When Love Beyond Limits started in Maleka Chris’s living room in 2010, the idea was to provide a safe space for kids. Plus, Chris had video games and basketball, and even trampolines—the hope was also to be the “fun house” that her four daughters would want to hang out at instead of at their friends’ homes.
“Once I realized I had their attention, I was like, ‘hey, this will work,’” said Chris.
Since officially becoming a nonprofit in 2013, Chris has developed numerous youth-oriented programs and workshops while making a new home in the Long Beach Community Foundation building, and in 2019, the organization went on to win Nonprofit of the Year in the 64th Assembly district.
A cornerstone of Love Beyond Limits’ programming is the 13 Stones program for middle schoolers and high schoolers. The program focuses on life skills, and even includes a component that caregivers can participate in as well.
Each week of the 13-week program focuses on one stone, ranging from respect, self-esteem, and accountability, to exploring roles of a child, father, and mother, many of which are based on lessons Chris wished she had learned as a child.
“It was things I needed, and questions I needed answered, (but) because I didn’t get it, I’d rather try to help somebody else get it as opposed to blaming the world or blaming my parents or blaming society, why things went wrong in my life or why I didn’t have this,” said Chris. “But coming up with solutions is better.”
The goal is for participants to walk away with self-confidence and the ability to better process emotions. Improved communication between youth and their caregivers is also emphasized, with conflict resolution being a large component of the work.
While it isn’t possible to change having an absent parent, or a child being in a parent’s role with siblings, acknowledging their experiences and struggles is key to growing past the trauma and pain, said Chris.
“If you have someone constantly questioning the dynamic of their family, constantly questioning the dynamic of what they have to endure, with no answers, that’s what causes, I believe, the pain and the anger and the frustration,” she said.
While in the program, students participate in group discussions, complete reading and writing assignments, and get to attend a wellness retreat as well.
Ultimately, the goal is to be better for themselves, for their families, and for their communities, said Chris, and this is evident through the other community initiatives the organization provides.
In addition to working directly with youth programs, Love Beyond Limits responds to other community needs, such as providing Grab and Go meals to seniors, and through their annual “Give Me a Break” program, that provides 13 families with Christmas gifts, a Christmas tree, and a gift certificate for holiday groceries.
In addition, on Nov. 20, the organization will host its seventh annual Beyond Community event, actually developed by one of Chris’s daughters, Jordynn.
The free event includes live entertainment and a basketball tournament (Jordynn loves basketball), along with resource vendors, shopping vendors, a health fair, and food gift cards, thanks to a partnership with Alberstons.
“It’s a great time for the community to come out and get to know each other and enjoy each other,” said Chris.
According to Chris, the path to growing Love Beyond Limits has not been easy; when she first began the nonprofit, she lacked the educational background and work background to run a nonprofit of this level, she said.
Although it has been a learning process, she has embraced the challenges along the way.
While the pandemic caused numerous nonprofits to have to lay off employees and reduce their services, according to Chris, without enough employees to lay off or a whole building that had to close, she didn’t have much to lose.
“So, that kind of gave me a wake-up, like, maybe it wasn’t our time to be a big organization,” said Chris. “Obviously, it gets discouraging . . . but timing is everything, and I believe everything happens at the right time.”
Moving forward, Chris hopes to expand the nonprofit’s reach to more areas, and create a community center that can provide even more care to youth in need.
“We just want to keep the families supported and embraced and sometimes they just need some outside influence to hold them together as opposed to always pulling them apart,” she said.
Chris envisions a center that can serve children, parents, and seniors alike, with sports, cooking classes, exercises for seniors, and even marriage and individual counseling.
“But we have so many wins. We have so many people really supporting us and really cheering for us, and we have so many people willing to use their time or talents or skills to help us help our young people or help our families,” she said.
“Being determined to be a solution, being determined to being available, being determined to help young people and families be accountable, that has always driven me and kept us going,” said Chris.
Love Beyond Limits’ free Beyond Community Event on Nov. 20, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. will be at Jessie Nelson Academy, 1951 Cherry Ave., Signal Hill 90755.