A group of close-knit individuals dedicated to serving all beings can be seen helping people in need around Athens County.
The Love Light Movement is a non-profit organization started by members of Athens County in June. According to its website, the movement follows the Love Light Philosophy, a “non-traditional” way of looking at life and how to be “successful,” in hopes of “increasing the well-being of every organism on earth.”
LLM serves people in Athens, The Plains, Chauncey, Jacksonville and Glouster. Alex Nicol, a senior studying psychology, started the non-profit, eager to help others after battling with addiction. Nicol later established an LLM organization at Ohio University to encourage student involvement.
“In the recovery rooms, they talked a lot about service,” Nicol said. “So I started to ask myself, ‘How can I be of service? What can I do to help other people?’”
Nicol first volunteered at Good Works, a Christian organization helping people struggling in poverty and homelessness in rural Appalachia. Nicol created connections with other volunteers and began to hang up flyers around Athens.
“(The flyers said), ‘Do you need help? If so, call this number’ and through doing that, I realized that a lot of people needed food, a lot of people needed rides and a lot of people were looking for shelter,” Nicol said.
After LLM was formed, it focused on providing food, clothing, canned goods and other items to locals in need.
“I was in contact with owners of some industrial kitchens, and I knew that they had a lot of food left over at the end of the night. They allowed me to start taking some of that food, and then I just started serving it,” Nicol said. “And then that sort of brought on the idea of food rescue. We just sort of took off from there.”
The Free Meals initiative offers meals on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Piggly Wiggly, located on 70 N. Plains Rd., from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
According to LLM, there are two different meal delivery groups. Group A travels to Athens, The Plains, Chauncey, Jacksonville and Glouster, delivering meals on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Group B delivers to Nelsonville and all other addresses on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
People interested in signing up for meals can visit Free Meal Notification Signup - Love Light Recovery.
Ronnie Givens, owner of the Rhythm and Food food truck, is an LLM donor. Givens said that when he heard of Nicol’s initiative, he offered to help.
“I had some chicken and some bread and cheese that I donated to him so he can use it at his food distribution sites,” Givens said.
Givens said LLM’s efforts are important because having a meal cooked and ready makes the service more accessible.
“Historically, this is an impoverished area, so if there’s somebody out there helping people get fed, that's a plus,” Givens said. “That’s something important that we need around here.”
Givens said he tries to save extra food before discarding it, but ensures his food donations are safe to consume.
“Most of my stuff is vacuum sealed or just straight from the distributor, and I just didn't get to use it,” Givens said. “... Those people that are in those lines and getting those meals, you know that probably makes them feel good, or it’s one less thing they have to worry about.”
Sina Mahdavi, a graduate student studying film production, joined the movement last summer.
“I told (Nicol), it’s a great idea, and it’s a good thing for me because I can also help people,” Mahdavi said. “And back in my country, I did some stuff like that, so I was happy that I could find room to do it again.”
Mahdavi lends a hand with the meals, calling restaurants and picking up and delivering food. Mahdavi said his favorite aspect of being involved is hearing the stories and experiences of the people he meets.
“I’m a filmmaker, so most of the time, I really love to find different people and experience their point of view on life,” Mahdavi said. “You can find a lot of humanity among them, and it’s so interesting for me.”
LLM has about 15 to 20 members and no paid workers, depending on its volunteers.
Nicol said it is eye-opening to volunteer and positively impacts his life every day.
“I was hesitant to leave my comfort zone and try to go volunteer because I had never done something like that,” Nicol said. “... Doing that was the best thing that I had ever done in my life because it opened my eyes to this new world of the importance of community, of love of connection and how much of that really exists in our world.”
