Willow Creek works through Muir school to reach families in need

Before students at Muir School in Hoffman Estates departed for the Martin Luther King holiday earlier this month, teachers distributed snack packs filled with nutritious treats.

The packs had been filled by volunteers at the Care Center at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington and continued a relationship started last year with the school and some of its families needing assistance.

Since the start of the partnership, the Care Center has provided a back to school fair on its campus, distributing backpacks filled with supplies, and continued its monthly food pack distribution to many of the 200 families who qualify for the free lunch program at the school.

“It's phenomenal the resources they have and are willing to share,” Muir Principal Carolyn Allar said. “They understand there's a need, and they want to do anything they can to meet those needs.

“As a school team, it is our passion to see what we can do to meet students' social and emotional needs,” Allar adds. “It's when our students' needs are met that academics can take place.”

Willow Creek's Care Center, which opened in 2013, is a 63,000-square-foot facility that aims to provide both short-term and long-term assistance to the community.

Features include a food pantry, children's clothing store, car repair garage, eye and dental clinic, legal services, financial services, health clinic, employment services and education classes.

It is the nation's largest all-encompassing church outreach operation under one roof, church officials say.

Since its opening, the center has expanded its reach and now serves an average of 4,000 households per month, with about 2,000 Willow Creek volunteers helping staff it.

Currently, Muir is the only school in the Northwest suburbs that the Care Center partners with, but officials say they would like to add more.

“It is a very unique model we'd love to see implemented at other schools in the future,” says Laurie Bulsom, Willow Creek spokeswoman.

One of the main benefits is that Muir serves as a connector between its families and Willow Creek, raising awareness of the Care Center's vast resources.

“We're able to bring this support to families, rather than them having to seek it out,” Allar says. “We really wanted to take that obstacle out of the way. In a community, the school is a home base. They can get here and they are comfortable here.

“We know their stories,” Allar adds. “We are able to help them maintain their dignity while getting the help they need.”

Preserving dignity of its clients was at the root of the Care Center when it was built. One of Willow Creek's founders, Scott Troeger, envisioned designing the Care Center program around meeting people where they were — providing choice, respecting cultures and creating an engaging environment for transformation to occur.

Troeger, director of campus development, died in December, but his legacy is being felt through the center's direct services and through the partnership with local school families.

“The mission of the Care Center is to provide services to help meet immediate needs and offer long-term solutions for a more stable future,” said Care Center Director Josie Guth. “We're committed to partnering with great organizations, such as Muir, to help support the needs of our community.”