Meet Meredith Chapuis | Co-Founder & Director of Operations

We had the good fortune of connecting with Meredith Chapuis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Meredith, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We started simply because we saw a need in our community. The year was 2020, the three of us were just out for a run together having a conversation, the world was wild. People were disconnected, discontent, confused, and, more practically, there were people going to bed hungry in our own community. God put an urgency in our heart to meet a tangible need. We have realized that people were always experiencing hunger and lack of community. The needs were just highlighted to us, and when you see a Kingdom need, you’re called to respond to a Kingdom need. And we believe that in God’s Kingdom people are fed and find authentic and loving community.

So, we cast the vision and people joined us to create a fun and memorable experience where food insecurity needs are practically met, people love one another, and create community through lasting relationships. It is hardly something that we are doing on our own, actually our local community has done the heavy lifting through volunteering to meet the needs of our neighbors.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
For The Love is different because we are providing free meals for those in need but we didn’t want to be like so many of the ministries we saw, who are doing important work to fight food insecurity. We wanted to do things differently. The difference for us is that food is just a opportunity to create space to give dignity. We never set out to feed the masses, but rather to create opportunities for neighbors who are down on their luck to come and sit alongside neighbors who can spare more than a little and everyone in between. We believe that everyone belongs and we think that at Neighbor Nights, our picnic tables represent this beautifully.

Volunteers make it happen each week, corporate teams leave the office a little early and come roll up their sleeves and cook a hot fresh meal with us.

We learn new lessons every week, I hope that we continue to do so because it makes us better. One of the biggest ones we have learned is that food insecurity doesn’t have a face. We can’t look at someone and tell based on appearance if their family is food insecure or not. It’s not our place to make that call even if we could. Everyone deserves dignity, every life is worthy.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If you come visit us in Northwest Arkansas we have so many favorite places but a few of them are Ozark Mountain Bagel Co, the best bagels in town. The downtown Bentonville square where there is always some sort of event happening. Spark Ice Cream on the square is the best stop for ice cream with the family. Bring your mountain bike because we have some of the best mountain bike trails in the world. Airship Coffee and Yeyo’s (recently rated a top 50 restaurant in the US) can’t be skipped either!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
So many people deserve a shout out for believing in For The Love cheering us on, inspiring us, and praying for us. Our relationship with Jesus grounds everything we do. Our husbands for cheering us on from day one and doing so many things to make this little nonprofit work. Our board members who advise us, encourage us, and cheer us on.

One more for good measure, Bob Goff. (Bob, I hope you see this!) The three of us (Meredith, Melinda, & Jennifer) have read all of his books and been inspired each time but I will never forget as we were dreaming about this idea of a non-profit food truck that provides free meals, we quoted him so often. “Make love your plan, you can figure out the details later” and the admonition to “love difficult people.”Bob’s whimsy and fun adventure inspired us to chase this wild idea and do something so much bigger than we could have imagined.

Website: https://www.forthelovenwa.com

Instagram: @forthelovenwa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForTheLoveNWA

Other: Tik Tok – @forthelovenwa

Image Credits
Whitney Scott Photography