Las Vegas (pt. 2)

Saturday June 9^th was the Laundry Love Project in Las Vegas, and it was a truly amazing experience.

At the end of the day we helped 21 families do 230 loads of laundry. The area Starbucks stores sent out 4 team members (2 managers & 2 employees) to help us as part of an initiative for Starbucks to be more active in helping the community.

We are also going to be partnering with 2 local churches in Las Vegas to try and do a LLP here 4 times a year.

I can honestly say that sitting in my dorm room as a junior at Malone planning car trips with friends around town to go pay for people’s laundry, I never thought it would go this far. I never thought the simple dream of doing whatever it takes to love people would lead to things like this.

Each city and place I have ever been to has its own troubles, and sometimes they seem so vast and numerous. One of the Starbucks managers at the project, Wendy, gave me great insight into some of the problems unique to Vegas.

She informed me that in Las Vegas there is a huge difference between the homeless and the low income people, and there is an even bigger difference between low income and upper middle class.

She spoke of how the education system is struggling and how she believed that and the hunger problem were 2 of the biggest obstacles to growth in Las Vegas. After all “if kids are hungry, why would they want to learn,” Wendy remarked.  Problems like these and others all amount to Las Vegas not being a very close nit community in her mind.

I have also met a church call Grace Point that is seeking to do missional communities just like LoveCanton does. They are 500 strong and committed to doing good in the Las Vegas area.

All in all, I don’t know the exact extent of the issues in Las Vegas, but I do know there are people trying to do something about it.

Trips like this constantly remind me that there are folks committed all across the country to doing whatever it takes to love people. I know from experience that one simple dream of doing whatever takes to love people, can lead to things far beyond what we ever thought possible.

That is just the God we serve.