- Will you consider this?

My guest works to save souls as he reaches out to folks in his church and in the South Side community.

(uplifting music) Not only does this man recognize the needs of those who are blessed, but perhaps less fortunate, but he takes action in addition to his hospital job and leads his flock.

Pastor Quinton Brown of the New Beginnings Worship Center follows through all the time.

Thanks for being with me.

- Oh, it's a pleasure always.

- So tell me a little bit about yourself.

You're a Chicago area native, correct?

- Yeah, I live half my whole life in Wisconsin, half in Chicago.

Worked at Northwestern.

Got a medical background, 20 years at Northwestern.

Church there over 25 years.

Worked in community there as well.

Married my wife.

We were 19 when we got married.

This year we're celebrating about 30 years marriage.

- Really?

- Yeah.

And so it's been a blessing.

Been a foster parent, we fostered over 25 years, helping kids, different families, even in our own families through some difficult times and different things like that.

- Good for you.

And then what brought you to Peoria?

- Pastoring.

I was mentoring and dealing with a church that was in trouble and we've helped that church through some difficult things.

And that pastor decided to not hold that congregation and he stepped down and I was asked to take over the church.

And so what we did is come in, rebranded it and renamed it and everything.

And now it's named the New Beginnings Worship Center on the South Side.

- Because it's a new beginning.

- It's a new beginning.

And that's part of even our slogan where every life can find a new beginning.

- Wow.

Wow, well, that's an inspiration.

Did you always plan on being a pastor?

- No.

- You know, guiding a flock?

- I was a minister in Chicago doing evangelistic work, traveling around speaking, doing a lot of different things.

And God has a way of slowing you down and stopping you in your tracks to do his purpose.

And when I was asked to deal with that church, I already knew that God was already dealing with me and my wife did too.

And I wasn't right off hand jumping in there, you know?

A lot of times, you know the story of Jonah?

You run a little bit.

- [Christine] Right.

Exactly.

- I even turned the church down and it came right back around to me.

And now I'm here over 15 years later.

- And you're doing so many things now.

Now the church itself, you've moved.

- Yes.

- You've relocated to a different address.

- Yeah, we used to be on Blaine and Lincoln and now we're on, down the street on Lincoln and Western right on that kitty corner there in a white building there.

- And we were talking before the tape started rolling that there's a lot going on on the South Side to make it better.

- True.

- To make it a better experience for families.

And.

- True.

A lot of development.

- Tell me, yeah, development right across the street from the church.

- Yeah, first of all, I know the city did the project, the reconstruction project for Western Avenue.

- Correct.

- And so I know phase two is gonna be starting there.

And so it's made it a great robust area there.

There's gonna be future development across the street.

Also, Pastor Chuck Brown works in the area where there's a great friend of mine, is doing the market, new supermarket, the harvest market that's gonna be down in the old Aldi's building.

And there's other businesses that have come in to be a part of the new development in the area and stores and different things as that.

And it's gonna, has a brighter future looking ahead at what's gonna be going down in the South Side area.

- Well, it's so important because so many things have moved out and there's a big, big, big desert on the South Side.

- True.

True.

Especially with the grocery store situation.

When Kroger moved the grocery store out of that area, it made people go almost three miles now traveling on a bus to a grocery store.

And so that affected a lot of the elderly and seniors in the area.

- Correct, correct.

Yeah, and you're recognizing that.

- Yeah.

- Well, so you work at OSF and you are in the cardiac.

- Cardiology Services Department.

- Okay, and what do you do there?

- Do heart testing.

One of the EKG technicians.

We do a lot of monitors.

I'm trained in every area.

Got a background in cardiology services.

I've been a anesthesia tech, respiratory tech I, worked in research.

Lot of different things over the 30 something years of medical services and-- - And you learned that on the job or did you go to school for that?

- Did school.

- Okay.

- College, got a bachelors in science.

Actually, I got a double bachelors and in the field of bachelors of science and business administration.

And so always constantly going to school too.

Still learning different things.

Even now sharpening skills and learning other things also, in the business aspects as well to help even better myself and the community.

- Well, now I don't think we're teaching an old dog new tricks in this.

I don't think you're an old dog, how's that?

But now tell me, you do so many things to benefit the families in the 61605 area, that community.

You have, for a dozen years now, you've had a summer fest.

- Yes.

- And a back to school fest, but you've combined them now.

Describe that to me.

- Yeah.

Over 12 years ago, we started a festival in the community.

We saw a need that was nothing really going on for the kids in the area.

We felt that something that would unite the community and bring them together would be awesome.

And so we started our, what we called back then, the back to school festival.

And then we closed down the block that our church was on originally and then we started bringing in different entities where it started off handing out backpacks, giving away things to the community and had the mobile library come out, different mobile units.

We had the mobile zoo come out and it was a part of it at that time.

And then when we did our move and years later, it has expanded.

And a lot of services now are being offered through that festival.

Now-- - Such as?

- Partnered with OSF and the foundation itself as well.

We do all the medical services now right on site.

You can come in and you can get your physicals done.

Your dental done.

Wellness checks.

We did breast exams one year.

We got a lot of different free things that they can come right on site there.

And it's awesome because now those people that needed even the year when COVID was really kicking these last two years, we set up a clinic right on site to provide those vaccinations for those who wanted them.

- The services.

- And also educated them.

Also, we give out school supplies.

We know, 'cause it's for school.

Backpacks, different things that have been donated.

We do a petting zoo right on site.

The barnyard.

- So some kids have never seen these barnyard animals.

- Yeah.

- Right?

- So Barnyard Discoveries has been with us for years.

Brother Ron's been with us and bike giveaways started now.

One of the restaurants that's been with us for years now is Firehouse Pizza.

And they've been a great sponsor us for years.

McDonald's has been sponsoring us ever since we've existed.

A lot of different companies have jumped on board to be a part of what we are doing.

Healthcare agencies all around the city and counties.

And also we've reached out to other counties that have people that are coming in as well to be a part of what we're doing.

- How many lives have you touched or how many lives do you figure that you'll touch just this year and it's August 13th, correct?

- August 13th.

A lot of times, and especially I've seen it even in the COVID, we've gotten over three to 500 people coming through there a year.

And so before COVID we knew that our biggest number was almost 2,000 that came to that site because it was swelling from the four hours of what we are doing.

But it impacted a lot of people and we've added different things each year as the Lord led us to add and different things that opened up for that.

But people are in need and especially into today's times with the inflation and different things that are going on.

High gas prices, people are trying to live.

And so any help that people can get we're there to help them and be a helping hand to them.

- But you're not setting up on Lincoln anymore or are you?

- Oh yeah, we're-- - I thought you were.

- Yeah, we're setting up on that whole block right by our church.

- [Christine] Okay.

All right.

- Right by that church.

From the corner spot all the way to our church, even the street and across the street.

Whatever we need.

And everybody has been part of this in the community to help us bring that and it's such a positive force in the community.

So even some of the businesses want to be a part of it because of the fact of the impact it has for the community.

- So you just started going out 12 years ago to start asking for help.

- Asking for help, petitioning, letting folks know the mission of what we want to do to be a positive impact for a community that is in such need.

And also reaching out beyond even Peoria itself.

We've had child agencies from different states send us school supplies and mail them in.

Do a lot of different things from even outside of the state.

- And how did you get the word out on that?

How did you reach out in that way?

- Basically was led, but also social media.

People reached out to us.

They saw the pictures.

We try to put pictures and different things out there to show our mission and what we're doing.

And our fundraisers.

And let folks know that there's some people that are in need.

Even in one of the poor zip codes in the country.

People need to be impacted.

And it's part of something I think everybody can identify across the country when you're dealing with people that are in need, that need help and especially children.

We want to impact the lives of our children and have them a better future, especially with so much that's going on in the country, in the world.

- Well, so before we forget, if people wanna make a donation, I mean, it's getting late, but you can, donations are always accepted.

- All donations are always accepted.

- And then where do they send those?

How do they get in touch with you or the church?

- Oh, they can send them right even to the church at 1910 West Lincoln Avenue, Peoria, Illinois, 61605.

Also they can look my, look me up on Facebook, Pastor Quinton Brown.

And you can see our giving, fundraisers that we're doing as well on there.

And they can tap right into the fundraiser right on there.

We're on Venmo, @Quinton/Brown/61.

You have all kinds of opportunities and ways to give.

and, you know, got some people that like to give privately.

And so what we're doing is trying to reach out to everybody, especially businesses, opening up to philanthropists, different people that really want to impact, maybe not want to be seen, but want to impact the area and children and people that are in need.

And they have a great heart to do it, but don't know how to do it.

And so we're here to help them with that way.

- So this is the end of summer and the back to school fest.

Now the new school schedule for Peoria schools, that kind of put you back about a week because generally school started in the middle of August.

You don't foresee any problems with that?

- No, 'cause what I've noticed people are gonna be in need of physicals, dental, different things all the way through.

- [Christine] Correct.

- With children inside of the system myself, we see the notices that are coming out and what is needed even far into the school year.

And so keeping our date this year, we just decided to keep it as a summer festival and back to school festival, combined it.

And so it's gonna be a great end of the summer event, but also to help even those that still need some things.

Especially on the South Side, a lot of people can't travel and get to the clinics and different things like that.

We're a great alternative to help them get the services and different things that they need.

And we're available right there at a great designated spot.

- You also have toy and coat giveaway during the holidays.

- Yes.

- Now, tell me how that works and how people can help.

- Oh, same way.

We started that about five years ago.

And it was interesting because maybe more than that, I'm thinking, because now I saw a picture of something, probably about eight years ago, we started giving out toys and it was just at the church and people could come and this and this and that.

And so what happened was, as the years progressed, we got more and more people that were in need.

And so we started just doing it more.

We started having a breakfast at one, a couple years.

And then when COVID hit, we had to take it outside for safety and things like that.

But it tended to be something even greater because the first year we took it outside and then we were still in the pandemic.

We had the, at 11:00 AM and it started 11, but at about 10:30, 10:00, we had two block long line already.

And we were handing out toys to over about 400 people.

- Really?

- 500 people that day.

And so the last few years, that's how it's been.

We started the line and people have been coming from all over.

Not in just Peoria County, but in, they've heard about what we're doing and had a need and reached out to us.

And so they've been a part of it as well.

- So donations go to help purchase some of those items?

- Yes.

- Or do you have most of them donated?

- Yeah, a lot of it is donated.

A lot of people donate in because again, they want to help people.

And that's one of the great things about people have opened up their hearts, their wallets, their love to help other folks and in a time with what we're going through now, even in our country and what's going on in other borders, that love that's being shown is so needed now.

And with the toy fest, it gives us an opportunity to impact the lives of so many needy children.

A lot of kids, just like school wear, they don't have coats.

They don't have boots.

They don't have shoes.

Different things have been donated to help kids.

And so we're always taking donations for that.

And we always want to expand on those different things and who doesn't, at Christmas, love kids to have something - Absolutely.

- For Christmas.

- Right.

Right.

- And so, we're been taking donations and we've expanded even taking donations all year long for those who wants to give for that because when Christmas time comes with the shortages that have been going on, we've tried to get out there as early as we can to get the things that we need for Christmas to help the children when we can.

- So where do you think you get your inspiration?

Are you getting a message from the Holy Spirit?

Is that, I mean.

- I always look to be God led.

And one of the great things is I've learned that if you see a need, we are the hands and feet of God.

God uses us to impact others' lives.

And so I believe that God has placed all of us here to impact somebody's life.

And to do something to impact the world that we're living in.

And so, no matter what it is, you find your gift and you find your niche and go for it and use your gift to impact the world and those that are around you.

No matter what it is.

- What do you think about some of the crime all throughout central Illinois?

What can be done about that?

I mean, you know, it's nice that you're helping out kids and hopefully because they have benefited from these programs, that they will choose a better life than taking that wrong path.

- True.

And we get a chance to talk to a lot of them.

We get a chance to talk to a lot of the parents.

The new chief in our area, of police, is very engaging.

One of the great things, he's come from a pastoral background.

A lot of people don't know that.

Being a PK kid, but being one of the most informed law officials that is connected with all the agencies.

He's trying to better the community and the pastors in the city have jumped behind him to make sure that we can impact.

One of the great things that have happened just recently for Mother's Day was the gun buyback program, is one of the things that have helped impact, taking guns off the streets.

Us as pastors in the community, trying to talk one on one in our events with the parents and engage with these young people, to let them understand that there's more positive ways to do things and also being a more positive influence in the community in the ways that we can.

And it goes always back, always, from back to home.

One of the great things that we have to do is get back involved with our children at home.

Know where our children are, what they do.

I got two teenagers-- - And who they're with.

- And I'm hand on hand with my kids.

They may not like it always, but they know that I care.

They know that I'm in their life.

I'm part of an influence in their life.

And we have to get back to influential parenting.

- How did that disconnect occur?

- Lot of it, the disconnect occurred through the years.

Father's Day is coming up.

I gotta mention that.

A lot of fatherless homes that we're dealing with, even in the community.

And you'll see an impact.

There was a study that was done that was telling.

A lot of the crime that you deal with in a lot of these homes come from homes that are fatherless homes.

75% of the prison systems, you see African American men inside of these prison systems.

And a lot of them come from fatherless homes.

So it's a systematic pattern that's going on.

And so a lot of the root of familyhood in the foundation of familyhood has been affected through the years.

And so that is the reason why we gotta get back to family.

We gotta get back to understand what's important.

- So how do you do that?

- And building-- - How?

- And getting back to the basics.

- And well, and you're pastoring your flock.

So you're acting as a fatherly figure for a lot of these young people.

- You have to role model.

And we have a lot of great role models that are out there and, from fathers to positive men, to community leaders and to different ones that want to get involved.

I see different programs that are starting.

I saw one that was started in the East Bluff area and it brings fathers and young men together.

Boys to men program.

And it's a mentoring program.

I saw that they're taking time in mentoring these young people.

And that's what we need.

A lot of more mentoring programs.

Things that are gonna mentor at all ages to bring young men into positive leadership and not the negative leadership.

We got a lot of negative leaders out there.

Gang members and drug dealers, and all kinds of different things out there that's pulling at them because they think fast money is it, or this is it and all that.

And they have all these negative influences in the community, but the positive influences have to stand up now to be that force of that community.

- Right, so getting back to your festivals that are very successful, what don't you have that you need, or what's your vision for the future to even grow those more and help more people?

- Continue to expand.

I want to be able to have people that want to donate throughout the year so we can expand services, expand what we're gonna be giving out.

Things can be added.

One of the things that we're talking about adding this year, that we haven't had for a while is pony rides and different things like that to affect kids' lives, to show them different things that they've never seen, even in the urban communities.

You know, a lot of times, a lot of these children don't get a chance to go and see different things or go to the zoo or things like that, but we're gonna bring it to them.

And so those are the things that we're looking for.

Expanding, buying shoes.

We want to do a shoe program.

We wanna do a clothes program.

We want to do things to give the child, when they walk into the festival, every aspect of every need met right then and there.

And so if they need clothes, we got clothes section and shoes section, all different things like that, that are there for them to pick, especially for those that are gonna be in need.

And so we need people to wrap their loving arms around us in this projects and the projects that we're doing, and also the South Side and what we're trying to do.

That's why we're trying to reach out to philanthropists and get the word out.

Businesses that want to be a part of this and anyone that feels that they have a social grasp and they want to be a part of it.

We love them to be a part of it as well and partner with us.

- So new items, gently used items?

What do you prefer?

- A lot of stuff new because of the fact that we don't know, especially coming out of this pandemic and we got a rise in numbers now on some different things.

But a lot of gently used stuff we do take them.

Especially if it's in great condition, things like that, but we like new shoes, new clothes, new jackets, those kind of different things.

Gently used jackets are great.

If they're in great shape and different things like that.

- What sizes?

- All sizes.

- Okay.

- Everything.

We got babies that come through there, all the way to adults that come through there.

And so all kinds of different things are always needed through there.

And so anybody that wants to donate to what we're doing, we're always open for donations and being a part of trying to change and help somebody else's life be better.

- All right, so that's your bucket list?

- Oh, that's the.

- Part of it.

- But I can tell you some other things I want to expand on.

I want to give away cars.

- All right.

- That's one of the things I wanted to do.

I want to bring a car giveaway to the South Side.

Somebody or a agency or car company that would love to say, hey, we like to donate a car every year or a couple cars every year to somebody who's graduating high school.

And that has some great academics and that has a great future and stuff like that.

And we do a car giveaway there as part of the thing for the South Side.

They just did one for East Bluff area And for the end of the year thing.

And we want to do that as well on the south end, because there's a lot of positive young men that are doing some, and young ladies that are doing great things that need to some.

- Needs that little bit of help.

- Great opportunity to do that.

- That's awesome.

That's awesome.

You're an inspiration.

- We try to be.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Pastor Brown] We try to push and do what we can.

- Good.

Good.

And your congregation is 100% behind you.

- Oh yeah, they've been pushing me.

And churches are in that struggle now from going from.

- Not being able to attend.

- Attend and going back into the building.

And so we're getting, trying to get people back into the building and things like that.

And we still got a lot of people that are still viewing us, which is good as well.

And so we're using both sides of the fence.

- [Christine] You're getting the word out.

- Yeah and that's a great thing.

As it happened, you gotta use all things for good.

And so let that social media side, and also the church attending side come together and just be one and then reach people in all aspects.

- All right, so we're just about done.

So real quickly, August 13th is the summer and back to school festival.

- [Pastor Brown] Yep, 11:00 to 4:00.

- 11:00 to 4:00.

And then the toy and coat giveaway is in December.

Do you have a date?

- Yeah, and it's not right off hand, but it's always most of the time, the week right before Christmas.

- Okay, good.

- And we do it the week right before Christmas.

- So remember that when you're out shopping.

- Yeah.

- All right.

- Remember that.

- Sounds so good.

- And also, if they wanna donate now they can.

- [Christine] All right.

You got a place for it.

- Yeah.

- Well, thank you very much for joining me.

Enlightening us.

- [Pastor Brown] Oh, it's a pleasure.

- Yeah, you're something.

- [Pastor Brown] Oh, keep praying for us.

- We will pray for you and if you'll pray for me too.

Thanks very much for enriching us and enlightening us about everything that's going on in the South Side.

And thank you for joining us.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and always hold happiness.

(uplifting music)