South Side Mission

Faith-based finalists: “We want to be the Walgreen’s of missions” | Daniel James Divine

PEORIA, Ill.—Inching his minivan up the worn streets of a quiet neighborhood on the south side of Peoria, Philip Newton pointed out the window at a house with old white siding and cinder-block porch pillars that were peeling gray paint. The occupant's only income was the foster care check she got from raising her six grandkids, but "we got her two refrigerators, a washer and a dryer, four beds, several couches"—and fixed the plumbing.

Newton, the breezy executive director of the 83-year-old South Side Mission, was talking about the work of "Adopt-A-Block" teams, one of his ministry's outreach strategies. In a high-poverty, low-graduation-rate area, South Side Mission uses acts of service to improve lives and open hearts.