When Joe Bachman formed Evolve Life Group in 2023, he hoped to bring together adults age 45 and older who were interested in making friends and serving their community. Now the organization, which began in the Eastern York region, is expanding to the Lancaster County side of the river.

Evolve Life Group will hold an open house/organizational meeting on Thursday, May 22, at the Marietta Community House, 264 W. Market St. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided.

"Evolve East York campus was introduced with eight people and now has grown to over 80 regular members," Bachman said. "We felt like the opportunity to have another campus just seemed natural for people in western Lancaster County to have the same opportunity as those in eastern York."

At the open house, people will learn more about the organization and its three core values: support ourselves, support each other and community service.

The group meets regularly for meals out at local restaurants, to serve other organizations and for special events.

"Over the last year and a half, our group has enjoyed getting to know one another through activities such as dinners, potluck meals, '70s/'80s trivia, the Evolve Amazing Race and community service projects," Bachman shared. "Our ultimate goal is just to continue connecting the community together and enjoy life together!"

Most importantly, he noted, Evolve helps people connect with others.

"This group allows people to develop relationships," he said. "The fun thing so far is there's a lot of people that have mentioned that they haven't seen some people in a long time, and it gives them a way to reconnect. Many have started new relationships that never would have happened if not for this group."

And while it's billed as being for people age 45 and up, that's really an arbitrary number, he said. It's more about the mindset.

"We're just looking for people that are interested in a life group and are on the same or similar parts of their journey," he explained.

Bachman has big plans for the group. He noted that many organizations such as Boy Scouts started small, but then grew into national movements. He envisions the same for Evolve.

"We feel like Evolve can travel anywhere. The purpose for the group is not just to have numbers. The purpose is that we live up to our core values," he stated. "There are no geographic limitations to those. We will expand to other areas as we feel like there is an interest and that we can build a foundation of members to support it."

He also noted that while the group has three core values, it abides by one "belief value" - it's a faith-based group with Jesus as the foundation.

"He is our trunk, so to speak," Bachman said, referencing John 15:5. "We feel like He is our foundation, and we are the branches to reach out to ourselves knowing that we need help. We are the branches to each other to help each other through life. We are the branches to our community to those in need."

For more information about Evolve and the open house, search for "Evolve Life Group" on Facebook.