Experience

Salt And Light LLC

• 1 - 100 Employee

• Executive Director

  • Oct 2003 - Present

  Salt & Light is a non-denominational Christian nonprofit not affiliated with any one church, rather, working with many different individuals, churches, businesses, and organizations in fulfilling our mission and vision. Our doors first opened January 2004 in Champaign, IL as we began handing out food and clothing to local families. Very quickly we became the largest “emergency food program” in Champaign County, and a leader in the community for providing access to basic resources. In addition to the weekly assistance provided through the food pantry and clothing closet, we partnered with area churches and businesses in large events designed to help families with school supplies in the fall, meals at Thanksgiving, and gifts at Christmas. We later added financial education classes and a computer lab, both of which represented not just the addition of new programs but signaled the desire to move away from just providing things, to offering opportunities for people to grow. After wrestling with the theologies and ideologies found in the book When Helping Hurts, we felt led to design a more developmental approach to meeting basic needs. Our new model created opportunities for individuals to acquire the resources they needed through use of the skills, gifts, and abilities God had given them. Instead of being handed a preselected bag of groceries, our participants now shopped with store credit they earned through volunteering. The grocery and thrift stores we now operate are open to the entire community and generate revenue to support the store credit participants earn in addition to our other programs and services.