Love INC on the move in Hill City, Keystone

Love INC of Hill City-Keystone (LIHCK) held its third annual vision lunch at Little White Church (LWC) March 4. 

“Love INC (In the Name of Christ) is an international parachurch organization ministry with the mission to mobilize churches, to transform lives and communities in the name of Christ,” said Natalie Cutler, interim ministry coordinator for LIHCK. “As we all know, there are communities like Hill City that are filled with people who have amazing gifts and talents, and they may or may not know how to use those talents to help the people in their community.” 

“So that’s one of the things Love INC strives to do is to help churches to mobilize their members to reach out to neighbors in need. And we do that by creating specific, manageable opportunities that utilize unique skills and talents,” Cutler said. 

In Hill City and Keystone participants can start by calling 605-574-1023, which is the number for the local Love INC connection center. The office is located at Community Lutheran Church and is open Mondays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. when Cutler is there. The connection center is also available by phone only on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and calls are answered by Anne Raga.

When a participant calls in, the person answering starts by listening. 

“Our goal is to build relationships with people, and that’s the way we do it, through listening to their story for however long that takes because these are people who often feel unseen and unheard,” said Raga. 

After listening to the story, the volunteer determines whether it is someone who can be helped by Love INC or not. If not, there are ministries in the area they can refer people to. If Love INC can help, the volunteer does an intake to gather demographic information. 

“We also want to know what their hopes and dreams are for the future because everyone has them, and ask them what barriers they have to achieving those dreams and what gifts they think God has given them,” said Raga. 

At the end, the volunteer always asks if they can pray for the participant. 

Mary Larson and Pam Kaubisch lead the Love INC kitchen and linen ministry in Hill City. Together they gather kitchen gadgets as well as bedding, towels and linens. There is a weatherproof tote available for donations in front of Lighthouse Assembly of God 24 hours a day. 

The collected items are then taken to Love INC in Rapid City, where a kitchen and linen ministry is run. Because of Hill City’s contribution to the ministry, any participant calling in is eligible to receive kitchen gadgets or linens. 

Another gap ministry in Hill City is the Community Kids Clothing Closet. This is a ministry Layla and Dacey Williams got involved in last year. 

The clothing closest is primarily run by LWC. Gently used clothing items in sizes from birth to high school are collected starting in June. Youth and adults from LWC collect the clothing all summer. 

The event takes place on a Friday and Saturday in late August. Tables are set up with the collected items, and people can “shop” the clothing at no charge. 

Along with this, members of the First Congregational Church in Keystone work throughout the year to get socks and underwear in children’s sizes so those items are available as well. 

Matt, Shantell and Tanner Davis run the furniture ministry in Hill City in coordination with the Love INC furniture ministry in Rapid City. 

Furniture is collected in Hill City and Keystone and brought to Rapid City. Once furniture is delivered, Love INC volunteers catalog, organize and send the items to various locations. Some furniture is refurbished as well. 

Donated furniture is not guaranteed to return to the community, but donations open up the opportunity for LIHCK participants to earn furniture. Hill City is now set up to deliver it as well. 

Things like living room, bedroom or kitchen furniture are earned through the work-to-earn program. Lori Comer volunteers with participants as they work to earn items. 

“At Love INC, we believe in helping participants see that they have something to offer in contributing to their own solutions. We work to increase dignity through a work-to-earn program,” said Comer. 

Participants can do six hours of work alongside trained volunteers in the Hill City community garden or food bank to earn items. 

Another offering available is Life INC classes. 

“The Life INC classes are a chance for the participant to not only go through these things, but also get some education in areas where they might want to learn more,” said Cutler. 

This includes classes on parenting, budgeting, marriage, nutrition and more which take place in Rapid City. Hill City is just starting this part of the ministry. Thus far, three single-night classes have been held on suicide, the Grief Recovery Method and human trafficking. 

“We’re just getting started with that part of the ministry, and we hope to make that grow some more and offer some of these other kinds of classes here as well,” said Cutler. 

LIHCK also offers budget mentoring and has someone interested in doing a cooking-budgeting mentorship. 

“That has been working well here in Hill City because it’s smaller in nature, and it can be individualized as far as schedule goes. So whatever participant, if they need it, they can call on a mentor and they can work with that person,” said Cutler. 

LIHCK is looking for more volunteers to be budgeting mentors. This requires attending a Faith & Finance Class as training. 

The last thing that has been added is incentives. In Hill City, Krull’s Market, Hill City Hardware & Lumber, Jake’s Barbershop and Heart of the Hills Exxon have all agreed to work with Love INC for this. Now if a participant completes six to eight weeks of mentoring or classes, they are eligible to receive three $50 gift cards from these businesses in any combination. 

“So we’re super thankful for all of them,” said Cutler. “We have great businesses here.”

Besides the local businesses, LIHCK participants also have access to two ministries in Rapid City called Rise Furnishing & Décor and Thrive Adventure Store. 

“Volunteers are a vital part of this ministry,” said Jeremy Duprey.

To be a Love INC volunteer, one must sign a statement of faith and take a six-week class called When Helping Hurts.

“We end up having some really wonderful conversations,” said Duprey. “This class emphasizes the way we were created in the image of God with dignity and in relationship with God, with one another and creation. It helps us name how those relationships have been broken and how we are in need of restoration that happens through Jesus. And that is true of all the people who participate in the classes and of the people who participate in Love INC.” 

At the end of the class, Duprey said participants realize we all need help and we all have dignity. 

“One of the things that I’m also appreciating as one of the local pastors here in Hill City is that Love INC gives us an opportunity to coordinate our benevolence approach as a community. If someone comes to our community and is in need of some help, they often times will come to one of the churches. And Love INC has given us a place, or some people or even a phone number to send them to so that they might have that caring conversation,” said Duprey. 

One person who helps guide the local ministries of LIHCK is hometown director Dr. Bill Meirose. Meirose said he gets the honor of working with smaller communities in the Black Hills to help them start a Love INC. 

“It’s really quite interesting because we’re taking a model that’s in Rapid City with a population of 90,000 people, and we’re trying to get that to work within a community of 900 people,” said Meirose. “It’s just a fun challenge. It really is.” 

In 2015, a Love INC was started in Sturgis and around three years ago  Love INC was started in Hill City and Keystone. Now Meirose is having conversations about starting a Love INC in Spearfish. There are even more areas in the Black Hills where Love INCs could form. 

“Love INC itself is not a benevolence. It’s not a crisis ministry, but by setting up our connection centers, we’re able to help churches to work with that,” said Meirose. “It’s so exciting to be able to point to a community and say, ‘How can we help you reach your community?’”

There have been lessons learned along the way, and Meirose said there are likely many more things to learn. However, he said the most exciting part is hearing the stories of the people who are helped by Love INC. 

Executive director of Love INC Black Hills John Ligtenberg has been involved with Love INC for 23 years. Today a lot of his time is spent ensuring Love INC is a well-built organization. A lot of effort is spent ensuring that there are quality, consistent services provided across the Love INC communities in the Black Hills. 

“It’s just exciting. We covet your prayers, and we just entrust this to the Lord that He’ll grow it in His time and His way. And this community is inspiring,” said Ligtenberg. “Hats off to your leadership team, your churches and your volunteers.” 

Along with this, Love INC Black Hills board president Pete Jensen said, “During my time on the board, I’ve gotten to watch Hill City go from this idea of a Love INC to a fully functioning organization out here. And it’s been such a blessing to be on the board. We’re a governance board. We don’t meddle in the day-to-day activities of what happens on the ground at Love INC. 

“But to watch your community stand up and say, ‘We want to do this,’ and then develop it from the ground up using volunteers—it’s just really impressive, such a huge blessing for me to watch from that board level.”

Attendees were encouraged to take home a plant from their table and pray for LIHCK when they water it.