This year so far…

Slowly but surely, we were able to expand as an organization in 2023, and we were pretty sure we had grown as much as we could for the time being. Of course, we have long-term plans and goals, and so many dreams of what The Eye Love Project could be in the future. But, as far as growth and providing more than burritos, socks, dog food and water, we felt we were at our capacity.

We had many Sunday nights that we came home wishing we could do more, but we would always remind each other, “We’re doing what we are able to do at this time, and that’s all we can do.” It’s hard to not be able to provide everything we want to provide, but it’s the need is so much greater than us. And as we’ve built relationships with our burrito friends, it feels even more urgent to help meet their needs.

But, this year we have had exceptionally bad weather. A few weeks ago, we were sitting all cozy in our living room, and we could hear the wind howling, the rain was coming down in buckets and it was freezing outside. I don’t even remember how the conversation started, but we knew we needed to try and provide blankets and jackets the next day. We put out a call on social media for winter jackets, sweaters and blankets. We didn’t even know how we would carry them and give them away, but we knew we had to do it, and it would come together like it always does somehow.

We are incredibly lucky to have surrounded ourselves with some dedicated and amazing volunteers who have a heart to serve our community as well. They didn’t hesitate to share the need on their own social media and help us scramble to put together a plan of action.

One of our family of volunteers and supporters loaned us their cart to bring with us to carry the coffee, cups and creamers. One of our other family of volunteers showed up with a brand new cart (that they then donated to us!) to pull the jackets, blankets and the boxes full of hand warmers that were donated as well. Stacie put in a request to the owner of her company to go into one of their locations and brew coffee after hours, and not only did she say yes, she offered above and beyond what was asked to make it easier for us.

We now have jackets and blankets – many of them brand new, all of them in fantastic condition-that we can continue to take with us on Sunday nights, as well as provide coffee when we have the manpower thanks to a generous donation.

We are overwhelmed in the best way how fast The Eye Love Project has grown. And each time we see a new need and decide to just step out and say, “Yes, we’ll make it work,” we’ve been able to make it work. We are thankful for the volunteers who have seen the vision we have and jumped all the way in to make it happen because they believe in the power of loving on people at their lowest without judgement and no strings attached.

We have given away 1,707 burritos so far in 2024, expanded on what we’re able to provide and gained more amazing volunteers-and we’re not even 3 months into the year. We can’t wait to see where we go from here.