Finding good real estate has been by far the most challenging part so far about the With Love project. As I’ve said before, there is considerable real estate here in Southwest LA, but most of the locations are either (mis)managed by absentee landlords or aren’t suitable for the Market and Cafe. When I started looking for real estate, I knew that it would be difficult, but the lack of good options was still pretty discouraging.

A couple months ago, I met with a major organization, World Impact, to share with them more about the With Love project. During that meeting, they mentioned the possibility of leasing a space of theirs for the store. I thought it was a long shot, but set-up a meeting to see the space, and I fell in love with it! A few meetings later, it was clear that both the World Impact and With Love were excited about partnering together in leasing the space. However, there was one problem, no dedicated parking.

To address the parking issue, I started praying and then problem-solving (they work really well together as long as they’re in that order). God gave me vision for three proposed parking solutions, and I presented the options to World Impact. We went back and forth for a couple weeks, resolved to settle for a less desirable option because the best option, renovating a maintenance building in the back of the storefront to created a small covered parking lot, would cost World Impact money they didn’t have. Then, out of nowhere, from my perspective, the prayer part saved the day and brought us a donor to cover the entire cost of creating the parking structure! Praise God! That was what we needed. God was blessing this location and it was time to seal the deal.

Roughly a year after I started looking for a space to house With Love, God gifted us a fantastic location. This particular location is great for many reasons: responsible landlords, prime location on a main street, and five schools with two blocks of the location. Five schools! That means a lot of student and parent foot traffic going by the business everyday, allowing us to get healthy foods in their homes and mouths extremely effectively!

The space is still in its raw form, and a lot of work still needs to be done on it, but its good to finally have a hold on something tangible that we can see, hold, and touch! As of yet, location has been the biggest hurdle to this project. It’s been the proverbial thorn-in-the-side, and seeing it finally overcome shows me that God is the one who has truly been orchestrating everything.

Now that location is taken care of, there’s an even bigger hurdle on the horizon: fundraising! Having a physical space only matters if there’s enough money to fix it up. The way I see it, one hurdled has just been leaped, and now there’s another even bigger one staring right at us! But God has shown me that just as He brought us a location, He will also be there for us in fundraising. I know that I can trust Him with fundraising, as His faithfulness goes way beyond our expectations.