Love, Actually: Local Non-Profit Supports Churches’s Work in Communities

David Oberg returned from months of pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal ready to change his life.

A devout Christian raised in an ecumenical church in Alaska and longtime congregant of Crozet United Methodist Church, he’d taken leave from his law practice after a painful season.

His father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and COVID-19 had come to central Virginia during his tenure as an Albemarle County School Board member. Meanwhile, Oberg said, his work as a commercial litigator wasn’t satisfying the call he’d been feeling since his late 20s to truly serve others.

In late 2024, a few days after telling his law partner he was ready to wind down the practice, Oberg spotted a freshly posted nonprofit leadership role: executive director of the local Love in the Name of Christ (Love INC) chapter, which supports a network of more than 120 local churches to build direct relationships to help people in need.

Feeling underqualified, Oberg took the leap of faith anyway, writing a letter expressing his sincere interest and acknowledging what he feared was a lack of directly relevant experience.

“I said I would apply, if God wants me to have it,” he remembered. “God calls us to do stuff we’re not necessarily capable of doing. And yet we do it.”

He soon learned the organization’s outgoing head, Raymond Klein, had himself made a career change two decades prior. Klein had managed three local 7-Eleven franchises, and before that he was a district manager at Sears.

“Ray Klein read my letter and started laughing,” Oberg said. “It was the same as his letter had been.”

Oberg got the job and started last March. He quickly learned to tell Love INC’s story, founded in 1977 with an aim to mobilize churches and “get people of faith taking care of people again,” he said.

“The government does it very impersonally,” Oberg added. “You get a letter, you get a check, there’s no room there for building personal relationships.”

At Love INC, the approach is different. The team of four, based on Pantops, fields a range of requests from member churches. On a given day, someone may need help paying their electric bill. But rather than just making a payment, Oberg explained, they’ll invite the person for a deep conversation to better understand what’s happening, which may include drug abuse, or increasingly, family members stealing from elders.

“Otherwise, you may be missing things that they really need,” he said. “If they can’t pay the bill next month, you haven’t addressed the underlying issue. You can’t just check a box. That’s what government agencies do.”

The team also spends a lot of time with people who are living on the street or otherwise experiencing homelessness.

“Sometimes they just need a hug. We give out a lot of frickin’ hugs. They’re stunned, they may smell, and no one is giving them that human connection. It matters,” he said. “And sometimes it gets frustrating, because there’s nothing you can do. Sometimes all you can do is pray with them and say, “I can’t fix this.”

But much of the work is helping churches join forces to launch essential services, then stepping back while the communities take ownership of sustained efforts.

Locally, Love INC advised on the establishment of Crozet Cares Closet, located on the grounds of Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The closet opened in July 2023 to offer “non-food essentials” like hygiene products, paper goods and cleaning supplies.

It’s a joint ministry of 10 Crozet churches who formed the Crozet Region Interfaith Outreach Council (CRIOC) in 2022. The closet opens every Saturday of the month, and averages more than 250 people served each month.

“We get the churches together because no church can do it themselves. We help people build it and then we say, ‘Let’s go on to the next thing,’” Oberg said. “It works.”

Love INC also established the Klein Care Wagon (named for Oberg’s predecessor) earlier this year. It’s a van loaned out across the network of churches and is especially useful for transporting donated furniture.

In July, members of the Crozet United Methodist Church Youth Mission Team took the van to Tyrrell County in Eastern North Carolina to perform home repair and yard work for local residents.

Oberg is in the process of launching a thrift store, New Life Thrift, at Love INC’s building where people in need can “shop” at no cost for donated home goods like linens, dishes, bedding and clothing. Those who are able can purchase items as well.

He credited The Green Olive Tree in Crozet for teaching him and the team how to run a thrift store. “We are making this up as we go along,” Oberg said with levity.  “It’s all one space… store and office. Like somebody connected an attorney’s office to a Kmart.”

The store will soft launch in early October and be fully open for the holidays, in time to support an expanded toy drive where family members choose items for their loved ones, making gifts more personal and respecting the dignity of all involved.

The organization plans to make Christmas possible for 230 kids this season, doubling last year’s total.

Love INC welcomes donations of home goods in good condition and new items for the toy drive at 199 Spotnap Rd., Suite 6, in Charlottesville. Those interested in volunteering should call (434) 977-7777.