Bolin Spirit Club

The Bolin Spirit Club of East Peoria, IL was created to “raise school culture and do acts of service for the school and community.” The Club’s faculty facilitator, Rachel, recently lost a former student to cancer. That student was a patient at St. Jude’s so the 15 students who make up the Spirit Club decided they wanted to help the …

Spreading Christmas Joy

December had us partnering with do-gooders in Florida who provided Christmas gifts for 18 girls living in a group home for children who have experienced abuse. It was a team effort between the Greater West Palm Beach Women’s Club and the Ecology club from Palm Beach Day Academy. The residents of the Home Safe house filled out wish lists for …

Peace Summit 2022

LLL was a proud partner of the Peace Summit 2022 in Liberia. Thirty youths and young adults came together for the three day event to discuss “The Role of Youth in Peace Building.”   According to event organizers, “Liberia is a country that has been ravaged by fourteen years of civil unrest and crippled by the experience of two deadly …

Baskets of Hope

We partnered with 16-year-old Hope on a project. Hope shared on her grant application “I have struggled with my health my entire life and being in and out of the hospital is always scary. Baskets of Hope is the project that I started to supply the Child Life Specialists with items for kids battling health issues like me. I have …

For the Love of Pete

Grant recipient, Ayesha, is from Pakistan but came to America in 2019-2020 as a foreign exchange student. While living in rural Illinois, Ayesha volunteered at an organization that provides equine therapy for disabled children. One particular horse, Pete, captured Ayesha’s heart. Pete had his own disability, a swayback. But, according to Ayesha, that just seemed to make him more in …

Solar Lanterns

Love Like Lija funds made their way to Kenya to help at-risk families struggling during the third lockdown due to COVID-19. This project supported school-age children who were recently sent home again due to lockdowns; they were provided with food and solar lanterns. According to their application “Since schools are closed again…children spend their days traveling to get water, waiting …

HOPE Bags

We are so grateful to Street Angels, Inc. in Milwaukee and the third graders at Southwood Glen Elementary School in the Franklin Public School District for assembling 50 HOPE bags for first responders to distribute to our friends who are homeless and in need. This particular class of students has done multiple service projects for Street Angels since kindergarten and …

Literacy at the Laundromat

LLL partnered with SCARCE and their Literacy at the Laundromat project. Promotion of early literacy is crucial to children’s future success in school, and having books in the home is a large component of that.  In many communities, children spend an average of 2 hours per week at the laundromat with their parents with nothing to entertain themselves.  Through this project, …

Care Packages for Children

Robert Gutwa and the Grace Community Centre-Kisii in Kenya partnered with Love Like Lija to make care packages for children in the village. According to their application, “With the pandemic…every home had children who were desperate, out of school for over 8 months and poor parents, guardians who have lost a job, are ailing from terminal illness, elderly taking care …

Survival Backpacks

This week we are highlighting our latest project completed by our youngest grant recipient ever. Eight-year-old Maggie completed a service project last year with her Girl Scout troop and was inspired to undertake a project on her own. She applied for a $200 grant to fill Survival Backpacks for the Fill a Heart 4 Kids organization. Her original plan was …