New Church Lawrence will host an event Friday with hopes of matching Lawrence residents with local nonprofit organizations.

The event, called Love Lawrence, was originally planned as just a fun occasion for the community, said Michael Marcus, mission and outreach pastor of New Church Lawrence.

“But some of our leaders started talking about it and said, ‘What if this was something that truly impacted the community, based on what the community needs?'” Marcus said.

After talking to members of various nonprofit groups around town, Marcus said, it became clear that awareness is a key issue.

“Across the board, people said, ‘People in the community don’t know about us,'” Marcus said. “So we’re trying to create an environment where people can come and enjoy themselves but also get connected with a lot of organizations that are working to do great things in the community.”

Love Lawrence will take place from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. At least 13 local organizations have signed up to have representatives in the library’s auditorium, where anyone can come learn about what they do and how to help. The event’s Facebook page at Love Lawrence Volunteer Fair has a list of all that will be present.

In addition, food vendors including Torched Goodness, The Purple Carrot, Drasko’s and Alchemy Coffee will be on site. Performers Steff Neff and Scott Guerrero will put on a concert on the library’s lawn. For kids, there will be arts and crafts, face-painting and balloon artists.