SIKESTON GROUP ON A MISSION TO HELP NEEDY (FACES OF FAITH)

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Janie Pfefferkorn dispenses hope from a converted church building that offers everything from a hot meal to job skills for area residents.

Mission Missouri operates from a tidy, yellow-painted building in an economically depressed neighborhood.

While it relies in part on government funding, it is a faith-based operation where hugs and prayers are an everyday occurrence. "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind," reads a hand-lettered card next to a computer keyboard in the building's crowded office.

Pfefferkorn serves as executive director of the organization. She volunteers her time as does Michael Harris, who is president of Mission Missouri. Harris, who works for the Sikeston School District, also serves as pastor for the Potter's House non-traditional church services that are held on Sunday morning at the mission.

A not-for-profit corporation, Mission Missouri began with little more than hopes and dreams, and a lot of prayers.

Today it has seven salaried staff members, including three grant-funded positions. Mission Missouri operates on a budget of more than $200,000 a year, much of it thanks to federal and state grants.

Pfefferkorn said the nation's "Charitable Choice" law has been a tremendous help because it allows faith-based organizations to receive government funding.

Mission Missouri grew out of a citywide Christian block party in Sikeston. "We wanted to pull down the walls between races and denominations," she said.

Mission Missouri opened its lunchtime soup kitchen on Jan. 5, 1998, in the Lincoln school building, a former black school.

Moving in

In October 1998, the charitable mission moved to its current location, a former church at 218 Dixie St.

Pfefferkorn said the mission operated on $54,000 in private donations the first year. The first two years, Mission Missouri's only paid employee was a cook.

It wasn't until this year that Mission Missouri had the finances to remodel the building. The renovation work began in March and was completed in July.

Private contributions are still important to the organization. Pfefferkorn said it costs $3,000 a month to keep the mission open and operate the soup kitchen.

Mission Missouri serves lunch to about 50 people a day, Monday through Friday.

Pfefferkorn and her staff are blessed with a caring, can-do attitude.

"It's a God thing. It is totally his doing," she said while seated in the spacious table-filled room that serves as cafeteria and all-purpose meeting room.

Harris said Sikeston area churches help support Mission Missouri, both monetarily and through volunteer efforts by their members.

Mission Missouri involves more than a hot meal. "We try to do a lot of outreach to these individuals," he said.

Those who drop by the mission for a free lunch typically have limited incomes. Some suffer from drug and alcohol addictions. Whatever their situation, they find a staff willing to help them.

Christine Johnson has been coming to the mission for hot meals ever since it opened. "I think this is something great they are doing for the community," she said.

Johnson said mission staff members are friendly and caring. "I think everybody is treated on an equal basis," she said.

"I like the food and I like the atmosphere," said Johnson, who survives on Social Security payments. "I don't think you can beat it."

When the soup kitchen first opened, it was burglarized. People stole food, Johnson said.

But mission organizers weren't deterred. They kept the place open, Johnson said.

From humble origins as a soup kitchen, Mission Missouri has expanded its programs. Today, its efforts include job training, a summer youth program and faith mentoring.

Mission Missouri initiated a summer youth program this year with the local YMCA. Eighty-nine children were enrolled in the program. "We had a lot of foster kids," Pfefferkorn said.

The faith mentoring program is just getting under way thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Social Services. Mission Missouri is recruiting members of area churches to serve as mentors to those trying to move from welfare to work.

Those who sign up as mentors must agree to do so for a year. At the end of that year, a $300 honorarium will be made to mentors' participating churches.

Pfefferkorn hopes to have 30 mentoring partnerships in place this first year.

Job training

LaToya Robinson directs the job training program for Mission Missouri with $75,000 in government funding from the Bootheel Initiative program.

The program began in January. Thirty-five people have graduated from the program, which trains a few people at a time.

Robinson has assisted everyone from welfare recipients to former prisoners and drug addicts.

Robinson teaches everything from computer skills to self esteem. She takes her students to a local beauty college to get a make over. She teaches them how to present themselves to a potential employer and how to dress for success.

The class involves four weeks of training. Classes typically are no larger than five students, which allows Robinson to give personal attention to each student.

Robinson said she tailors the program to help her clients secure the jobs they want. She helped one woman get a job as a truck driver. Others have obtained clerical jobs.

Graduating from the program is a big achievement for her students. "I have some women literally crying because they have never graduated from anything," she said.

One of her former students is Ann Baker of Sikeston. Although totally blind from birth, she has a broadcasting degree from Morehead State University.

Still, she had trouble landing a good job. Baker, who has lived in Sikeston for a year, decided to go through Robinson's employment program.

She soon fell in love with Mission Missouri and its hands-on staff. "I liked the positive attitude the program portrayed," she said.

Robinson and others with the Mission Missouri staff liked Baker's attitude and clerical skills so much that they hired her as receptionist this summer.

She answers the phone and takes messages on a computer.

Baker smiles when she talks about landing a job with Mission Missouri. "I felt like it was a door God opened up for me," she said.

A second building

Pfefferkorn and her staff aren't content with the status quo. They are already planning to convert a vacant nursing home a few blocks away into another mission. Pfefferkorn said they intend to operate another soup kitchen and set up an alcohol and drug rehabilitation program.

They want to use part of the facility for a men's shelter and another part for a women's shelter.

Pfefferkorn envisions turning the center into a one-stop center for social services. The job training program would be relocated to the building.

Some repairs have been made to the building. But old hospital beds and other furniture remain stacked throughout the building. Parts of the structure have experienced water damage.

Walking through the building, Robinson acknowledges how daunting the project looks to the casual observer. "You have to have vision," she said.

Pfefferkorn isn't deterred. She already has talked to churches about helping to renovate the old brick building, room by room.

The roof and the electrical wiring have been fixed. "The rest of it is basically cleanup and very minor construction," she said.

Pfefferkorn believes Mission Missouri will be running programs out of the structure within a few months.

"There is such a great need," she said. "I don't think we will be dragging it out."

Mission Missouri

A faith-based, not-for-profit corporation in Sikeston.

It opened on January 5, 1998 in a former black school.

It moved into a former church at 218 Dixie St. in October 1998.

It has a staff of seven salaried staff members and operates on a budget of over $200,000 a year, much of it thanks to federal and state grants.

It operates a soup kitchen, provides job training, is starting a faith mentoring program to help people get off welfare, and is looking to open a second facility to provide more services.