Our History

The LOT Project was founded in 2009 by Matt Beasley and Jason Ashley. The early days of the organization included driving kids from the Alphabet Streets neighborhood to children's ministry programs at Newspring. Andrew Gibson joined the effort later that year and helped to get The LOT Project registered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. In the fall of 2009, our first official program, The LOT, began. We leased a portion of the building at 302 West Market Street (which we still operate out of today) and began providing food and clothing to a population of homeless, housing-insecure, and low-income individuals in and around the downtown area. Our initial audience was about 20 guests, once a week. In 2024, we renamed this program Louie’s after our long-time volunteer and former board member, Louie Ross. Today, Louie’s is currently serving an average of 100+ guests, twice a week and serves over 1,300 unique individuals each year (as of 2024).

In 2016, the organization formed a partnership with Artisan Fellowship Church to support their community garden program. Artisan Gardens was created and managed by Marci Sloan, and existed on E Street and G Street. These gardens served as an avenue for the church to engage residents of the neighborhood in gardening activities, nutritional counseling, and church programs.  In 2020, Artisan Fellowship withdrew from the garden program and sold the gardens to us. We continue to manage the gardens with the goal of serving, teaching, and engaging the ABC community in a variety of ways. In 2021, we received a donated property on H Street to create a third location for Artisan Gardens. In 2023, we started a weekly outreach program called Meet You at the Garden where we invite the families of the neighborhood to join us for games, free snacks, a Bible lesson for the kids, and an overall supportive community. In 2024, in partnership with Capstone Church’s Student Station program, we also started offering free tutoring services to the kids in the neighborhood. Our goal with this program is to cultivate a space for our neighbors where they are welcomed, known, and loved.

Lastly, Village Homes began out of a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Anderson program in 2018 when the group offered to build a new home in the Alphabet Streets neighborhood and donate it to us to manage as a transitional home for those in need. The home at 308 E Street was completed in December of 2020 and given to us in the summer of 2021. While residents are in the home, they receive weekly case management services and financial counseling from our staff. In 2024, our second transitional housing unit was completed in partnership with Leadership Anderson class 39. In 2025, Young Memorial Church offered a home they own in the community to be used for Village Homes programming, bringing our total to three homes. We are actively working to expand this program to serve more of our friends in need!

All of the growth we have seen since 2009 and all of the accomplishments we have made in serving and loving those in need has been the direct result of God’s favor and the generous support of our community! Thank you all for making this possible.