It’s not a big house. It certainly could use some work. A few walls might even need to be changed around.
But Diane Renner, executive director of the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry, has her eye on it anyway.
That’s because this house for sale is located directly north of the pantry in the 800 block of North Highland Avenue on Aurora’s West Side. And Renner wants to turn it into “Marie’s Empowerment Center” to help clients who use the pantry receive “not just a hand out but a hand up.”
It’s all part of the pantry’s new mission, she added, “to educate, empower and enlighten people to be self-sustainable.”
Too many clients who go through the doors of food pantries have no idea how to get themselves out of the dire situations they are in. The home Renner has an eye on would be “a perfect place” to hold classes in topics such as parenting, nutrition or budgeting.
But Renner is also focused on reaching out to the entire community to help the pantry make this center a reality.
“We need people to get behind us,” she said. “We can’t do it alone.”
It hardly comes as a surprise there is no money in the pantry’s budget to purchase this modest home; let alone pay for utilities and upkeep.
But Renner, like so many leaders of nonprofits, is passionate, determined … and creative. She’s already spoken to the folks at Rebuilding Aurora to help with renovations on the house. And she’s hoping other businesses, corporations or individuals will step forward to fund this project.
Renner is not afraid to put that appeal out there, even before the home has been purchased. She needs the funds now, and she realizes people are more likely to donate to nonprofits “when they know they are giving more than a hand-out.”
The new philosophy mirrors the mission of Hope Takes Action, a church-based anti-poverty program I wrote about a year ago when it launched in the Fox Valley.
The idea behind Hope Takes Action is to partner those stuck in poverty with mentors who can help them learn ways to manage the chaos in their lives. Renner sits on the board of Hope Takes Action and has seen first-hand how this group has already helped several local families become more stable. This house, she says, would not only be a place where classes or training could be held for pantry clients, but where churches with no buildings or other groups in need of a gathering place can hold services or meetings.
Renner is hoping to pair up with like-minded leaders who buy into this philosophy. She already has the ear of Jim Pilmer, the Fox Valley Park District’s new executive director, who described the Marie Empowerment Center as “a great idea.”
More than ever, he insists, the community needs to look at ways of “combining resources, manpower and ideas to serve” these most vulnerable. And he grows as animated as Renner when talking about a renewed focus at the park district on striving for “social equality.”
“If not us, then who?” he asks.
While Renner’s enthusiasm for getting this center off the ground should be tempered by the reality of present-day funding woes, she refuses to let these hurdles stop her forward momentum. The pantry currently provides assistance to 1,300 local families each month, with a special day set aside weekly for veterans and domestic violence victims. The pantry also celebrated the first anniversary of its satellite program on the East Side of Aurora that is “not only going strong,” says Renner, “we are already running out of space.”
Renner is proud of the fact “we removed 637 names from our client list last year” because “it means they no longer need our service.”
The downside: Another 1,121 names were added, “But at least we are rotating people out,” she said, “which means we are making a difference.”
Those who want to get involved in the future Marie’s Empowerment Center can contact Renner at 630-897-5432 or email her at mwfp.director@gmail.com
She’s looking for an advisory committee. For donations. For partners. For ideas.
“More than ever,” she says, “we need the community’s help.”
