Staci Pearman remembers what it was like to receive the left-over, back of the shelf cans from the holiday food drive. Some were expired, some were “food.”
As a kid, being a raised by her grandparents, Pearman’s childhood is what inspired her into the role she currently performs for the city of Portage. Her dedication and motivation toward helping others, like others once did for her, is the reason we chose Pearman for this week’s Life in the Spotlight.
Pearman is the President of Our Community Inc, a non-profit focused on directing charitable events for the community.
The company was deemed a non-profit in April 2014, but the small company actually started in 2008.
“I started a Thanksgiving dinner at the church I attended. It was very small that year and the second year with marketing it grew,” she said. “The third year, we ran out of food.”
That year, the dinner grew so much, Pearman was panicking until she realized there were other local churches doing the same thing. She invited the other churches to join in with the Crossroads Family Church, and with their families and amount of food, the dinner was successful.
The next year outgrew the church, so that is how the annual Thanksgiving dinner at Willowcreek Middle School was started, she added.
That is pretty much how Pearman’s business model works, by joining the organizations and events in the community together to reach more people, extend each one’s resources, and just become a bigger, better experience.
Other events Our Community Inc helped grow was the Christmas Box project, where large boxes of a two-weeks amount of real, healthy food are packed and given to families. Another collection they organize is for socks and underwear to distribute to families during a back to school fair.
“We have given boxes to 350 families over the last five years,” she said.
This year, the collection raised about 400 pairs of socks and underwear, she added.
Pearman and her staff are trying to do more than hold a charity event every so often, which is one of the unique traits about the organization.
“We don’t want to just help people sporadically at times in the year, like just Thanksgiving and Christmas. We want to be more consistent and want to help on a daily basis,” she said.
In addition to events, Our Community offers classroom teaching lessons to community members who need help with job interviewing skills, writing their resume, and other topics, like financial issues, budgeting., bankruptcy, and real estate.
Pearman acts as the director of the organization, and is constantly looking for ways to improve her organization. She looks for grants, creates new events and fundraisers and overall, makes the decisions that will help the community. Right now, the organization is trying to save money to install a kitchen inside their new building, located at 6534 American Way in Portage.
Before, the staff would meet in their church room or at Starbucks, but with the accumulating supplies – three fryers for the Thanksgiving feast – Pearman knew it was time to get their own place.
Since the beginning of this organization, Pearman has seen a rise in the number of families signing up for donations, but Pearman has hope that with her training and lessons, she can help more and more people receive the help they need.
“There is a huge need out there and how do you meet those needs?” she asked. “We believe it is through job training, like skills training. Let us talk you through it and we can help.”
The biggest change Pearman is currently trying to make is how local kids envision their future.
“Many kids in the juvenile center, you start talking to them and they start talking about their future, they just don’t realize they have a choice,” she explained.
For most kids, she said, they don’t know they can have choices outside the poverty they were brought up in.
With Pearman, who grew up in need, she found she had a choice when she was older. She currently has three grown children and is attaining her Bachelors degree in Business Administration at Ivy Tech.
“They do have opportunities, they do not have to live in poverty,” she said. “We want to break that. We want to help everyone make money for themselves and learn how to carry themselves for the rest of their life.”
Pearman dedicates herself to others because she loves the act of helping others change their situation. It takes time, hard work, and patience.
“You don’t get a lot of thank yous,” she said. “But, if you watch the progress and the changes, it is worth it.”
Visit the website, oneportage.com to learn more about Our Community Inc.