YOU ARE LOVED SLEEPING BAG PROJECT:

Showing that Service to Humanity is Year-Round

Reprinted from Bill Joyner's FridayMusings 1/16/2023

Thanks to Mike Ladwig, Rotary AM past President, for sharing this story that service to humanity is a goal and mission in Livonia year-round:

Some people show their love through romantic gestures, taking their loved one out to dinner on their birthday, or buying that special Christmas gift. Others work to provide for their family and work extra hard to provide for some of the finer things in life. Many service clubs help in their communities by finding a need and fulfilling that need.

YOU ARE LOVED

You are loved was founded a few years ago by fellow Rotarian Sue Landmesser-Cohl with the goal of providing sleeping bags to the homeless in our community. Sue spoke to our Rotary club a few years ago, and subsequent to her speaking the club and Sue felt a synergy and she joined our club. The partnership began.

THIS YEAR

The assembly of the bags started in early summer, and Sue and other Sleeping Bag Project angels began collecting items. The Livonia Senior center became a drop-off location for local contributions. Friday Musings made various mentions in his newsletter. Many people visited the Facebook site “You Are Loved City” and shared the site with others.

On Saturday, Nov. 19 along with fellow You Are Loved Angels, and fellow Rotarians Claude, Dave, and Mike we loaded the well over 100 sleeping bag kits into a U-Haul and drove to Elevate park located in the shadow of Cass Tech High. Each sleeping bag kit consists of a sleeping bag, warm blankets, hats gloves and scarves, sweat pants, and sweatshirts, (courtesy of the Livonia Democratic Club).

They were encased in a heavy-duty tarp-like bag to can be worn to stay dry in the rain and snow. As we pulled into the park many of the residents were waiting for us, and there was a genuine appreciation and a profound thankfulness by the people we provided the sleeping bag kits. We also had dozens of men’s and ladies’ coats that were happily received.

Conclusion

“Love thy neighbor as thyself” Matthew 22:37-39 is in our bible. Our sleeping bag project was as much about providing warmth for the shelter insecure, as sharing our love by acknowledging the divine that dwells inside all of us. All of the sleeping bag angels were blessed to share that love with our friends at Elevate park on a cold, windy day in November.