Voluntine’s Day originated from a broken heart (where all great things in life begin, haha). In 2019, I looked for opportunities to serve in Austin to occupy my Valentine’s Day but I couldn’t seem to find anything that was doing something ON the actual day. So, a seed was sown in my heart to possibly act on that the following year as I knew other people probably had the same feelings.

January 2020 came around and I decided to fast and pray over if I should do something about it and if so, WHAT would I even do.

January 30, 2020, I felt called to create a volunteering event to support our growing homeless population in Austin. I set a goal to make 500 meals and I used my personal social media and threw the idea out there with a video to raise donations to create was is known now as “love lunches”. Love Lunches included a ham and cheese sandwich, chips, bottle of water, a Valentine’s Day chocolate and Valentine’s Day card. On a whim, I coordinated the event logistically with HEB for food and my apartment complex hosted the meal prep portion of the event.

We raised a little over $700 that first year which was enough to cover all of the costs to feed our goal of 500 members of the homeless community!!

We did that! GOD DID THAT!!

I wasn’t sure if this would be a yearly thing since COVID hit during 2020.

2021 came around and I was on the fence. I prayed about it during January and then said “ok, lets do this!”

We made sure to take proper COVID precautions for those wanting to participate. Took to social media and hoped we could raise the same funds again.

WE KNOCKED THE GOAL OUT OF THE PARK!!

Inflation had already taken place so cost of goods was about $200 more expensive than the previous year for the same items. So I was a little concerned with meeting our goal, but we did it AND we even had a couple of significant donations come in at the very end that allowed for us to purchase 500 pairs of socks!

This was PERFECT timing as the snowpocalypse of 2021 came rolling in on Valentine’s Day. We were honestly not sure if we would be able to pass out the love lunches. Volunteers had to cancel with the icy conditions worsening by the minutes. The highways were shutting down by the city due to the weather and multiple accidents. The moment we finished the meal prepping and packed up the truck, the only road still open was the one we needed to deliver to the homeless community!

We took the drive and were humbled by the immense amount of gratefulness we received.

“Thank you so much! We never know when our next meal will be when the weather gets bad.”

“YOU ARE GIVING US SOCKS?!?!!!”

“I thought I wouldn’t have another meal for a week! God bless you all”

“Why would you come out here ON Valentine’s Day??”

These were just a few remarks that I’ll never forget. What we didn’t know is the whole city would shut down for a week with no power and water. Totally frozen over.

I’m so thankful we continued even when it didn’t seem like it was going to work or it was the best idea. This community needed us more than we knew they would.

My dad always said “when you lose yourself in the service of others, you find yourself”. I think I found myself that day. Serving others gets you to think outside of yourself. We all deserve to be loved especially on Valentine’s Day. The best way to be loved is to give love.

I'm excited to continue this mission and impact more people throughout or community and eventually throughout our whole state!

xoxo,

Kristen