July 23, 2024 – Northeast Community Fund is hosting an anniversary celebration on Wednesday to celebrate 55 years of service to the community.
The event will be held from 2pm to 5pm at the facility at 839 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. There will be family friendly activities from the Children’s Museum of Illinois and DJ performances by Y103’s Terrence “TAT” Taylor.
In addition, Pepsi will be giving out free bottles of water, there will be free hot dogs from 2pm to 3:30pm, Mimi’s Frosty will be serving free ice cream 2:30-3:30 p.m., Kona Ice will be serving from 3:30-5p.m.
Northeast Community Fund will also be offering tours of its facility from 2pm to 4pm to the public to learn more about their mission.
The event is free and open to the public.
The Northeast Community Fund, originally St. John’s Northeast Community Fund, was founded by St. John’s Lutheran Church and three local businesses (Wagner Castings, CB&Q Foundries, and Superior Welding). The Northeast Community Fund was started to reach out and assist those families in the “old” neighborhood around Jasper and Orchard Streets. From the beginning, Jerry Pelz took the reigns as Executive Director to meet the needs of the community. The community quickly expanded from providing services to one neighborhood to serving families throughout the community.
The first home for Northeast Community Fund was a house located at 1119 E Condit St. which served as a residence for workers, an office, and storage room for supplies. Later Northeast Community Fund moved to a house at 1128 E Orchard St.. After the school was sold, Northeast Community Fund moved to its location at 825 N. Water Street.
What started as a small food pantry has developed into a large social service organization. In 2017 community leaders came together to initiate a capital campaign to build a new 17,000 square foot building at 839 N. MLK Jr. Dr. to better serve Decatur.
By: Andreas Walker
