Students from Peoria and several states have gathered this week for activities, chores and worship as part of a week-long Dream Center Peoria mission.
“We’ve got over 300 high school students who are here for one simple purpose and that’s to serve the city,” said Dream Center Development Director Brian Uhlenhopp.
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The students work on service projects from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., going to 14 different locations consisting of non-profits and religious organizations. Then in the afternoon they split into Metro Kids teams, providing activities for neighborhoods throughout Peoria and East Peoria.
Dream Center Peoria hosts Revival Nights each evening at Riverside Community Church. The Revival Nights, open to the public, are a time of worship and encouragement and include guest speakers.
Uhlenhopp said the event is similar to youth mission trips to other countries.
“When you serve and you interact with the people you fall in love with the place,” Uhlenhopp said. “And so our thought was how can we get people to fall in love with our city? Let’s get them to come here and serve.”
Uhlenhopp said out-of-state students are from Kansas, Indiana, Iowa and California and all of them represent over 15 different churches, five of which are first-time participants.
Josh Forsberg of Peoria has been participating in “Mission Peoria” from the very beginning nearly ten years ago.
“I grew up here in Peoria and just to be able to experience it in a different way in serving, it opened up my eyes in that there’s more to this place than I realized,” Forsberg said.
The students’ week ends Saturday when they will help distribute over 2500 backpacks during Backpack Peoria.
Uhlenhopp said this year 750 uniform vouchers will also be given to families in need. The “Mission Peoria” participants will begin to stuff the bags Tuesday and also spend the week getting everything prepared for the event.
Backpack Peoria is scheduled July 27 from 9 a.m. until noon.
