LYNN — Toni and Tommi Hill, sisters from Lynn, began Love 4 Lynn with a simple phone call.
When Toni was away at college, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, her younger sister Tommi called her with an idea of assisting the local shelter, but with no idea of where to start.
A year and a half later, Love 4 Lynn has officially become a nonprofit organization. Tommi took the initiative during the summer of 2019, when she started to use her own money to purchase supplies that the shelter needed. She went down to the shelter and met Kelly Gaule, who works with the shelter and assisted Tommi with supply requests and guidance on how to incorporate that type of philanthropy into her life.
The sister duo began posting inventory lists on their social media accounts, triggering donations from friends, family, teachers and coaches. Tommi said that it just took off from there and became her passion project.
“One day, I was thinking I honestly just want to start giving back to the city, and I thought this was the best place to start,” Tommi said, noting that the response has been overwhelming.
Not only did Love 4 Lynn grow in the city, she gained the attention of people outside of Lynn, including Oprah Winfrey. Last summer, she received an unexpected letter from Oprah’s production company, which gave her a $1,000 Amazon gift card.
Tommi wrote letters to Oprah and Ellen Degeneres detailing her volunteer work and seeking assistance, but did not expect to hear back. When Oprah expressed her gratitude and support with a generous donation, the Hill sisters said they were ecstatic and shocked.
“For her to even see my letter, who knows how many letters people send her? She saw mine and I was just like wow,” Tommi said.
They used the gift card to purchase household items to assist with the shelter’s Welcome Home Program, which supports people who are transitioning from the shelter to apartment housing.
“I was able to bring them their stuff, go in the houses and meet the families,” Tommi said. “It brings tears to your eyes to hear what people have to go through. People don’t really know how good they have it.”
Love 4 Lynn has become a family project. Tommi is the chief executive officer, Toni is now the chief financial officer and vice president, their mother Anne is the director, their father Tony is the treasurer, and their aunt, Marcia Leffler, is the clerk. It has become a team effort to collect and deliver items and monetary donations to the shelter to support the families in need.
The shelter now reaches out to the Hills when it needs supplies, such as “welcome home baskets,” toiletries and more.
When COVID-19 hit, an outbreak at the shelter halted the assortment of donations. Now, they can only bring the shelter items that are pre-packaged and untouched, so used clothing donations are on hold. However, that didn’t slow down Love 4 Lynn. The family has been receiving donations almost every day.
Tommi said she is passionate about the project because it was influenced by one of her late best friends, Dorothy Ezemba, who died in November 2018 after a long battle with a rare muscle cancer. Tommi played basketball with Ezemba at Lynn English and said that she was an amazing person and one of the most caring people she knew, someone who was loved by everybody.
“It truly hurt losing her,” Tommi said through tears. “It kind of made me wake up a little and let her kind of live through me.”
Tommi recalls thinking to herself, “What would Dorothy do?” knowing that she wanted to go into the biology and medical field to help people.
“I can’t do that, so let me help people this way,” Tommi said. “That was a big part of me deciding to do this.”
Toni said that seeing Tommi’s dedication to the project and how much she cares motivates her to be better and do more. She noted that her little sister will always have a passion for helping others and hopes to continue the project for as long as she can.
“I’m here to help, whatever you need. I want to be able to support and get people up on their feet so they can take care of their family,” said Tommi.
The sisters said that the support and help from everyone, especially their parents, has kept them going, and they are eternally grateful.
“We’re so grateful for all of our friends and the people we don’t even know for all of the things that they are donating. We never thought it would’ve been like this,” said Toni. “We hope that we can do more for the shelter and the people in the city.”
Even after a year and a half, the duo said that the work they do with Love 4 Lynn is still so moving.
“It’s hard to put into words sometimes,” Toni explained. “I feel like we’ve done a lot, but there’s still so much to do.”
Tommi expressed the goal of being a global organization at some point. She wants to be everywhere and help everyone. Toni hopes to see Love 4 Lynn have its own programs, where it incorporates more outlets in the city to reach more people.
“I want to eventually open up centers around the city, but that will be further down the road,” said Tommi.
“We’re still young, we have time,” Toni added.
The sisters have worked with local businesses, such as LeAnne Leslie’s Dance School, collecting donations. The Hills coordinate times to pick up and drop off donations and have created social media handles and a Love 4 Lynn email to embrace the growth and connections throughout the community.
They can be reached on Instagram and Facebook at Love4Lynn and by email at [email protected]. They are also selling Love 4 Lynn shirts for $10.
