Falling in Love this Season
In October 2010, Anne-Marie Mylar set out on a mission to help elder Unificationists looking for love. With a bit of creativity, the former nurse successfully launched the Online Matching System (OMS).
More than a decade later, she and a small team have expanded to connect Unificationists and affiliate members of all ages and backgrounds who seek the Marriage Blessing. About 235 trained matching supporters worldwide — from the U.S. to Austria, Korea and New Zealand — are helping, too.
“My husband used to tell me that OMS was giving him spiritual life,” said Anne-Marie, a native of France who lives in America. “We may be very busy in our daily lives, and have very little time to serve God’s providence at hand, but giving to OMS allows you to feel heavenly goodness within your soul.”
Mylar and her late husband, Kem, a U.S. Army veteran, received the Marriage Blessing at Madison Square Garden in 1982 from the late Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, co-founders of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU). The Mylars had a daughter and worked under various Unification leadership before Kem ascended to the spirit world in 2012. However, Anne-Marie held onto her late husband’s words with heartfelt passion to bring more couples together in faith.
“If we stop anyone on the street and ask them what is the purpose of human existence and what are they trying to accomplish with their personal life, we could cypher through millions of answers,” she said. “But the result would come down to a few sentences; we all want a sense of fulfillment that brings respect, love, and joy.”
A grassroots effort, the new design of the OMS website now provides various tools and resources to accommodate a larger pool of people. Anne-Marie and her team are also looking to create an administrative portal; upgrade the functionality of the messaging system between candidates and parents; and improve the profile editor and portal for matching supporters.
But upgrading the online platform is a costly endeavor. A GoFundMe campaign organized by Jorge Cuello Espinosa, a Unificationist youth pastor in North Carolina, aims to raise $40,000 to cover expenses. The OMS campaign, which has been shared on social media, describes the matchmaking site as a tool to bring about happy marriages.
OMS has been indispensable over the years in connecting a diverse range of singles ages 18 to 70. New anonymous features let candidates focus on internal characteristics of personality and faith more than external aspects like appearance and culture — a unique approach that has proven beneficial.
“I felt OMS provided such an amazing method that encouraged me to try to find a partner,” said a former candidate who received the Marriage Blessing in 2020. “OMS helped me to step into the journey God prepared for me. I love the well thought out matching plan, and I'm also grateful for the matching supporters of both sides who did an excellent job to help us find each other.”
For Anne-Marie, paving the way toward “happily ever after” is what it’s all about.
“This [OMS] web application helps single Unificationists, regardless of their generation, to find an ideal spouse,” she said. “We’re helping brothers and sisters of the Unification faith to connect with one another everywhere.”
You can donate to the Online Matching System’s GoFundMe campaign here.
