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How it all began

Since Shades of Love LKN was first founded, we hit the ground running with community involvement and acts of service. In 2016, we held our first community event where we invited all our local first responders out to engage with the community in a positive way. We had roughly 100 people participated which we thought to be successful! In 2017 we kicked off the year by adopting Walter G Byers Elementary School in Charlotte and providing over 450 pairs of brand new sneakers to local kids who were in need. Each child received brand new sneakers and a pack of socks, and somehow we pulled this all off within just 4 weeks! {Our community is AMAZING!}

In 2017 we also held another community event in August- which is how our annual community event came to be! Each August we put on one heck of a celebration and invite everyone out to have some fun, shop, enjoy food, and of course we provide some much needed supplies and backpacks to the kiddos for back to school!

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Aside from the annual BIG event each August, we also do several smaller yet powerful events throughout the year. Being a resource hub for many other local non-profits and organizations in the community we are always on it to do supply drives, and helping where there is a need. When other communities have faced blatant hatred and acts of violence, we organized multi-denominational and multi-lingual prayer vigils to offer prayer, support, and peace for our own community and hopes for that message to spread. When neighboring states have suffered due to natural disasters, we are reactive and help do our part to rebuild and restore.

Beginning in 2018, Shades of Love LKN has been honored to be voted the LKN Best Community Service Organization! In 2019, we earned our Platinum Seal of Transparency from Guidestar which we are super proud. Every dollar donated we strive to make sure it assists the communitgoes right back out servicing the community in the best possible way!

On May 4th, 2019 our town lost one of our own. K9 Officer Jordan Sheldon was killed in the line of duty and our whole community shook. We knew we wanted to do something to honor his name, and through the help of the community we were able to help establish the Jordan Sheldon Memorial Scholarship Endowment fund through Mitchell Community College to help incoming officers interested in advancing to the K9 unit. As of 2020, Shades of Love LKN has donated over $6,000 towards the scholarship! In addition we had a memorial bench custom built to be placed in the Officer Sheldon Memorial dog park here in Mooresville. If anything through this process, we learned that you can shake a community, but we are strong and could not be broken.

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Over the years we have established several programs to aid in our mission of unity. Some of those include our Backpack Bundles of LOVE, Feed a First Responder, Adopt a HERO, Kindness Kids, Caring Cards, and several others all in an effort to build trust and relationships within our community.

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Our 2020 Annual event looked a little different due to COVID-19. We knew there would be a huge need due to the pandemic, but had no idea just how much. We gave out almost 725 backpacks fully stocked with personalized school supplies, personal hygiene products, home learning activities, shoes, clothes, and of course some fun items. With kids then returning to school in the late fall, we realized that the schools would need support for recess and learning since their classroom functions would look a little different as well. Thankfully, through donations and partnerships with Dicks Sporting Goods we were able to provide over 45 classes complete recess kits with personalized toys for each kid to enjoy on the playground or in the gym!

For 2021, we kicked off a program helping our local homeless community "tent city" in Charlotte and has been providing weekly/ bi-weekly trips to stock families with much needed blankets and supplies. As well as put together over 1000 backpacks fully stuffed with school supplies, hygiene kits, and more! We also sponsored Christmas for several local heroes in our Hope for Heroes program!

In 2022, we kicked off the year by helping raise money for a local Ukrainian friend whose family was trapped and unsafe. We were able to coordinate donations directly to the people and provide much needed emergency assistance during the unfortunate attacks. We gave out close to 1000 backpacks again for our annual backpack drive, all amidst having to move out of our storage units and relocate, therefore having to move all supplies and reorganize which wasn’t an easy feat, but we got it done!

For 2023, we were able to add Shades of Love LKN t-shirts to the backpacks! This is something we’ve wanted to do forever, but never had the resources! We gave out roughly 1100 backpacks fully stocked with supplies, hygiene kits, books, activities, laundry kits, snacks, and more! In November we gave out over 100 Holiday Food Kits the week prior to Thanksgiving so families could have a full meal. In December, we partnered with some of the Mooresville Professional Firefighters to help raise money for Chief Robinson who was diagnosed for the sixth time with cancer. The goal was $10k, and between our fundraiser and the other local fundraisers a little over $17k was raised! Wrapping up December, we gave out roughly 200 cold weather kits which included stocking hats, gloves, chapsticks, lotion, and more to help keep individuals and families warm over the winter break.

Do you want to help?

We collect year-round, and greatly appreciate any support you are able to give!

Click here to learn more about how you can get involved!

programs

january / February

Women’s Shelter Event

Partnering with local organizations, businesses, & other non profits to give make-overs to women in local shelters, community homes, or subsidized living. Women typically will get a fresh hair cut, make over, interview outfit, updated resume, updated headshot, and some other goodies as well to help give them the best chance possible and getting back on their feet.

March -August

back to school bags

We partner with local businesses, organizations and non-profits to collect backpacks, & school supplies for our huge annual backpack drive in August for Back to School. Schools, families, foster organizations, & guidance counselors will register families in need and we put together fully stocked backpacks with their personalized school supply list, hygiene kits, a small food kit, age/grade appropriate books of their own, and much more. This drive requires a lot of support, and collection throughout the entire year.

May / June

summer kits

At the end of the school year, prior to students going home for the summer, we put together warm weather kits which include ice packs, sunscreen, bandaids, cool rags, chapsticks, and more.

october

no tricks, just treats

We deliver buckets to our first responders with gatorades, granola bars, healthy snacks, beverages, grocery gift cards, and more to show our support for our local heroes.

November

holiday meal kits

The week before Thanksgiving, we deliver meal kits to families in need providing food, and support for a home cooked meal.

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