When Businesses Show Up, Communities Rise

Peninsula Pawn owners, Rita and Scott, touring Love INC.

Peninsula Pawn’s business owners didn’t come in looking for a pitch. 

They came because they were tired of watching the same stories repeat. More neighbors without stable housing. More people slipping through the cracks. More questions about how a community can thrive when some are left carrying so much alone. 

As we walked through the vision of Love INC, they said something that stopped us in our tracks. 

“It’s a great opportunity for businesses because you’re doing all the legwork. We just need to show up and support.” 

For them, partnership wasn’t about recognition or return. It was about responsibility. 

When asked what they would say to a business on the fence, Rita’s answer was simple and disarming: 
“Why wouldn’t you want the community to be better? Because when it is, everybody prospers. Better people. Better outlooks. Better lives.” 

This season hasn’t been easy for them. They’ve had to close two of their four shops and make difficult decisions just to stay afloat. Financially, the timing couldn’t be worse. 

And yet. 

They chose to lean in anyway. 

Not only through giving, but by offering what they already have. Furniture, household items, and practical pieces that will help neighbors step into new homes with dignity when they move out of homelessness and into stability. 

They didn’t see scarcity. They saw stewardship. 

This is the kind of compassion that doesn’t always make headlines, but it fuels the work we do every day. The kind that reminds us why partnership matters, and why hope doesn’t disappear when resources feel thin. 

It shows up quietly. Trusting that God can take what’s offered and use it to transform a community, one neighbor at a time.