it useful. it's just this happy cycle where the people donating to us get rid of a burden and we help someone in need rather than throwing it in the trash.

Brandon says his own life has improved through helping others. He is no longer isolated and meets new people from all walks of life everyday.

“Working at The Love Seat has shown me that family and community matter, and I can make a difference. I always wanted to help others, but didn’t know how. Now I’m doing it every day and it feels like I’ve found my calling. When I finally came out of my hole, I was given this great sense of purpose and belonging where now I can take the skills I was given and help as many people as possible. Even something as simple as giving them a smile or making them laugh, was everything that I was called to do.”

Habit Frontiers

Forming Healthy Habits, by Jane Williams

It takes 66 days to form a habit according to ritual.com, but what if you have no one to show you what a healthy habit is.

Twenty-five years ago, I befriended two sisters with several kids each. In the beginning of the relationship, I often scheduled times to meet with them, only to find when I arrived, they were not home. After several of these experiences, I asked them why this kept happening. One of them immediately told me, “We aren’t used to people doing what they say they are going to do. We never thought you were really going to show up.” 

I have thought of this comment a lot recently as we have started working with 18- to 24-year-olds experiencing homelessness through a HUD pilot program to stabilize their lives. HUD will provide rent assistance while we provide supportive services to teach the life skills needed to maintain housing and employment. So far, one of our biggest challenges has been the young adults not showing up for appointments. Many of them have aged out of foster care and experienced lives of broken promises. It is now up to us to demonstrate consistency and help them develop the basic habits of successful living.

Through the years, we have helped hundreds of people learn sound financial habits. The joy of walking alongside someone to financial stability and flourishing cannot be overstated. I still remember when one of our first clients threw her arms around me and said, “I used to love to spend and now I love to save.” I’ve also never forgotten a graduate of our Extra Mile money management program ringing our joy bell and shouting that not only did she know what a FICO score was but so did her children!

Starting Early

Through the years, we have pressed into new “habit-forming” territory. After noticing that parents often overspent because of pleas from their children, we added kid’s activities to our adult financial coaching material. We knew we had to get the kids to join the “needs versus wants” team and rewarded parents for including their children in budgeting and saving activities.

We replicated this approach when we established our Extra Mile Homes transitional housing program. We had expectations for parents to keep the house clean and tidy and provided them with ideas about how to get their children involved in age-appropriate chores.

Later, when parents wanted to learn activities to strengthen their families, volunteers helped us develop monthly activity kits for families to use together to promote regular family time.

We hope we are helping kids form great habits early on – how to budget money, keep a house clean and live and play together as a family.

Our Latest Habit Frontier: Creating Beauty

At a recent staff meeting, we discussed the value of beauty in our lives. We pause in nature, with art or music, and our load seems lighter and our thoughts brighter. What if we cultivated a habit of creating beauty? What if we provided the opportunity for our clients to create beauty when they are feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Would this help them develop a habit of looking for and creating beauty in the midst of difficult situations and dark times? We threw out the idea of providing coloring books and colored pencils for clients who wanted to try the beauty option to de-stress and reset their thinking. Two days later, to our surprise, a representative from The Food Bank stopped by the office and asked if we could use 15 cases of adult coloring books (96 books each).

We are all set to begin helping people form habits of creating beauty in the mist of stress. If you are a creator of beauty of any kind, please come share your ideas and skills. We may find that beauty is step one and all the other healthy habits soon follow. Doesn’t every day begin with a beautiful sunrise?

See below for some of the beauty created by our neighbors!

Stay fascinated,

Experience the Joy of Extra Mile Coaching

Career Coaching Builds Confidence

Lori Acton has spent over a year coaching Love Columbia clients through their career and housing goals. She comments, “What I’ve noticed about my career clients is that many are much more prepared for jobs than they realize. Often, they need someone to listen and show them how their past experiences can be incorporated into their resume.”

Career coaching provides the unique opportunity to receive one-on-one support to find meaningful and fulfilling work and earn livable wages. In the first half of this year, our coaching staff has been able to:

help 119 people obtain jobs or better jobs
welcome 73 job seekers to our first hiring fair

“We aren’t meant to achieve everything on our own,” Lori says. We are incredibly grateful for our coaching staff and volunteers who are helping many of our neighbors progress in their careers.

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Love Columbia Career Coaching

Email coaching@lovecolumbia.org to enroll

Coaching may include
taking a career interest assessment
planning your job search
developing a cover letter and resume
finding job leads
completing applications
preparing for interviews
learning how to succeed as an employee
life purpose coaching
dressing for success with clothing at The Love Seat

A Chance to Start Again

When Porsha moved her family from St Louis to Columbia for her kids to have better opportunities and community, she had no idea how their lives were about to change.

Their housing was lined up.

Her full time job was ready to start.

All four of her kids were enrolled in school.

But their housing plans fell through, and the only other option was to stay in a hotel while searching for a new home. As Columbia’s average weekly rate hotel stay is $400, their living expense more than depleted her savings - even with a full time job.

The family is currently staying in an Extra Mile transitional home, and they moved in just in time for Christmas! Ten First Baptist Church members generously spent time cleaning, furnishing, and decorating the home, while other members cooked food to stock up the kitchen.

As part of the Extra Mile Homes program, Porsha is participating in weekly budget sessions with a coach to grow her money management skills and save 30% of her income to pay for her future rental deposit. She has her CNA license, and her goal is to become an RN.

When Porsha walked through the home before moving in their belongings, she tearfully said, “You have no idea what I've been through... Thank you! I haven’t had my own bed in so long."

We are incredibly thrilled to welcome the family to one of our homes this Christmas season!

Financial Freedom and the Magic of Music

In 2020, Daniel was out of work during the pandemic, in a crunch, and facing homelessness; a situation he wouldn’t have thought possible a year prior.

Reaching a breaking point, he admitted that he could use assistance to get back on his feet, and came to Love Columbia. Here, Daniel found the Extra Mile Program: a 16-week money management program with a coach that offers accountability partnership, financial rewards, and the opportunity to practice new financial skills.

When asked about the Extra Mile Program, Daniel said: “The Extra Mile Program helped me wrap my head around ways to grow in [financial knowledge and planning]. I now associate asking for help with a positive experience that gets me great results!”

As Kelli Van Doren- Extra Mile Program Manager- got to know Daniel, she discovered his love of music. Kelli connected him to a previous Love Columbia program participant, Uriah, based on their mutual passion for teaching music. Daniel found out quickly that he and Uriah not only shared a passion for playing and listening to music, but also for teaching it. He said: “For Uriah and I, and for many out there, music is something that adds so much value to life.”

Today, Uriah owns U.C. Music, a business that offers beginning guitar workshops, group classes and individual lessons. Daniel is currently working at U.C Music as an employee to bring the magic of music to Columbians. Daniel says: “Music seems like the greatest job in the world to me. Witnessing your students light up when they have a breakthrough or victory is very gratifying. You just want to build their confidence and dedication to something that you know will bring a great deal of joy to their life.”

You can find U.C. Music, on East Broadway next to Clovers Natural Market.

Volunteer Provides Transportation Education

Howdy became one of our volunteer car coaches after his church, Forum Christian Church, began partnering with Love Columbia. We got the opportunity to talk more with Howdy about his volunteer role here, and we are thrilled to get to share about his volunteer work with us! We believe everyone can use their talents and skillsets to enrich our community.

Here is Howdy’s story!

Has working with cars always been something you've been interested in?

Yes, I got my first car (a broken down 1960 Falcon) for only $1. I was 15 and did not have a license. I had to rebuild the transmission from manuals, but it worked, and I was hooked. I went to a technical school, studied diesel/car mechanics, as well as studied welding. Rebuilding engines, transmissions carburetors, and injectors seemed natural to me.

How did you learn about the gap in people's understanding of how to keep up with their cars, buy cars, etc.

My career passion was in diesel engineering. That's how I ended up in Columbia, MO. I got a part-time job at UPS while in school, thinking I had my foot in the door with a great company and that I would be able to climb up into the engineering with UPS. Well, God had a different plan. A driving position came open, and I took it thinking I would finish my degree at night. I was so fortunate having car skills. It saved our family so much money and headaches. Helping my family and friends navigate repairs and diagnosing car problems was a blessing. Getting more involved at Forum was just another outlet for me to help with their church vehicles.

What prompted you to start helping with the need for car coaching?

Getting involved with Forum's Benevolence Ministry was the deal changer. I saw first hand that transportation issues effected not only the low income, or the less fortunate, but also the fortunate that had made poor choices. I found myself helping with physical and spiritual needs, but also helping to educate them about why, when, and how this happens.

Can you tell me more about the mission behind the new car coaching program?
Besides housing difficulties, transportation issues are the 2nd biggest obstacle for Columbia’s lower income population. This car coaching program is not a “get a cheap car” program. Yes, it can help someone get a low-priced vehicle, but we are raising the bar to educate everyone on how to maintain their vehicle, purchase a car, find a repair shop, and get general car help.

What is your hope for how this service will grow in the future?
We are adding and creating educational information and videos to help not only Love Columbia clients, but to make this resource available for all the area agencies. My hope is that we have Love Columbia Car Coaches in every church in Columbia. They then would have skills and resources to help their congregation navigate though car issues. I'd like to see all of us (car enthusiasts, car guys and ladies) meet soon, so each of us can share our gifts with each other.

Beautifully and Wonderfully Made : Tessa’s Story

My name is Tessa and I just turned 36. I have 2 teenage children. I have never been married, and I have struggled for most of my life in so many ways, especially financially. We lived pay check to pay check and many times it was worse than that. I had a lot of debt with debt collectors calling all the time. Anxiety was my constant . . . on most days the feeling of guilt, shame and hopelessness was often unbearable. I just didn’t know where to start.

When I first found Love Columbia, little did I know how much God would use them to change my life forever. My life coach walked through the journey of untangling the mess before me. When you come in these doors, your head is down. My coach told me that it’s not failure at all, it’s about capacity. She told me a bucket made to hold 5 gallons is not a failure when it is given 7 gallons of water to hold. It is just out of capacity.

Five years later, I have all my debt paid off, I have a nice savings account. I don’t live pay check to pay check. I just bought my very first car. We actually thrived through COVID. Sometimes you just need help with balancing your capacity. Someone to walk with you while you reset, rebuild, and remind yourself how beautifully and wonderfully you are made. Love Columbia is truly the place where neighbors are helping neighbors.