One Love World staffer McKenna Airhart poses for a portrait in her office as One Love staffers move into the facility Monday. (Jordan Green/Longview News-Journal Photo)

A Longview homeless outreach organization that closed its doors in February has a new home for some of its operations — and a different name.

One Love Longview, a nonprofit that provides a variety of services for the city’s homeless population, has opened a new administrative office and distribution center in a home owned by St. Michael and All Angels’ Episcopal Church on Reel Road. The organization also is operating under the name One Love World to reflect that its mission one day could extend beyond Gregg County.

“It feels big,” Executive Director Amanda Veasy said.

On Monday, staffers and volunteers bustled about the green-colored house at 907 Reel Road, putting furniture and supplies in their place. Veasy wore a tie-dyed T-shirt and walked around the building barefoot — a sign that One Love had found a home. The church is leasing the facility to One Love.

“It feels really great to be accepted and welcomed,” Veasy said. “That’s the very thing that we have tried to pass on to our clients.”

Founded in 2020, One Love has provided food, medical care, counseling, addiction recovery services and more to the city’s homeless population. In 2022, the organization moved to a building on McCann Road, where it operated a day shelter. However, issues arose when business owners complained about issues involving the organization’s clients.

One Love closed its doors in February at the McCann Road location because of a lack of funding — and because of what Veasy characterized as an attempt by city officials and business owners to close the facility. However, city officials have vehemently denied those claims.

After a month without a permanent home, the homeless outreach organization has a “home base” once again, Veasy said. The home will be the collection and distribution point for donations, and it’ll be the site of administrative operations. In the future, it also could serve as the organization’s free medical clinic.

The home isn’t large enough to accommodate all of One Love’s services, so some — namely showers for clients — are temporarily suspended, Veasy said. But staffers are working with local churches, businesses and organizations to assist the city’s homeless. Staffers are partnering with churches to start food pantries and clothing closets, and two churches have agreed to serve as day shelters one day each week.

One Love staffers also are working to coordinate transportation for clients to those facilities, where social workers will meet with them.

One Love staffers have spent the past month tracking down where the organization’s clients have been living, and staffers continue to go to those individuals to assist them, Veasy said.

Connecting with other organizations to provide services to homeless residents will allow One Love to “branch out” and “put us into the neighborhoods where the needs really are.”

“We’re looking at restructuring in a way that we can equip the local community to be able to take some personal responsibility for caring for our neighbors,” Veasy said.

St. Michael and All Angels’ parishioners applauded the decision to lease the home to One Love, Veasy said.

The Rev. Tracey S. Carroll told the News-Journal: “It all comes down to Jesus’ command to love God and love our neighbor. We know that by loving out neighbor, we are also showing our love for God. One Love Longview is working with the ‘least of these’ of our neighbors.”

As for One Love’s name change, it’s not so much of a change after all. One Love Longview has always been a subset of the parent organization One Love World, Veasy said. She’s hopeful that One Love World can expand to surrounding counties soon.

One Love World will hold a grand reopening ceremony 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at its new home, where supporters can tour the facility, learn about expansion plans and more. To learn more, visit onelovelongview.com/.