ORGANIZATION SUMMARY
The Peoples Resource Center (PRC), a 36 year not-for-profit social service organization located in Wheaton, IL, serves DuPage County residents. PRC provides those in need with services to meet the communitys basic needs such as financial assistance for homeless prevention, access to used in-season clothing/shoes, assistance with identification of and access to community resources and government services as well as two food pantries, one in Wheaton and one in Westmont. PRC also provides many empowerment programs designed to help enrich lives including computer access and training, literacy, job assistance and an art studio for children and adults. The PRC serves over 31,000 people per year, has an annual operating budget of $2.6 million, and has 31 employees and over 1,300 volunteers.
From its beginnings in a rented house in Wheaton, where food boxes were distributed through a basement window, to our current multi-service resource center, People's Resource Center has had a major impact on our DuPage County community.
People's Resource Center grew out of the tradition of American social movements that proclaim the belief that every life matters to the community, movements like Jane Addams and Hull House in Chicago, Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Houses, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the civil rights movement. As Dr. King said, God never intended for some of his children to live in inordinate superfluous wealth, while others live in abject, deadening poverty.
Since 1975, People's Resource Center has been both a lifeline to many thousands of residents in temporary emergencies, as well as a pathway of opportunity to those yearning to better their lives. More than 1,100 volunteers, supported by a staff of 31, dedicate their time, skills and resources to help their neighbors. The impact on the lives of those residents has been both immediate and long term.
The PRCs job going forward is to help people hope for so much more than food on their table. As we move into our future, the PRC will continue to assist people with training and education to help them overcome poverty, and will continue to foster the health and wellness of our communitys families.
MISSION
People's Resource Center community exists to respond to basic human needs, promote dignity and justice, and create a future of hope and opportunity for DuPage residents through discovering and sharing personal and community resources.
VISION
People's Resource Center will be recognized in DuPage County for excellence of service, for well-integrated support services, for our neighborhood partnerships, and for advocacy that promotes just and sustainable communities.
VALUES
Dignity and Respect: Recognizing the dignity of each person who comes to us, we create a welcoming and respectful environment in all of our programs and communication.
Creative and Innovative: We express our mission directly. We try things in the community. We are willing to jump in to new areas in order to address an unmet need.
Responsible Stewards: We welcome those who need resources, as well as those with resources to share.
Compassionate: We listen, we encourage, we try to get to know our families, we provide some help and guidance, we advocate, in a spirit of kindness and compassion.
Integrity: We place a high priority in living out of our principles, in our relationships, programs, and organizational practices.
peoplesrc.org
