Our History

Bridges of Love NW exists to unify the Body of Christ, meeting the needs of our neighbors. Since 2002, we have been privileged to serve families in the county, impacting countless more lives. Today, we operate a Clearinghouse, some Gap Ministries, and have over 100 local church partners.

In 2000, a group of 11 churches came together, wanting to work together to meet the needs of their community. They were tired of working alone, being overwhelmed by the multitude of the need in Pierce County.

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The first year and half of Love INC were focused on getting the organization off the ground, struggling the whole way. After much hard work, it looked as if Love INC Pierce County was going to close. However, in July 2002, things turned around. Sherry Phinisey came on as the new Executive Director, relaunching the dream of those 11 churches. The new office was a 70-year-old mobile home with three desks, one computer, and a fax machine. Building off of a new Clearinghouse manager and various volunteers, the church base grew from 11 churches to over 100 within three years.​

Take a look at our brief timeline:

• 2000 11 churches came together to meet the needs of their community.

• 2002 Love INC relaunches in a mobile home.

• 2004 Offices move into a building and added more workstations to accommodate an increase in volunteers.

• 2005 Our Furniture Bank opened. Providing beds, dressers, and linens to our clients.

• 2006 Staff has grown to 5; We run a Bridges Out of Poverty class for clients.

• 2009 Offices move to Lakewood, adding even more workstations for new volunteers.

• 2010 Love’s Treasury opens, launching our Christian Bookstore, Personal Care Pantry, Musical Instrument Bank, and Prom Dress Ministry.

• 2011 Built a custom Client Management System to better serve our neighbors and partnering churches.

• 2012 Restructure: Due to budget cuts and the new automated system, we reduced our staff. The system has allowed us to do more work with fewer people to better serve Pierce County.

• 2017 We changed our name to Bridges of Love NW. We closed down the 2nd Hand Christian bookstore site and moved our phone center to a Tacoma location. 

• 2019 We hired two assistant directors to help forge new relationships with local churches and expand the ministry reach. 

• 2020 Covid hit and unfortunately there was strain in nonprofits such as Bridges as well as the surrounding/partnering churches. Jobs for Life was retired as an offered program. 

• 2021 Bridges began to return to serving the community when possible as Covid was still a strain.

• 2022 Bridges of Love moved into a Ministry House at Puyallup Nazarene church and also established the Bridges of Love pantry so clients could come and shop for household items. Sherry Phinisey retired as the Director.

• 2023 The Bridges of Love Pantry was moved to Rainier View Christian Church as it had to moved from the Ministry House. Bridges also gained two new Co-Directors. 

• 2024: New Hope Community Church signed a lease with Bridges of Love to relocate the office on their campus.