March 4, 2015

by Florence Hallford
Lovington Reporter

A small group of Lovington residents gathered in the basement of the First Christian Church February 24 to discuss the possibility of introducing new programs and activities for the children of Lovington.
The group included Pastor Al Rennert, Roger Walker, Norma Woolridge, and Nicole Brodnansky. Resident Victoria Goacher presented information to the group along with community organizer Mike Crews with the Illinois Coalition for Community Services (ICCS). Goacher then presented the information to the board at the Lovington Village Board meeting Monday night.
ICCS began in 1985 in underserved and low-income communities in Illinois. Since its inception, ICCS has helped more than 1,000 communities with a mission to empower people to change their communities with education, advocacy and grassroots organizing. It is a private non-profit grassroots organization with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty through community based programs. Goacher called Crews after seeing the success of a food program through friend Sandra Hiser in Niantic and seeing a need to pull the community together to bring a better future to the children of Lovington.
Crews recommended beginning with a summer food program.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.