A BIG thank you to Aaron Flint for this opportunity.
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Below is a recap if your speakers don't work.
Her son provided probably the best description of what Love INC in South Lincoln County does here in Montana.
He said, so mom, basi Oh cally you're a dating service. I said, What? He said, people who have a need, you match them with those who want to meet the need. And we are.
It was great catching up with Lisa Goodman, the Executive Director of Love INC in South Lincoln County. She made the drive over and joined us for our coverage from the Montana Governor's Cup in Columbia Falls on Friday.
Love INC stands for "Love in the name of Christ." It's a Christian organization that partners with churches to help the people in need find the people who can meet that need.
Here's what Goodman told the Gianforte Family Foundation in a recent press release about their organization.
Poverty is a mindset, and the number one poverty indicator is a lack of relationships. We are working with people to change the mindset of poverty and handouts to one of transformation.
The 11 churches comprising Love INC are working to bring restoration and hope to Libby, Troy, and nearby communities. “We see more and more working poor, as the gap between working families and subsidized families widens. Our Gap No Ministries help fill the need,” Goodman said.
By the way, Love INC also has established strong chapters in Yellowstone, Gallatin and Fergus Counties and is celebrating 30 years as a Montana nonprofit this year..
Here's an excerpt from my chat with Goodman:
Aaron Flint: "Talk about the just the need in Lincoln County and in Libby, Montana. You know, I just saw our friend Jesse Ramos from Americans for Prosperity. We did an event at a grocery store there back in October, highlighting inflation, and we had like 40 people lined up just to get a gift card to go to the grocery store. That told me that, like, hey, with the, you know, with the timber industry being hit hard over the years, with these mines not being up and running- every day Montanans need those economic opportunities, or they wouldn't need, you know, a lot of this help right now. But so it sounds like the struggle is real, the needs are real."
Lisa Goodman: "I can talk about this for a long time, but I won't, but we've lived in- my husband and I have lived in Lincoln County now for 21 years. We've also lived in Circle Montana for four years. And I grew up in Hamilton. My husband grew up right here in Columbia Falls...He is the superintendent of schools and he would love to visit with you sometime in the future. But what we have noticed is that poverty looks beautiful when it's green. People drive into our community and they don't see the poverty. They see how beautiful and green the mountains are- when we step, when my husband and I are in the mountains, getting wood, going hiking, getting huckleberries, we step out of like two feet away from our car, and we're in dead forest because it hasn't been managed. And the same is true with many of our people of Lincoln County. It looks very pretty on the outside, but you take about two feet off, take another road, and you're going to see the poverty that people are living in that has been generational. Homelessness is a huge issue. We are number two for unemployment in the state. And our school systems receive the same grants that our Indian reservations do. They call it white reservation. We have, you know, of course, the asbestos cleanup that happened in Lincoln County, and what we are beginning to see is hope and restoration and healing. We're seeing new jobs developing. We have several people who are homeless coming through. Just this last week, we had two men homeless in their 50s. We've helped women in their 70s who are homeless. We have a homeless lady who's 70 right now, and we're helping walk with her as she's looking for a place to live, to rent. But the the economic situation in the community is not helping people in their thriving."
Her son provided probably the best description of what Love INC in South Lincoln County does here in Montana.
He said, so mom, basi Oh cally you're a dating service. I said, What? He said, people who have a need, you match them with those who want to meet the need. And we are.
It was great catching up with Lisa Goodman, the Executive Director of Love INC in South Lincoln County. She made the drive over and joined us for our coverage from the Montana Governor's Cup in Columbia Falls on Friday.
Love INC stands for "Love in the name of Christ." It's a Christian organization that partners with churches to help the people in need find the people who can meet that need.
Here's what Goodman told the Gianforte Family Foundation in a recent press release about their organization.
Poverty is a mindset, and the number one poverty indicator is a lack of relationships. We are working with people to change the mindset of poverty and handouts to one of transformation.
The 11 churches comprising Love INC are working to bring restoration and hope to Libby, Troy, and nearby communities. “We see more and more working poor, as the gap between working families and subsidized families widens. Our Gap No Ministries help fill the need,” Goodman said.
By the way, Love INC also has established strong chapters in Yellowstone, Gallatin and Fergus Counties and is celebrating 30 years as a Montana nonprofit this year..
Here's an excerpt from my chat with Goodman:
Aaron Flint: "Talk about the just the need in Lincoln County and in Libby, Montana. You know, I just saw our friend Jesse Ramos from Americans for Prosperity. We did an event at a grocery store there back in October, highlighting inflation, and we had like 40 people lined up just to get a gift card to go to the grocery store. That told me that, like, hey, with the, you know, with the timber industry being hit hard over the years, with these mines not being up and running- every day Montanans need those economic opportunities, or they wouldn't need, you know, a lot of this help right now. But so it sounds like the struggle is real, the needs are real."
Lisa Goodman: "I can talk about this for a long time, but I won't, but we've lived in- my husband and I have lived in Lincoln County now for 21 years. We've also lived in Circle Montana for four years. And I grew up in Hamilton. My husband grew up right here in Columbia Falls...He is the superintendent of schools and he would love to visit with you sometime in the future. But what we have noticed is that poverty looks beautiful when it's green. People drive into our community and they don't see the poverty. They see how beautiful and green the mountains are- when we step, when my husband and I are in the mountains, getting wood, going hiking, getting huckleberries, we step out of like two feet away from our car, and we're in dead forest because it hasn't been managed. And the same is true with many of our people of Lincoln County. It looks very pretty on the outside, but you take about two feet off, take another road, and you're going to see the poverty that people are living in that has been generational. Homelessness is a huge issue. We are number two for unemployment in the state. And our school systems receive the same grants that our Indian reservations do. They call it white reservation. We have, you know, of course, the asbestos cleanup that happened in Lincoln County, and what we are beginning to see is hope and restoration and healing. We're seeing new jobs developing. We have several people who are homeless coming through. Just this last week, we had two men homeless in their 50s. We've helped women in their 70s who are homeless. We have a homeless lady who's 70 right now, and we're helping walk with her as she's looking for a place to live, to rent. But the the economic situation in the community is not helping people in their thriving."
