Ohio University student fights food insecurity with Love Light Movement
Photo via Alex Nicol
Food insecurity is a pressing issue in Athens County, where roughly one in five residents struggle to access enough food. Ohio University senior Alex Nicol is actively combating this problem through the Love Light Movement. Driven by a personal mission to spread love and kindness to those in need, Nicol works to bring leftover food from local restaurants and deliver it to homeless shelters.
Nicol does this through the Love Light Movement, a non-profit he helped create. The Love Light Movement provides services to those in need in Athens, Chauncy and the Plains. Services include free ride services, meal deliveries and general assistance.
“I've never felt so much love before doing this. I'm out there and getting to meet so many different people with so many different backgrounds. Everyone is connecting, and it doesn't matter where someone's from or what their beliefs are,” Nicol said.
The Love Light Movement was founded when Nicol discovered that helping others in need helped him recover from his own personal struggles.
“For the first time in a long time, I felt a sense of purpose, and I felt that was sort of my mission to try to help others and connect with others to spread love,” Nicol said. “From there, I just started doing anything I could to help other people. That then escalated into the nonprofit that is the Love Light Movement today.”
Nicol has spent several years in the food industry, which gave him inspiration for his next project: delivering food from local restaurants and food services to homeless shelters within the community.
Nicol and other members of the Love Light Movement arrive at local restaurants and food providers after they close at night to collect any leftover food they have. Nicol keeps the food in his own fridge before bringing it to homeless shelters the next day.
“The response from the community has definitely been positive. A lot of people want to help, and I think a lot of people are just ecstatic to see that someone's finally trying to bridge that gap and get this food to where it's needed rather than just having it go in the trash,” Nicol said.
Since its founding, Nicol has observed positive effects of the movement on people in the community. Acts of love and kindness can inspire recipients to eventually turn around and become distributors, which he recalls witnessing while working with the Love Light Movement.
“Our goal is just to try to create this ripple effect so that the love can flow more freely throughout our world and create a better place to live in,” Nicol said.