Lunch With a Purpose started out in the Capital region as a
Facebook group with just three, young, highly-motivated members.
Now, less than half a year later, there are more than 800 members on Facebook and others who are contacted weekly via email by the administrators.
Lunch With a Purpose—or just LWP to its core members—describes itself on its info page as a group of people who “one day during the week, from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m., will be donating our lunch hours to help a charitable organization.”
The group has accomplished much more than it set out to do, however, and now has become an inspiration to many local people and an asset to Lansing-area non-profits.
More to Mardi Gras than Beads and Paczkis It all started on Fat Tuesday this past year, when a few friends sat around discussing what they would give up for Lent. They decided that doing more was better than doing less, so instead of giving something up, they decided to simply give.
Justin Caine, co-owner of the video production company
Good Fruit Video in East Lansing and one of LWP’s administrators, explains that he and friends TJ Duckett, Justin Sailor and Sara Griffon—all active members of Lansing social and non-profit organizations—decided to create an event and, “with a 24 hour turnaround,” he says, “got six people out to the first Lunch with a Purpose.”
The first meeting was at Lansing’s
Ronald McDonald House, where help is often needed in the kitchen. It was an incredible success for both the volunteers and the house.
Caine chose the Ronald McDonald House as the first venue for volunteerism because of a close emotional tie he holds with the house.
“It’s an amazing organization, close to my heart,” Caine explains, “because when I was fighting brain cancer as a child, there wasn’t a Ronald McDonald House in Lansing. My family slept in chairs, on cots and on the floor of my room because they wanted to be near me, but didn’t have a location to stay other than my hospital room.”
The week after helping the Ronald McDonald House, there were more volunteers. Some, like Emily Mugerian, are now part of the backbone of the group, planning events and making sure they can keep up and keep organized while growing at an astonishing rate.
Why LWP WorksThe group seems to have expanded so quickly because it struck upon a fundamental desire in people: to help.
Most people want to give of their time, efforts, and resources, but they think they don’t have enough time or money, or they simply don’t know where to begin. LWP makes volunteering accessible to anyone who has a lunch hour.
Rather than asking local people to give hundreds of dollars or entire days to charitable causes, LWP offers the opportunity to give a couple of hours or a few rolls of toilet paper.
As Caine points out, “Too many times, we don’t realize how much giving one hour of our time means to so many people and organizations in the community. Many times, it seems that a large commitment of time or money is all that will make a difference, but if a lot of people can commit to giving a helping hand for an hour a week, the effect of their efforts can be huge.”
Since their first week at the Ronald McDonald House, LWP has organized events every week, generally on Thursdays around lunchtime, for such organizations as the
McRee Guest House, the
Sparrow Regional Medical Center, the
Open Door Ministry,
Big Brothers Big Sisters,
Angel House, the
MSU Give or Take Center, Hosannah House, and the
American Red Cross.
The group’s Facebook page has also become a hotspot for publicizing and finding support for other local events that benefit charitable organizations. Administrators TJ Duckett and Justin Caine are particularly dedicated to organizing and inspiring all over the area, and every day of the week.
They’ve organized LWP teams for such events as East Lansing’s April
Battlefield Brawl,
Bad Haircuts for a Good Cause, and the
June Relay for Life in Lansing.
Though it’s still only a fledgling Facebook group, the founding members are so dedicated and motivated that they’ve already caught the eye of many mid-Michigan organizations and they have plans to make LWP even more influential.
Making It OfficialSara Griffon, one of LWP’s administrators, says that they hope to be officially incorporated by August. She is taking the necessary steps to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which means the group would be able to plan and host bigger events, which they currently can only be part of as a group of volunteers.
Emily Mugerian, who currently plans most of LWP’s Thursday events, says that she hopes that Lunch with a Purpose will soon be a household name locally and across the country. She says that the ultimate goal is to be a gateway for people to find a place to regularly volunteer on their own.
“We hope that we can get to the point around here that we can have multiple events each week,” says Mugerian, “and people can choose where they want to go, what they want to be involved in. [We hope] this opens the door [for] people and shows them where the need is.”
Mugerian knows that each person will feel a connection with a specific organization and expects to see people continue to spend time and be of assistance at their favorites, even on days when LWP is focusing its efforts elsewhere.
LWP is a great help to the community and gives much needed assistance to charitable organizations that require more hands and funds. But perhaps most key to its success is the way that the LWP organizers make weekly volunteers feel welcome, feel like part of a caring and warm community and feel like they are making a huge difference with every hour they give.
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Julianne VanWagenen is a contributor to Capital Gains.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Lunch With a Purpose participants, including Justin Caine, deliver backpacks and school supplies to the City Rescue Mission.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie