Mark your calendar and get out your checkbook because a local nonprofit organization that helps folks in the Oxford-Orion area meet their most basic needs is throwing a party and everyone is invited.

Love In the Name of Christ (Love INC) of North Oakland County is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a gala on Friday, May 19 at the King’s Court Castle (2325 Joslyn Rd.), part of Canterbury Village in Orion Township.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and a buffet dinner – including chicken piccata, tenderloin beef tips, sauteed green beans, and rosemary and herb baked redskin potatoes – will follow at 7 p.m.

The celebration will include live music provided by the Night Lights Jazz Combo led by George Sinnott, a silent auction and a cash bar. There will also be a short presentation reflecting on the past 10 years and looking ahead to Love INC’s future.

“It’s a good opportunity to see where we began and how we’ve grown,” said Sandy Weaver, executive director of Love INC. “We planted a seed (and) we’re still growing.”

Tricia Chapman will serve as the gala’s keynote speaker. She brought Love INC – a model used nationwide – to north Oakland County, spent two years helping establish the local affiliate, then served on its board of directors for six years, spending the last three years as chairperson.

“I love the concept of Love INC and I just want to commend and thank the community for staying the course (over the last 10 years),” she said.

With 10 partner churches supporting it, Love INC of North Oakland County was launched in 2007. It’s a cooperative effort that links churches, volunteers and service agencies together, so they can reach out to disadvantaged people and meet their needs.

“It allows churches to be more effective in being the hands and feet of Jesus,” explained Chapman, who now serves as executive pastor of Kentwood Community Church near Grand Rapids. “A by-product of that is that the body of Christ is stronger within a community. Relationships deepen across church lines (as ministries work together).”

Gala tickets are $60 per person or $100 per couple and can be reserved online by visiting www.loveincofnoc.org. The deadline is Monday, May 15.

Unfortunately, “ticket sales are slow,” according to Weaver, and this has her worried because the gala isn’t just a celebration, it’s also a much-needed fund-raiser to help fill Love INC’s coffers.

“We’re basically down about $20,000 this year because we’ve lost two major contributors (a company and an individual) that have moved out of the area,” she said. “Things like that hurt us.”

On top of that, Weaver noted, “We’re not getting all of the funds that we used to get from the churches.”

“A lot of the churches don’t have the funds they used to have (due to a decrease in donations) or they’re channeling them in a lot of other ways, focusing on different areas of need,” she explained.

Churches are the biggest source of revenue. Of the $97,972 in revenue Love INC received last year, 26.22 percent came from the 26 churches that now partner with the organization, while 21.85 percent came from individual donations.

“We have to figure out how to make more money,” Weaver said.

Love INC operates a clearinghouse (or call center) that serves as a contact point for people in need. They call in, their situation is evaluated, their needs are identified, and then they are connected with local churches and agencies that have the proper resources to provide them with whatever assistance they require.

“We help them get the help they need,” Weaver said. “When they call us, it’s a one-stop shop. We do all the legwork for them, so they don’t have to go from church to church to church . . . When they call us with a specific need, we know where that need can be met.”

Love INC assists with needs related to rent and utility bills, car repairs, minor home repairs, food (ranging from groceries to free, weekly community meals served at five local churches), clothing, counseling, budget classes, household goods, personal needs and more.

To help clients meet their needs, Love INC utilizes the resources of its 26 partner churches, most of which are located in Oxford and Orion, plus local and state government agencies and countless area nonprofit groups, such as food pantries, and businesses.

In 2016, Love INC served 441 families and helped meet 1,020 family needs.

“We just do so much good,” Weaver said.

Last year, the clearinghouse received 4,378 client-related calls and its 20 volunteers worked a combined 2,204 hours. A total of 538 church referrals were made, plus 568 referrals to various agencies.

“We are the only clearinghouse (locally). If we went under, I don’t know what people would do . . . There is no other organization like us (in north Oakland County). We are so different from other organizations. We’re hands-on, not just a handout.”

Unlike many other charitable groups, Love INC doesn’t simply meet an individual or family’s immediate need, then move on.

“We follow-up with them to make sure they’re doing okay,” Weaver explained. “We send out what we call ‘love notes’ a month or two afterward to see how they’re doing, let them know we’re thinking of them.”

Love INC is big on going “deeper” than other groups or agencies to learn what the root cause of a person’s situation is and what it’s going to take to lift them out of their personal pit and help them turn their life around.

“We really, truly care about people,” Weaver said.

But Love INC isn’t simply about satisfying the material side of life. Chapman noted the organization hopes to have an “eternal impact” on the folks it serves by providing nourishment for their spiritual side and helping them find a “church home” if they currently don’t have one.

“Once basic needs are met, people are more open to hearing about the love of Jesus Christ,” she explained.

Although Love INC has improved the lives of countless people over the past decade, the organization isn’t about to rest on its laurels.

“We’re always interested in finding out what more we can do to help these people,” Weaver said.