Outreach Community Ministries picks up where other groups leave off
If you'd like your charity, community organization or service group featured, contact Christie Willhite at (630) 955-3536 or cwillhite@dailyherald.com.
DuPage County is full of organizations working to help people through tough times, offering financial and emotional support, intervention and counseling, care and training.
No agency could fill every need for everyone. And where other groups stop, Outreach Community Ministries starts.
Created by a coalition of Christian clergy, OCM strives to fill the gaps left by other programs. When leaders noticed DuPage County lacked programs for homeless women under 20, for example, OCM started two transitional programs to house women and help them learn to live independently. When they saw bright students missing out on college because of their family situations, OCM officials launched a program that provides students with tutoring, guidance through the college application process and, in some cases, scholarships.
Outreach Community Ministries partners with 48 congregations stretching from Naperville and Lisle through Glen Ellyn and Wheaton and up to Medinah and Barrington to provide programs at three centers as well as off-site locations.
Programs include tutoring, after-school and summer enrichment programs, Big Buddies, programs to help older adults maintain their independence, family counseling, transitional housing for young women and case management to help people work through financial and legal issues, housing and child care needs, and employment and job training.
Marketing coordinator Abbey Collins discusses the organization and its efforts to help people make the most of themselves.
Q. What is your mission?
A. To restore hope and provide opportunities for people to become all that God intends them to be; to partner with the local church to put Christian faith into action through service to the community.
Q. How does Outreach Community Ministries work toward accomplishing that goal?
A. OCM serves as a catalyst to help people from the community and members from local churches extend compassion and support to those in need. OCM and its partner churches are dedicated to providing a full range of programs and services designed to help people and the communities they live in realize their potential as uniquely gifted individuals.
Programs and services include transitional housing for young women and children, educational programs, mentoring programs, financial/case management services, professional therapy, older adult programs, community development activities and crisis intervention.
Q. Who do you serve?
A. Outreach Community Ministries has three service sites - Outreach Community Center in Carol Stream, Wheaton Youth Outreach and Warrenville Youth and Family Services - each offering a variety of programs and services for children, adolescents, adults and families.
Q. When and why did the organization start? How has it grown?
A. The original organization, Wheaton Youth Outreach, was formed in 1971 by a coalition of local clergy concerned about teenagers and families in distress. Since then, the organization has grown from a few foster care homes for teenage boys into the myriad programs we now offer. Since our chief executive officer, Chris Ellerman, signed on as the agency's only employee in 1977, we have grown to a staff of more than 70 employees.
Q. What kind of successes have you had?
A. Four years ago we began a college preparatory program called SALT, or Student Achievement Leadership Team, at the Outreach Community Center in Carol Stream. Since then, the program has grown and developed considerably, and we watched our first student graduate college this year. The program currently has 14 students in college and 40 students in the SALT program.
The students receive academic tutoring, help with the college application and financial aid process, college visits, and attend career nights. Support continues into college with financial scholarships and help moving in and adjusting to college life.
It's been exciting to see students remove the barriers that prevent promising young people who come from challenging family or financial circumstances from seeking higher education. Just this fall, the program sent six more students to colleges all across the United States.
Q. What challenges does OCM currently face?
A. We're challenged to retain our current level of financial support in a difficult economic environment and to identify new sources of support as the organization seeks to fulfill its vision for enhanced programs and services.
In addition, we're facing some challenging situations that have created a need for relocation in some of our facilities, most urgently in Warrenville. We're currently seeking financial and logistic solutions that allow us to stay current with the needs of the community and allow room for growth and expansion.
Q. What would surprise most people if they spent a week with the organization?
A. People would be surprised at the multitude of hidden needs in a mostly affluent county. We're always examining reports from various agencies looking for underserved populations or gaps in services and evaluating the best way to meet those needs.
For example, our transitional housing programs are the only ones of their kind in DuPage County to provide transitional housing to women under age 21. Our Hispanic Outreach and youth mentoring programs in Warrenville came out of a response to a community needs assessment.
OCM's after-school programs are the only after-school programs accessible to students in our neighborhoods and the only ones providing an academic focus. People would be surprised at the unmet needs in our community and how OCM continually adapts to meet them.
Q. How can readers get involved?
A. Visit our Web site, outreachcommunityministries.org, for information about volunteering, to make a financial contribution or find out about our many fundraisers throughout the year. We're always looking for corporate partnerships, volunteers and in-kind donations. Give us a call or visit our Web site to see how we can partner together to serve the most vulnerable among us.
If you go
What: Women's Benefit Luncheon and Silent Auction
Why: To support Outreach Community Ministries' women's transitional housing and counseling programs, which provide resources to single women and homeless mothers
When: 10:30 a.m. Oct. 3
Where: Drury Lane theater and conference center, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace
Details: Auction features more than 250 items including vacation packages, jewelry and home décor; speaker Lysa TerKeurst is from Proverbs 31 Ministries
Cost: $165 per ticket ($135 is tax deductible)
Info: (630) 682-1910 or outreachcommunityministries.org
Vital statistics
Annual budget: $4.6 million
Sources of funding: Individuals, churches, local businesses, service clubs and the United Way-DuPage Area
Full-time employees: 70
Volunteers: 750 per year
Current donation wish list
• Jubilee Furniture Co., a used furniture store in Carol Stream run by OCM, needs gently used furniture. All proceeds from Jubilee Furniture support OCM's programs.
• Young women in OCM's transitional housing programs are in need of transportation. Jubilee Cars, OCM's car donation program, accepts used cars in any condition to be donated to the young women to help them become independent.
• OCM needs new household furnishings for a new group foster care home in Wheaton. The house was built entirely by volunteers with donated materials. OCM is furnishing eight bedrooms, a family room, living room and dining room with new furniture.
How to donate
• Visit outreachcommunityministries.org for information on donating furniture or cars to Jubilee Furniture Co. and Jubilee Cars.
• Call Brian Newsom to arrange donations for the group home
• Mail to 122 W. Liberty Drive, Wheaton, IL 60187
How to volunteer
Phone: Kathy Christensen
E-mail: kchristensen@outreachcommin.org
Web: outreachcommunityministries.org
For general information
Phone: (630) 682-1910
Web: outreachcommunityministries.org