Over 2,000 people attended the launch of the 60-day challenge, a love festival promoted by Dream Center Peoria at Renaissance Coliseum Tuesday evening.
“If you have a heart for this city, then you’re going to fit right in,” development director for Dream Center Peoria, Brian Uhlenhopp said. “Everybody is going to feel included. Love brings us together. Love does not divide.”
Uhlenhopp hopes that the 60-day challenge will promote change in the community. He said that it is not a fancy plan but aims to ignite the fire in the community’s hearts. The challenge encourages the community to participate in acts of kindness to spread love in the area.
“We hope that, even though it is a 60-day challenge, it will change the way people live and it will permanently just change the culture of our area,” Uhlenhopp said. “Love is simple, but Christ-like love is radically impactful.”
Acts of love take on various forms such as buying a stranger a cup of coffee or talking to a neighbor you’ve never met.
Doug and Diane Oberhelman chaired the event and the couple shared why they love Peoria. Doug believed it would be good to do something different for the city and aim to promote positive news about Peoria.
A team of 50 people comprised of business owners, elected officials, teachers and church leaders worked together to plan the event.
“The only way we would do an end of the year event is if we could find a way where it would not just raise money for the dream center, but it would raise the tide, so to speak, for the whole city,” Uhlenhopp said.
“[We want to] make our area the best area in the world,” Oberhelman said.
According to Uhlenhopp, Dream Center wanted to show the community something that would change the way they volunteered and the way they think about people. He said the answer was love.
“We see at Dream Center how powerful acts of love are,” Uhlenhopp said. “When you treat somebody over the top with extravagant love that changes the way they think about themselves … they can walk a new path.”
Uhlenhopp said that they are excited to be on Bradley’s campus because the university is a cornerstone to the community, and movements start at universities across the country.
The goal of Love Peoria was to launch a movement of people loving better. Uhlenhopp said they had three goals Tuesday night: to raise money for Dream Center Peoria, bring people together and to inspire people to love.
“We hope that they start doing things for other people instead of thinking about it,” Uhlenhopp said. “Love is an action. Love is not a complicated plan, so we just hope that people walk away and start doing the kinds of things for other people that maybe before we just thought about.”
Bob Goff, author of “Love Does” and “Everybody Always,” was the guest speaker and aimed to motivate the crowd through a “love like Jesus” motif.
“It’s inspirational to hear how fun of a life it is just to live in the moment, do the kinds of things for other people that so often we just think about. Bob does it,” Uhlenhopp said.
The speaker started his presentation by snipping a piece of paper to demonstrate how little time we have and that we should make the most of it by loving.
Goff said that when we let small things turn into big things that our actions become contagious.
“They see people for who they’re turning into [at the Dream Center],” Goff said.
According to Goff, there are children in Peoria that need help and to be loved.
During the event, the audience watched videos showing how the Dream Center helps those in need. They offer after school programs for children and shelters for those that need a place to stay. One video told the story of how love changed an individual’s life because he was accepted. Another showed how the Dream Center surprised a group of women with a fancy dinner and make-overs.
Uhlenhopp and the Dream Center are trying to make Peoria a better place and be known for something different.
“We so often hear the question, ‘What’s next?’ for Peoria,” Uhlenhopp said. “Our answer to that ‘What’s next?’ is what if Peoria became known as a city that just loves extravagantly. That, despite our circumstances, we love each other so well and we want to raise people’s expectations and perhaps start a movement.”
Dream Center will release new challenges every week. To opt in to their updates by email, you can text “lovepeoria” to 345-345. You can also sign up at lovepeoria.com. The Dream Center encourages you to share posts of doing these acts of love on Instagram using #lovepeoria.
