Columbia Initiatives
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Bike to the Future is a civic and faith partnership providing free bicycle transportation in Columbia to those who have no means of personal transportation. The group has distributed more than 1,200 bicycles since its inception in 2016! Contact Love Columbia for the first step to transportation independence. Email us at office@lovecolumbia.org.
And if you’ve shifted gears and are not riding your bike anymore, Bike to the Future will give it a tune up and a new home. Call us at 256-7662 to donate your bike today.
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Love Columbia is collaborating with several local businesses and organizations to address the community’s diverse housing needs. Click here to read more.
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Extra Mile Loans, Love Columbia’s high interest loan relief program, was established through a collaborative effort of local bankers and donors. In April 2018, Joe Miller, president of First State Community Bank, called a group of local bankers together to hear about the devastating repercussions of payday and title loans on our Columbia neighbors. Read about Connie Jenkins and her Extra Mile coach Candi Richeson who worked with Joe Miller at First State Community Bank.
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God’s church is the largest organization in Columbia though it meets in many locations. Linking for Love recognizes the worth of God’s people, the abilities and skills available, and the value of God knitting our hearts together in Jesus name. Leaders from Columbia’s Christian churches gather for an annual dinner to celebrate friendships and hear encouraging stories from the previous year. Love Columbia also updates the Linking for Love toolkit, supplying more information to love more people in Columbia.
Click here for a digital copy of the Linking for Love Toolkit.
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Love Columbia welcomed Forward Motion, formerly The Caring People, to Columbia in 2011 because we recognized that single mothers needed more support. We partner with them to establish local support groups for single moms.
To find a group in Columbia, send an email to forwardmotioncomo@gmail.com.
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Jobs for Life is an evidenced-based life envisioning and job readiness program (8 weeks/16 sessions) that pairs participants with a mentor and provides them with the confidence and connections to gain a job or find a better job. Leaders from several local churches, businesses, and nonprofits have received training to provide the program in Columbia.
Two courses were held in 2019, and an abbreviated course began in February 2020. The program is currently suspended due to COVID-19.
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When COVID-19 hit Columbia, a group of local women came together to create “The Common Ingredient”, an online platform for members of the community to share recipes and raise money for those in our community who were experiencing food insecurity.
The website encourages those who share and use the recipes to make a donation to The Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri, The Boys and Girls clubs of Missouri, or Love Columbia. Through sharing recipes they hope to generate a community where Love is the common ingredient.
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Boone County Jail Ministry was reported in the Columbian Missourian as early as 1909, and may be the oldest church collaboration in our community. Multiple churches have taken turns providing Sunday services to jail detainees through the years. In 2016, when Columbia Interfaith Council folded, Love Columbia stepped in to coordinate efforts. Four services are provided each Sunday through the joint efforts of 10 churches.
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Love Coffee was founded by local business leader and long time Special Olympics coach, Chuck Crews, who recognized the need to provide employment training and opportunities for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Love Coffee opened in February 2020, to provide job skill training and employment in an atmosphere of love to individuals with disabilities and barriers to employment.
Love Columbia and others supported the launch of this nonprofit organization officially called Love My Job Training Center. Despite opening just two weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down, community support has remained strong and the operation has continued by adding take out and delivery options.