This is Jean

It’s a pretty safe comment that Jean is the reason I run NeighborLink.

It wasn’t something that I thought I would ever come to do, run a non-profit that is. “Non-profit" wasn’t in my vocabulary when I was in college and even the first few years out of college. It wasn’t the avenue to fulfill my personal desires and goals. It wasn’t the route anyone told me that would result in a succesful career or fulfill my “sky is the limit" ideas of prosperity.

I liked to volunteer. I liked being outside doing things I knew how to do, like yard work or painting. It was a change of pace from sitting at a desk all day and it connected back to what I had to do all the time as a kid, outdoor choirs. It was the things I did in the summer for work between college semesters. It naturally connected to my serving nature.

I hear about NeighborLink. I get their web based concept. I love their ease of access and the ability to serve when it fits my schedule rather than “be here and do this" type philosophy I experienced with other organizations.

I connected to Jean via NeighborLink in the summer of 2005. Her project was painting the outside of her house. I meet Jean and her son, Todd. Painting her house was the least of her issues or at least the easiest to fix. She had some maintenence issues that the CODE Enforcement Agency was coming down on her for.

I’ve known Jean for 4 years now.

With the help of many friends over the years, I’ve been able to paint her house, mow her yard countless times, help her get her house issues fix, clean inside, trim trees, clean gutters, celebrate holidays, mourn the loss of her son due to complications with a liver transplant, journey through sickness and health issues, help her navigate life issues.

Do I know what I’m doing? Not at all.

Am I willing to help figure it out? Yes.

I’ve Learned that Loving Your Neighbor as yourself means, to fight for someone else as hard as you fight for yourself. Advocate on their behalf. Be an outlet for someone else.

Do I get it right? Not all the time.

Through meeting Jean and countless others just like her, I have realized that there are deep injustices at play with folks that find themselves in situations like Jean.

Life’s circumstances take over, putting vulnerable people in situations they’re not sure how to navigate with very little assistance available to them.

I saw that organizations like NeighborLink are fighting the fight for those who cannot win their fight on their own but struggle because of organizational capacity and people not willing to invest in them because it’s not a lucritive career option in most cases.

Some folks like me choose to go oversees to work for great organizations to fight for vulnerable populations. I choose Fort Wayne. There is more than enough to be done here.