The goal of the organization is to lift people out of poverty, which includes teaching them to cook and connecting them to people in the community who can help them fill out college forms or other needs.
“Ritchie works hard at trying to establish a relationship with each individual,” said Brenda Osborne, who nominated Weymer as Dayton Daily News Community Gems.
Osborne met Weymer through City Church Dayton.
Osborne said much of Weymer’s work flies under the radar as he does much of his work outside the walls of the Miami Valley Life Alliance.
Weymer said people isolate themselves for a variety of reasons, whether it be from a mental illness or otherwise.
“Ritchie is compassionate but firm and can give the much-needed hand to help but also the hard no if it is not in the best interest of the individual,” Osborne said.
Weymer says he also works to teach people to cook and connect with people outside of their immediate community. In the future, he says he hopes to continue to mix people from a variety of walks of life.
The Miami Valley Life Alliance is not affiliated with a church, but it does use religious language in its work.
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