| Community Programs
Our Home Improvement Program provides
an affordable (usually no
cost) source of home repairs for homeowners in the center
South Side of Peoria. As our crew members repair the homes,
they learn new skills and enhance their own employability.
Other programs benefiting the
center South Side of Peoria include:
- S.H.A.R.E. host site. "Anyone who eats, qualifies."
Participants purchase a food order for less than half
the retail cost of the food and also volunteer two hours
of their time.
- Emergency food pantry. Run by adult literacy
students as volunteers. Residents can receive food up to
three times a year.
Peoria
Reads! Presents The Bid Read
Peoria
Reads is a one book one city project
instituted and led by Common Place and the
Peoria Public Library. In 2007, the Peoria
Reads joined forces with The Big Read. Books
selected from previous years are:
2002 – A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest J.
Gains
2003 – The Reappearance of Sam Webber by
Jonathan Scott Fuqua
2004 – The Speed of Light by Elizabeth
Rosner & Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl &
Marion Blumenthal Lazan
2005 – Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde
2006 – Nickled and Dimed: On Not Getting by
in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
2007 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2008 – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The 2009 selected book is The Maltese Falcon
by Dashiell Hammett
Please visit The Big Read: Peoria Reads
website,
www.BigReadPeoriaReads.org, to find out
more.
The Big Read is an initiative of the
National Endowment for the Arts in
partnership
with the Institute of Museum and Library
Services and Arts Midwest.
This program is sponsored in part by Friends
of Peoria Public Library.
This program is made possible in part by a
grant from the Illinois Humanities Council,
the National Endowment for the Humanities,
and the Illinois General Assembly.
This program/project has been made possible,
in part, by a grant from
The Yeomans Fund of the Community Foundation
of Central Illinois.
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Ways You Can Help
-
Tutor a child one to four afternoons a
week during the school year. Please call Shirley,
674-3315
-
Tutor adults one-on one or in a small
group.
-
Help us cut expenses by donating
basic items needed:
paper towels, toilet paper, liquid hand soap, Lysol
disinfectant spray, liquid dish soap, paper/foam
plates & bowls, plastic forks & spoons, & paper
napkins.
-
Donate Items Needed for Winter -
hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, earmuffs, & blankets
for children & adults.
-
Help Common Place supply a basic
toiletries bag to program participants. items needed
are: bars of soap, deodorants, toothpaste,
toothbrushes, combs, hair brushes, picks, shampoo
for both Caucasian and African-American type hair,
conditioner, dental floss, hand lotion, & laundry
soap.
-
Donate non-perishable food items or
a monetary gift to our food pantry. Items needed are
canned meats, canned soups, canned vegetables &
fruits, pasta, pasta sauces, canned ravioli, baked
beans, pork & beans, macaroni & cheese, rice, muffin
mixes, pancake mixes, peanut butter & jelly, pudding
& gelatin mixes, cereal, oatmeal, cereal bars, &
crackers. Donation of brown paper grocery sacks also
appreciated.
-
Wallpaper a bathroom in one of our
after school program houses, or pain a storage room
in our main building.
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