Until recently, the village of Waverly, Ohio, population 4,165, didn’t have anything in the way of LGBTQ+ organizations. But last November, 19-year-old Reece Johnson decided to start one. He printed up flyers at work and at the library encouraging LGBTQ+ residents to join a new community group, and then posted them around town.
That was the beginning of Haven 740, “a safe, welcoming space in Waverly for LGBTQ+ folks and allies,” according to the group’s Facebook page. 740 is the area code for Waverly, a ruby-red-voting town in the heart of Pike County.
Johnson had just started college at Kent State University, three hours away and home to Ohio’s first LGBTQ+ Studies program. The college stands in contrast to his upbringing in Waverly, where he said it’s harder for LGBTQ+ people to be themselves. So he wanted to leave the conservative town’s level of LGBTQ+ support better than he found it: ”to change it, make it better, to help the people who live there,” he said.
Response was better than Johnson expected, and the group was operational by mid-June.
“Every day it just seems to grow, whether it’s an LGBTQ+ member or an ally,” said Johnson, an out gay public health major. “People are always coming in, checking our Facebook out, and more people are attending our public meetups.”
He was surprised to find the LGBTQ+ community in Waverly was bigger than he thought.
The group started out small this summer, hosting a rock-painting event and a back-to-school supplies drive with the help of donations and some of Johnson’s own money. On September 13, the group will host a blacklight yoga event.
“ People share things on Facebook saying how much fun it is, or comment on a post saying how helpful it was,” Johnson said. “They’ll be like, ‘We really needed this in Waverly.’”
Johnson is currently putting together a nonprofit board – the group is currently seeking a treasurer – and then intends to apply for nonprofit status.
The group collected brand new school supplies for its back-to-school drive, he said. They had a table outside of a massage studio where they distributed supplies to families, and anything left over was donated to local schools.
Running a budding nonprofit organization is a lot of work for a full-time college student, but Johnson describes it as “fun, joyful and exciting.”
“ It can get a little stressful,” he said, but once the activity actually happens, and “you see the community and how well it’s starting to turn out — it just makes you happy,” he said.
By the end of the year, Johnson wants Haven 740 to network with Waverly’s City Council and expand activities to include meditation, yoga and group therapy.
Johnson hopes others feel inspired to start similar organizations.
“If you can think it, you can do it,” he said. 🔥
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- To learn more about Haven 740, its website can be found here and its Facebook page can be found here.
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