Mission of Love going strong despite pandemic | News, Sports, Jobs - Youngstown Vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN — Mission of Love, a non-profit humanitarian mission helping to serve indigenous peoples around the globe as well as those in need, had a good year with several important missions completed.

The latest was to Bowling Green, Ky., where many were appreciative of aid they received.

Even in the shadows of the pandemic, there were needs to be filled by the Mission of Love. Trips were made to Tecpan, Guatemala, to continue helping the Mayan people. Time was spent at the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota where another home was built for a Lakota family. Following Hurricane Ida’s fury at the end of August, a mission trip was sent to Louisiana to deliver much needed aid and materials to rebuild.

Just when the year seemed to be winding down, another devastating situation saw the Mission of Love’s 53-foot trailer once again on the move.

“We sent out trailer to Bowling Green, Ky. where the tornado hit (on Dec. 11),” said Mission of Love director and founder Kathleen Price. “Half the city looked normal and the other half looked like a bomb went off.”

Price said 4,000 people lost their homes in the storm event. Some were not strangers to the Mahoning Valley.

“A lot of Lordstown GM people transferred to the GM plant in Bowling Green where the Corvettes are made,” Price said.

That same trailer that helped the people of Bowling Green, also carried lumber, tools, and humanitarian aid to the people of Louisiana, who were hit hard by Ida at the end of August. That help did not go unnoticed. On Dec. 3, Louisiana sate Rep. Timothy P. Kerner wrote a letter to Price.

Kerner wrote, “I am writing to thank you and the Mission of Love organization for your generous donation to the residents of Lafitte, Barataria and Crown Point this year in one of our most trying times. You know, more than ever, these residents were in dire need of so many things we often take for granted. Mission of Love sent a very appreciated 53-foot trailer of lumber, tools and humanitarian aid. This aid was distributed to the residents and showed them a sign of hope when some had nowhere else to turn. Thank you for all your continued support in our rebuilding effort.

Now as the lights go out for 2021, Mission of Love is looking to a new year and a continued effort to help others.

Price said in January, the Mission of Love will be sending five 53-foot trailers to the Pittsburgh Air Force Base. The trailers will contain educational furnishings, medical, fabric, and humanitarian aid for the Maya Mission of Love in Tecp’n, Guatemala. The Air Force will place the aid on huge pallets, and will weigh each for the upcoming Denton United States of Defense airlift to Guatemala in February.

Mission of Love is the nation’s No. 1 user of the Denton program. The federal program became law in 1987 named for Alabama Sen. Jeremiah Denton, who was a former Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war. The program allowed the Secretary of Defense to approve shipments from non-governmental, and nonprofit organizations to help people in need of humanitarian aid around the globe. Price said the Mission of Love has long passed 60 flights under the program.

Also on the calendar for 2022 is a weeklong trip June 8-15.

“We are taking a team to the Pine Ridge Reservation to help build cabins for the elderly,” Price said. “They are simple one room cabins that go up in no time. We are putting together a building team for that week. We need volunteers to help with the build.”

She said anyone interested can visit the website at www.missionoflove.org

Price said her giving back is what this time of the year is all about.

Every day and every way our mission continues and I will do my best to make it work,” Price said. “If I can be an example to others of what the true meaning of Christmas is, I have done my job. Every day is Christmas at the Mission of Love.”

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