They are a local group of very dedicated volunteers that works year-round to make the world a better place. On Wednesday night, Mission of Love hosted its annual FUNraiser to look back on the many accomplishments of the past year and raise money to keep the mission going strong.
Mission of Love is run out of a small home office in Austintown. The humanitarian aid it provides can be seen and felt in literally every corner of the globe.
The Mission is made up of a tight-knit network of local volunteers who travel wherever they're needed around the world to help less fortunate families live better lives.
"We're not here to save the world, but we are here to touch the hands and hearts that are within our reach," said founder and Mission of Love Foundation Director Kathleen Price.
In the past year alone, volunteers have built homes for orphans in Guatemala, provided much needed supplies and medical aid to the people of Haiti, and earlier this month returned to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to put roofs over the Lakota Native Americans.
"The children don't have houses. Imagine not having a house or a bed, or you have a really small house and you've got 25 people living in it," said volunteer Sieglinde Warren.
"I was with him when he introduced the children to their new bedroom and he said 'children, this year you're not going to freeze,'" recalled Price.
Several volunteers and local doctors were given national humanitarian awards during the dinner. They were signed by President Obama himself, to show his appreciation for their service.
"It's for those who have given of themselves, and that's really the greatest gift is to give of yourself. That is true love," said volunteer Dr. Rashid Abdu.
That love makes the mission go, today, tomorrow, and every day of the year.
"Sometimes I feel like it's a drop in a bucket," said Warren. "But every drop adds up and then the bucket just sort of fills up, and if there's ever a need for something Kathy will say, 'we can do it.'"
Kathy Price started the non-profit Mission of Love Foundation more than 20 years ago. In that time, they've been able to airlift more than 35,000,000 pounds of aid to five continents because of the Denton Program. That's a law which lets private citizens use space on military cargo planes to transport donated goods and services. Mission of Loves does so with the help of the 910th Airlift Wing in Vienna.
