Riverside's Finest

Lynn Heatley

WORDS: ELIZABETH SCHWARTZE PHOTO: ZACH CORDNER

“I love Riverside!” is a common saying amongst Riversiders. Lynn Heatley not only says it, but is putting it into practice. Lynn is Executive Director of Love Riverside. Founded in 2016, Love Riverside is a partnership with “Love Our Cities”—a city movement that began in Modesto, CA, and now includes 70 other cities that aim to demonstrate kindness, spread goodness, and build community. Since Love Riverside began in 2016, they’ve completed approximately 114 service projects, 2562 volunteers, and well over 10,650 volunteer hours. Showing up for Riverside and its citizens, and growing a movement to lovingly take care of her home, Lynn is Riverside’s Finest with a motto: “If you win—we all win.” Lynn’s love for Riverside began at birth. As a native Riversider, born and raised in the city, she proudly stated her heritage—“We go way back.” She grew up in Rubidoux, now Jurupa Valley. She attended West Riverside Elementary, University Heights Middle School, John W North High School, and Riverside Community College. Shortly after high school, she married her husband Bill—a Riverside transplant from Pittsburgh, and moved 30 minutes from home to Chino Hills. “We never left IE, that’s our home,” ensured Lynn. She and her husband raised their two children, Douglas, and Valerie, and after raising her family, and working for local nonprofits, Lynn returned to work as a nurse. She was a hospice nurse and community educator from 2006 to 2020. In 2015, the opportunity to return to Riverside presented itself, so Lynn and her husband downsized, and moved into his family home in the beautiful neighborhood of Victoria Woods. Upon her return to living full-time in Riverside, Lynn shared, “I just saw the city with new eyes. I really loved and appreciated all the thoughtful new growth.” In summer 2020, Lynn retired from nursing to focus her talents full-time on Love Riverside. Love Riverside is a “dba” under the nonprofit 501(c)3 organization Healthy Leaders Thriving Cities. Lynn saw the progress made in the nearby California city of Modesto, and knew it would be a good fit for Riverside and its proud citizens. Love Riverside hosted its first “Serve Day” on October 22, 2016. The group had initially hoped for fifteen projects

“We envision people of faith and people of good-will living a lifestyle of generosity, serving and loving the people and city of Riverside in a spirit of collaboration”

and 200 volunteers. Instead, the inaugural community service day produced 30 projects with approximately 500 volunteers, and garnered much-needed support from city leaders. Love Riverside continued the good work, and in 2020, a new set of challenges from the pandemic produced new opportunities to serve. At the time, Lynn questioned herself, “What do we do to help?” Noticing a lot of food insecurity in June 2020, Love Riverside began asking the community (mostly through social media) to donate non-perishables for a food drive. The food dropoffs, and food box distributions continued, and forged some valuable partnerships with City of Riverside, and Northgate Market. Lynn was also able to utilize one of her favorite aspects of nonprofit work: collaborations! Love Riverside upscaled their social media presence to promote and highlight resources available to the community through government programs, and fellow non-profits. And with special COVID-19 protocols in place, Love Riverside was proud to hold their fifth Annual Love Riverside Serve Day in 2020! It’s now 2022, and with six years of service, and a dedicated group of volunteers, Lynn delivers the Love Riverside vision, “We envision people of faith and people of good-will living a lifestyle of generosity, serving and loving the people and city of Riverside in a spirit of collaboration.” October 8, 2022 is the upcoming Annual Love Riverside Serve Day. Want to volunteer? There are numerous options. Love Riverside has yearly teams: Administration/ Planning Team, Marketing Team, Fundraising Team, Love Riverside Liaisons, and Assist with Food Collections (and other items). Become a financial partner or sponsor an event! “We all have the power to do good, and be gifts of change. Bring your own skill sets to solve problems, and meet needs. We need you!” said Lynn, encouraging every citizen. Thank you, Lynn, for your dedication to Riverside by implementing an amazing service program to our beloved city that shows you’re Riverside’s Finest and Love Riverside!

Love Riverside Website: loveriverside.org Email: info@loveriverside.org Instagram @loveriverside Phone: (951) 374-0807