Happy Valentine's Day from Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic! This February, we're remembering all the reasons we love the Clinic, the work we do, our clients, volunteers, and supporters like YOU. Please enjoy this small sampling of why we're brimming over with love this Valentine's Day! And remember, just like it says in 1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us."

In John 15, Jesus tells his friends to abide in his love. Abide is such a wonderful word, with an aura of luxuriating, waiting-without-a-care, guiltlessly delighting in a lazy front porch conversation on a summer evening, a glass of lemonade in your hand. It is, mostly, inert—but it is a beautiful and wonderful inertness that comes from confidence in the relationship and a deepening of attachment to Jesus, who sacrificed everything for us.

But to Fatima, the Clinic isn’t just an excellent employer; she believes the work the Clinic does is absolutely pivotal to the community. “I think there’s a gap in the justice system. If you get in trouble and it’s a criminal issue, you’re entitled to a public defender,” she says. “If it’s a civil matter, you basically have no protection… It puts people in a vulnerable situation when they don’t have access to an attorney.” She stresses that these already-vulnerable situations are often compounded for people by their lack of specialized knowledge about issues like immigration law, paperwork, and unknown deadlines. She believes part of her purpose in life is to help walk people through this kind of information.