Explorations of Uninvited Outreach: Bringing Love To The Whiteaker
By Daniel Gerlach
We don’t really think about how our actions or lack of action impact other people. However, most individuals who feel alone are often looking for any lifeline, just one positive message that is genuine and sparked by authentic, open handed love to let them know that someone cares. Honestly, if we could see the results of our actions, I don’t think people would ever stop saying, “I love you and you are infinitely valuable to me.” Think about it; if people knew that they were loved, imagine how that could fundamentally change the atmosphere of an entire community.
On January 22, 2021, I walked, with a staple gun in hand, alongside two other community creatives to launch a social experiment. Could we, just three people, engage in community conversations with nothing but laminated sheets of paper saying, “You are Loved” and “Eres Amado”? The goal was to put these encouraging messages in strategic places that people would see while driving or walking by. We wanted to make a difference in a small but powerful way.
To be honest, I was a little anxious. Walking around a neighborhood I didn’t know, a neighborhood famous for its anarcho-socio ideals, made me a bit uncomfortable. I didn’t know if the neighbors would come out of their homes and tell us to tear the signs down — or tear them down themselves.
Yet, I knew that what we were doing was important. If one person smiled after having a difficult day, it was worth it. If someone was reminded of the simple truth that they mattered in even the slightest way, it was worth it. We walked through alleyways, stepped through mud, and were definitely approached by some of the local residents — but they, in return, met us with love.
That is why even something as simple as posting a sign that says “You are Loved” is so incredibly meaningful. We at Love for Lane County honestly might never fully hear about how this project impacted the community, but that doesn’t mean that coming out there in the cold of winter wasn’t the best hour we spent all day.
On the flip side, outreach doesn’t just make a positive impact on the community. For a college student like me with school, work, and internship, I’m generally swamped with too many things to do and so little time… and I’m sure many of you can relate. It is sometimes insurmountably difficult to get out of one’s routine and do things in the community. In this day in age, with a new crisis seemingly emerging every week, it has never been more important that we break out of our norms and put ourselves into the shoes of others.
And that is what this outreach did for me. It got me out of my “bubble” and helped me to see a community that I drive by every day, but rarely through. Even just walking through the Eugene-Whiteaker area and seeing what other people’s lives looked like was so eye-opening as to what I was failing to see: the needs of a community just barely a street over from my daily commute. Not only that, but I never took the time to slow down and really grasp the uniqueness of my own city’s diverse landscape.
The greatest takeaway of the day, to me, was that you don’t know who you might empower, who you might encourage, but you are needed. No one can reach out to your community and do some the same good as you can. No one has the creativity and the position in the world like you do.
Whether you are a gas-station attendant, work in sales, real-estate, build bridges, or serve coffee, there are people near you that I can’t reach that you can — and it’s up to you to shift the balance.
All we did was staple some laminated paper onto telephone poles. In no way did we completely change the world. But, if everyone built a bridge, shared some light, and showed in some way that those around them truly mattered … that would be one crazy awesome world.
You are loved.
