(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Peoria's South Side Mission helps feed, educate, and train people in one of the poorest areas in the country.

This year, the nonprofit is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Reverend Craig Williams has been the executive director at the mission since 2017, and has been a mission member since 2003.

Good to see you, Reverend.

- Good to be seen.

- And congratulations on the anniversary.

- Well, thank you so much, and God bless.

- Thank you, well, I'll tell you what, humble beginnings for the South Side Mission in 1925, started by one person, one woman.

- One woman.

I have, my plates on my vehicle says SSM 1925.

Yeah, Helen Haien.

- And when she started, was her mission the same as what it is today, or was it different?

- It always had the element of the youth.

I think she always saw the youth that were struggling, and she would try to do whatever she could to feed them.

If it was doughnuts, day-old doughnuts, or whatever, she would find a way to get that out to the families, particularly the youth, and then she would reach the parents, and those that, you know, were rearing those children.

She would find a way into their hearts through their children.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- And I wonder back then if people just started helping her and that's how things grew, or if she had to reach out to people, or word of mouth maybe said, "Hey, this lady's doing some great stuff, "we need to help her out"?

- I think it was both, but one of the things I've heard about her was she was pretty much a bulldog.

She would, she wasn't afraid to go out, and engage with people, and let them know about the needs, and I think that's how a lot of things that I recall, then some of the things that I've read, and that she was really about just sharing what was going on and then challenging, and getting in front of people, and saying, "Hey, I need your support."

- Some of the problems that she was trying to deal with way back when, 100 years ago, I'm sure some of those problems still exist today and then some.

- I believe so.

I believe that the challenge is when you have a area, as you stated in the opening that Peoria is one of the poorest ZIP codes in the United States, so 61605, I'm sorry, and that, you know, when you have poverty, when you have issues that comes along with that, it is a challenge, and it is a challenge to get people to see beyond that, and see a little bit of hope, and glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel that they could say, "Yeah, I would like to support that."

So, and on top of that, she was a female.

And so, that had to be a challenge, and she met that challenge head-on.

- Looking at the 61605 ZIP code, I mean, just looking at the numbers, it's amazing.

The median household income, about $23,000, and there's 13,500 people living in that ZIP code, 38% living below the poverty level.

I mean, there's only so much money you can throw at problems before you have to say, "Okay, something's systemic going on here."

What does the mission do in terms of, you know, giving people a hand up as opposed to a handout, and trying to make their lives better?

- I think our strategy, and it goes back to Helen Haien when she started, is that you're gonna need to reach the youth.

You're going to have to have inroads into our youth population to start.

And we believe that if you start there and really have an impact on our youth, that you'll get some change.

We're not trying to be the cure-all.

We believe that if we impact our youth in a positive way with education, with food, whatever their struggles are, and then it has to be, in my opinion, it has to be state-of-the-art if you're gonna reach 'em with technology and those other things, and I believe that's where we garner, and look for our support to help us to reach them.

A lot of times we say, "If they can see it, they can be it."

It's not cliche.

It's actually if they can see it, they can be it.

If they're surrounded by it, then it has the opportunity to impact their lives.

- We talk about screen time a lot, and folks having to compete with that.

I mean, you have to do the same thing.

But as far as the technology, you were telling me earlier, you've got podcasting space, a radio station.

That's a pretty good way to compete with, you know, iPads and iPods.

- Absolutely, and we believe we are competing with that, and that's one of the things that we, when we begin the Phase 1 project, which you just referenced, it's inside of our Youth Worship Center.

It is state-of-the-art, and it has the opportunity to say, "You don't have to go outside of here."

South Side Mission, within that time and space that we have allotted for our youth to be in our care, that's your safe place, and it's not something that you come into, and it says, "Well, I can go to the next place, "'cause they have something greater than this," and we're not competing with others.

We're trying to complete the whole package of ministering to our youth.

But it is, and it does have to be state-of-the-art, it has to be something that capture their attention, and keep their attention, and it's something that actually they can feel like, "This is a part of who I wanna be.

"This is maybe something I can look forward to "as I get older as a career."

When you talk about technology, when you talk about STEM, when you talk about agriculture, all those things are inside of South Side Mission's Youth Center.

- Mm-hmm, in terms of helping out kids, and you help out people of all ages- - Yes.

- But when it comes to kids, do you have to go out and find those kids that may be lost, or looking for more help, or do they come to you?

- Right now, we have no problems with them.

They come to us.

We have our, on the books and on the roll, I believe we have over 100 kids on our roster.

We serve probably from 70 to 85 kids per day Monday through Friday.

So they're coming to us.

We have great partnerships with Peoria Public Schools and then also South Side Christian Academy is one of the partners that we collaborate with.

And I believe with that network, we don't have to look for them, and they are coming in.

Sometimes, we don't even have the space to accommodate them all.

- What are these kids, what's missing in their lives, you think?

I mean, you know, you could talk about the economy, of course, but are we talking about maybe single parent households, parents that are maybe not in the picture?

What kind of roadblocks are these kids facing?

- My experience, and for those that serve at the mission in our Youth Department, I would say it's relational.

It's sometimes that male figure, and that's why the other portion of the Youth Department and ministry is the mentorships.

I think it's relational.

I think it's someone that they can come into, and you see it.

I walk through the gym, and I always say, "I'm going to get my kid fix," because just the hugs, and, "Hey, Mr. Craig," you know, they come up to you, they hug you, and one of the things I notice, it's like anybody else, even in the older adults, if you can see them, they're just looking sometimes, "Do you see me," more so than anything else, "Do you see me?

"You speak to me," and those kind of things are the smaller things, but that's why I believe it is relational.

It's that care, it's that touch.

Sometimes, it's the one-on-one, pulling them to the side, and that's, I believe, is the key part, is relational, and then everything else stems from that, and it kind of goes along with the other pieces that are connected to relationships, the ups, the downs, you know, the challenges that you're not gonna do that here.

You know we love you.

I always say, "You can come as you are, "but don't stay as you were."

So if you got issues, we're gonna address that, but in love, and then also with the strong hand of discipline if necessary.

- No judgment when they're coming through the doors?

- Absolutely not.

I often tell people in my story, "I don't have the grace to judge anybody."

I was one of them, and I make no bones about that.

And it took that to help me to come from the lifestyle that I lived, and it was relational.

It was sometimes the strong arm, if you will, of, "Hey, you need to stop that now.

"You need to, you know, look at what you're doing, "and then fix, if it is a problem, fix it, "and I'm there to help you, but we gonna do it together, "but you gonna have to first of all be accountable "to your own actions."

- Sure.

How difficult is it in 2025?

You know, none of this is free.

I know that you get a lot of help from the community, several million dollar budget a year.

Is that correct?

- That is correct.

- So how difficult is it in this day and age to get those donations when you're competing, for lack of a better term, with so many other great organizations, and nonprofits, and charities in the area?

- One of my strategies, and the board and I, as we look at those challenges, is that partnerships.

So if, let's just say Pathways, or Dream Center, if they're doing certain, a certain thing, and doing it in a way that is impactful, then we'll partner with them, as opposed to if someone looks up somewhere that they wanna donate to, and they see all of us doing the same things, then, you know, who's gonna get it?

It is a competition then.

It's the luck of the draw, as they would say.

But if we're partnering with those, and they have strong areas that they minister in and that they do the work in, then we're gonna come alongside 'em.

You'll hear from Andy and John Roki and us.

We do things together.

We partner, we collaborate, and one of my slogans I often say, and they think it's cliche, I don't think any of my slogans, things that I use, are cliche, it's reality for me, is, "We're not trying to compete with you.

"We're trying to be able "to let's complete this work together, "as opposed to fighting for the dollars," and I think that's the reason why we've been successful.

And sometimes, it is a challenge, but we reach people in different areas, and we also have different ministry arms that we utilize to minister, and Dream Center works with youth, but Pathways don't at all work with youth, other than the families.

- Mm-hmm.

Do you find, I mean, does it depend on the year, or the economic circumstances how difficult, or how easy it is to raise funds?

I mean, is that something that you're constantly having to worry about?

- I won't say, and I won't tell you I worry, but (laughs) what I do is I'm very, I look at a lot of analytics, and different donor information, and find ways to... Our biggest challenge, for me, what I would say to that is that we make sure that we let them know exactly what we're doing and what their dollar is and their support is really helping us.

And sometimes, from the mission standpoint, from a ministry aspect, it is sometimes we just need your prayers.

And so, I think when people hear that, that there are many ways to support, then I think that, you know, we'll have more opportunities to receive funding, or if it's volunteerism, or if it's just somebody coming along, pat on the back, saying, "Keep doing what you're doing."

- Mm-hmm.

- 'Cause sometimes, we receive coins to me from a donor.

That's the widow's mite.

That's just, "I don't have a lot, "but what I do have, I'll give you," and I believe God honors that, and blesses it.

- And as an organization, especially a nonprofit, I'm curious how you justify, or look at what is a success.

You know, a business says, "Okay, well, we've sold this amount this year," but with you guys, is it, you know, kind of that one-on-one, "Hey, here's a case of a young man, "or young woman who we got off the streets, "they're doing well now"?

Is that kind of how you measure success?

- Absolutely, stories of success.

It's the individuals that their life have been impacted from A to B to C all the way down, and it is a journey, and I believe that's one of the things that I've seen over 20 years at South Side Mission is I've seen the successes just A, B, C. Sometimes, they're coming in, and our youth, and you can really quantify this, the longer they stay with South Side Mission, the more impactful that we have the opportunity to be in their lives, and we've seen it.

We've had, we've hired people that were in our shelter at one time.

So there were many and are many opportunities, and cases, and people that say, "I was here once as a kid and now I'm on staff.

"I was here once, you know, coming in here "as a little kid running around, "and now I'm participating with volunteering."

That's our successes.

- A lot of times we see the South Side Mission around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

All the news stations cover the fact that you guys hand out a lot, a lot of food for people who are needing it.

Tell us a little bit about that, the food that you supply to families, not only Thanksgiving, Christmas, but throughout the year.

- Food is, now, is one of the major parts of South Side Mission's ministry as well.

Our Thanksgiving and Christmas, of course, that started over 50, I believe this was our, last year was our 53rd, or 54th year.

That's a mainstay.

That's what we do.

That's how we minister to people that can't, sometimes can't get out, and for some of those it's just the parent, or the grandparent that's taking care of kids.

So we have other ways that we seem to have inroads in people's houses, in their lives to be able to provide food.

Our youth get a pretty darn good meal every Monday through Friday, where it's not just a snack, throwing a doughnut at 'em, and saying, "Go home."

A lot of times, we know that they don't have food at home, so what they get from us is a meal that probably sustains them until they get back to school that next day.

- Wow.

- So that's huge for us is the food, and our food budget has jumped just because of that, and we saw basically the need.

So we began to look at how we can meet the need.

And so, food is a major part, and especially our inroads in the community with our Thanksgiving and Christmas.

- Speaking of food, you have a very cool culinary arts program.

Tell us a little bit more about that.

- Oh, yeah, so our youth is, we're, right now, as we are talking, we have signed a contract, if you will, to start Phase 2, which we'll have a youth culinary demonstration kitchen, and it is state-of-the-art, as I said, and the youth are chomping at the bit, "When we gonna have it ready?"

Say, "Okay, talk to your supervisor.

"Talk to him over there."

But yeah, that's gonna be a cool way that we can continue to reach our youth, educate them, and also prepare them for a future maybe in culinary, or just in cooking.

Sometimes, it goes back to this mark, it goes back to the fact sometimes they're just learning the basic skills in our kitchens not even from a culinary aspect, but how can I prepare a meal at home?

How can I help mom?

How can I get in the kitchen sometimes?

The reality of it is sometimes they might be doing it for themselves.

- Yeah.

- So we give the basic skills in terms of cooking, and then on the next level is the culinary, trying to impact them on a greater way, in a greater way.

- Mm-hmm, tell us a little bit about Hope Builders.

That's another program that's been very successful for you.

- Yeah, Hope Builders is one of the babies that I started years ago with a gentleman named Harold Booze and we'll continue to minister and work on seniors, disabled, and widows.

They have primary first choice, and we go out, and help 'em with building ramps, and just some of the, there's a lot of roofing issues.

That has been our major, major challenge with that.

But Hope Builders is just another way to reach out in the community and say, "We care, and if we can come alongside you and help you, "we have a team that goes out "and assess the ministry, or the problem, and then we see."

If we can do it, then we'll come back, and agree to say, "We can do that," and then we look for donors, partners that are different agencies.

We have a great long-term partnership with LS Building Supplies.

They have been working with us for many years to help us with roofing and different other items that we can go back in the community, and just reach our hands back in, and love on our seniors, and disabled, and handicapped.

- Another very visible part of what you do are your thrift stores around the area, and we've seen the Salvation Army do this- - [Craig] Thank you.

(Mark and Craig laughing) - We've seen the Salvation Army do this successfully.

With your thrift stores, tell us how it works, and how it's kind of a dual benefit for people.

- So our thrift stores, and praise be to God that we own now two of them under the leadership of the board and myself, that was the first time we did own our one over on War Drive.

We own that one, and then we have a new one that is yet to open.

Our goal is we're working on that, and that's in 61605.

So we have two that we own, and that brings back in with our donors and partners that supply it and support us.

Then they have a chance to bring back, get the (mumbles) the products in, and then we sell it at a great price to our community, and then that helps bring revenue back in that offset some of the times when it is donor-light with funds.

And that's how the stores are ran, and they're Monday through Saturday, six days a week- - Mm-hmm.

- And those monies begin to help bring money back into South Side Mission, especially when we own those two stores.

We have three now.

- Okay.

- We own two.

- Very good.

- And one is leased.

- Hopefully, you get that leased one.

- Oh, yeah, yeah, hopefully, and probably more so not hopefully.

It's gotta change.

- And when it comes to what people in the area need, kids and adults, we've hit on education, food, things like that.

Other people that come to the mission, what do they need in their lives?

What are they asking for help with?

- Most of the time, the other part too is our soup kitchen.

Our soup kitchen is probably 30 to 40 people.

Sometimes it picks up to that many people a day that are coming in.

They just need that lunch that we provide, a lunch meal Monday through Friday, and that's the other population and people group that we really minister to.

A lot of them come, I tell you, they wanna hear the word, they wanna hear encouragement, they want the relational piece.

We know people by name, and just we love on them, and then again, it's the food.

It's that, the other part that I think people sometimes don't have food, and they get a lunch, and they can go from there, and sometimes, they take food home.

We also provide, instead of doing a full-blown food pantry, because we found out there's probably 15 in 61605, so what we do, we don't try to compete with all of that.

We just say when we get to the end of the month and there's extra food that's been donated through our donors, through our Hy-Vee, people like that, Kroger, what used to be Kroger, but then we take that, and then give that away on a monthly basis.

- We know there's need all over Peoria, not just, you know, your ZIP code.

Are you finding that there's more people coming from further away that need help, or do you pretty much just have folks living in that area that are coming to you?

- I think they come from everywhere.

I'm pretty sure of that.

I don't think, for the most part, you have the people that can walk to the location in terms of our soup kitchen.

Our kids, our youth that we serve, are pretty much 61605.

But you do have people outside the 61605, and we'll minister to whoever, but our primary focus is 61605.

- If you, you know, had a genie's lamp and can make a few wishes, what would you wish for for the South Side Mission to keep helping people out?

What do you need?

- I think education is key.

I believe that as we continue to do the basic ministries that God has provided us the wherewithal to do, and volunteers, and financial support, and then just continue to build, to be innovative, to, one of the things that we talk about often is we're a monument and not a, we're not a monument, we're a movement, and that means that we're always creative, and open to new ideals of how to minister.

We believe God's word stays the same, but methods change in terms of how we're gonna reach and win people through the scriptures.

It says, "He that'll win souls is wise."

It doesn't mean you're the smartest person on the planet.

It means that God will give you creative ways to minister to those that are in your care, and I believe that's what our goal is, and as we continue to just meet the needs in our community, and if one arises, that's the one that we're gonna try to believe that we can target.

- With your 100th anniversary coming up this year, any special events planned?

- Yeah, we have a big event at South Side, at the Civic Center, I'm sorry, Civic Center.

We'll be celebrating with a guest speaker, Pastor Samuel Rodriguez.

We'll have music.

We're looking to have table sponsors for that event.

That will be our big 100-year.

We haven't done that in a few years, and kind of done the low-key things, especially with COVID.

But then that will be an awesome thing.

Our youth are gonna be performing.

We got musical guests.

So we're just gonna have a grand time celebrating a movement and not a monument, continuing the ministry forward to the next 100 years.

I probably won't be around, but just in case- - Are you kidding me?

(Craig laughing) I think you will.

I think we need you.

- My grandmother was 103, so I got a few more years to go- - All right, all right- - If I do right.

(Craig chuckling) - Well, you've been at the South Side Mission now since 2003, so you must be doing something right.

- Well, praise the Lord, and all glory be to God.

I mean that it's he's walked us through it, and I look forward to continuing, and doing what he's given us to do.

- What's the best way for people to find out more about the mission?

- You can go to our website at southsidemission.org.

You can call anytime you just think about any questions you have for volunteering, for support.

All of it's on our website, and we just look forward to partnering with everybody that will and can.

- All right, Reverend Craig Williams, I know you're doing some hard work over there, and the area appreciates everything you and your crew are doing.

- Thank you so much.

- All right, keep up the good work.

That is our time for right now.

Thanks for joining us.

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Have a good night.

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