Love In Christ has been serving the city of Jamestown for 10 years. From left are Love INC executive director Susan Justham and furniture ministry volunteer Dan Swenson. P-J photo by William Mohan

For 10 years a charitable organization has been offering assistance in Jamestown.

Love In the Name of Christ is part of the World Vision-Love INC group of charities. Love INC was founded in 1977 by Dr. Virgil Gulker of Hudson, Mich. Its goal was to have churches come together to reach beyond their own congregations.

Today, Love INC has 135 affiliates in 30 states. The network includes over 9,000 churches, 6,000 community-based organizations and more than 300,000 volunteers. Love INC meets more than 1 million needs a year at an estimated $37 million in services and accomplishes this by using relational ministry to help individuals and families to make lasting changes in their lives.

All of these operations use the Clearinghouse model. This enables Love INC of Southern Chautauqua County to directly field requests for persons in need or when they are referred by a church or agency.

In Jamestown, the branch has been operating since 2008. The organization came together because of devoted members who wanted to see relief services in the community.

“That whole year of 2008 we were developing and getting board members and partners together,” Love INC furniture ministry volunteer Don Swenson said.

The group was also registering their 501(c)(3) and new members. At that time, Swenson was asked if he would be interested in starting the organization. Full operations took nearly a year to start with official start up in October 2009. What makes Love INC unique is the variety of needs posed to different branches. This diversity also extends to volunteers who take part in the cause. What differentiates each branch the most is the community they serve. The needs of each community is met by the resources and organizational partnerships provided to Love INC.

“Every affiliate has its own unique identity,” Love INC Executive Director Susan Justham said.

“It depends on what the needs are in your community, the structure of community and so none of the affiliates look the same.”

The key method of growth of Love INC has always been by reputation. Often it is from someone who has worked with them in the past.

“How affiliates usually start is word of mouth, someone has experience with them in other communities and brings them and that’s what happened with this one,” Justham said.

In particular, the Jamestown branch was developed by a former regional pastor’s wife. Her experience with Love INC had been with a branch in Michigan. From there the organization was established.

One of the first tasks of Love INC was to find an executive director. For Swenson and the board this was a difficult task.

“That took at least three or four months,” Swenson said.

The services provided at the time they opened was the furniture ministry and its call center. Initially, the call center was accommodating the ministry and its distribution. Love INC also did not have storage for the furniture. Since that time, Love INC has established a distribution center to help field whatever is needed for certain situations. Among the services provided are transportation for medical appointments, home and auto repairs, shopping, visiting shut-in residents, yard work and snow removal, baby items, personal care items and budget counseling. Love INC currently partners with 38 churches and also fields calls for pastor assistance if necessary.

The main goal is to provide anyone in need with community services. To that end, Love INC tries to serve anyone stricken with poverty, debt and other life crises.

Calls are received by a trained staff of Love INC volunteers to assess the needs of the callers. Volunteers are trained to access the legitimacy and extent of individual needs and any other issues involved. Once verification has been completed, requests are sent to the Love INC network church, volunteer,or agency best suited for the request.

“We want to hear their story. We want know what brought them to the circumstances they’re in, whatever the situation is,” Justham said.

Donations are now being accepted for Love INC’s seventh annual Christmas Toy Give-A-Way. To donate electronically visit LoveINCSCC.org or on Facebook.

To learn more about Love INC call 338-9705 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. Love INC of Southern Chautauqua County is located at 553 W. Third St. in Jamestown.