Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Elton.
Hi Eric, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, let’s briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Mission Outpost started in late 2001 when one of our staff said, we have someone who wanted to donate a couch, and the next call was from someone who needed a couch. That evening, she and her husband took the family minivan, picked it up, and delivered it. Shortly after that, the Social Workers from the hospital located across the street from the church noticed that many young moms left the hospital with their newborns and did not have some baby essentials – diapers, bottles, wash clothes, blankets, pacifiers, etc. They called us and asked if we could help fulfill a need. We did not know what we were doing but said, “Yes.” Soon after that, Public Health Nurses from Dakota County called us and asked if we had food for families that did not have food. We said “Sure” even though we did not know what we were doing. Then it was clothing – did we have clothing we could provide for people in the community? Again, we said “yes.”
The next few years were spent growing our volunteer base, physical donation base, and physical space to do the work. In 2010, an apartment fire in the community displaced many families. We became the central hub for collecting donations from the community – clothing, food, and gift cards. We had small mountains of each item. During that process, we worked together with the Salvation Army. Soon after the initial rush of meeting family needs, we learned that the Salvation Army was looking for new office space. to do their work. We had space! We met with their leadership and forged a fantastic partnership that continues to this day, nearly 12 years later. Together, we can do so much more. They did things we didn’t do, and we did things they didn’t do. We shared a couple of areas – we both cared deeply for people in our community, cared about all things food, and cared about living out our faith. Together, we were so much stronger.
In August 2007, a dentist came to us and said we should build a dental clinic. We said, “Yeah, right. Why would a church build a dental clinic?” Over the next couple of years, he educated us on how great the community’s oral health care problems were. Accessibility to oral health care was a huge problem. Dental offices wanted to do something other than work with Medical Assistance. So how would the needs be met? After a couple of years of planning, we opened the Mission Outpost Dental Clinic on April 1, 2014 – no joke! Since those days, the clinic has served more than 5,000 patients with Dental professionals volunteering their time, giving back to the community – Dentists, Oral Surgeons, Hygienists, Dental Assistants, Endodontists, administrative help, and translators. So many people come to us in pain and leave, knowing they will be feeling better soon after our appointment. What a gift!
In the mid-2010s, we opened our Community Resource Center. We loved seeing our guests, but what if we could walk alongside them and be with them as they navigate life’s challenges, hoping they might not need to visit us each month?? Maybe it was a major health issue, or they needed a better job. Maybe they needed to get signed up for MNSure or learn how to access county emergency assistance or immigration help. Our goal was to walk alongside our guests as they tried to get into a position of being more self-sufficient. How cool would that be?
The real special sauce about Mission Outpost is our volunteers who choose to live out their faith in real and tangible ways. We operate with 200 volunteers per week. They will sort food, clothing, and household items. They will pick up food from local stores. They will sit with our guests and ask, “How are you today?” We have volunteers that will aid in the distribution of food and clothing. Volunteers will load our guests’ cars with the food and clothing they have just received. We have guests who answer phones and welcome our guests each time they come to the registration desk. Our volunteers come not only from Prince of Peace but also from many different faith communities in the area.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Over the years, the greatest challenges have been around volunteers, donations, and space. Would we ever have enough space to house all the different aspects of Mission Outpost? The Outpost started in an 8 x 10 closet. Could we continue to grow to meet the needs of the community? The answer was “yes”. Each year, we retrofit a space to meet the next need. In January of 2022, we moved into a new space designed to work with all aspects of Mission Outpost. What a gift!
Could we ever get enough volunteers to support all of the parts of Mission Outpost? Would volunteers come after work to serve? Would volunteers stick their hands into bags of mysterious donations and sort them to ensure we put out good-quality items for our guests? After many years, we found out our volunteers like to come and serve. They like to make a difference in someone’s life and are willing to do everything needed to support Mission Outpost.
Donations: Mission Outpost serves about 150 families each week. It takes many pounds of food and many articles of clothing each day to meet the needs of our guests. Over time, many networks have been tapped for food and clothing. Great connections have been made with Second Harvest Heartland and the Food Group food banks to ensure we have enough food each day that we are open. Initially, the congregation was a major provider of clothing, household items, and food donations. Over the years, word got out into the community that we collect these items. We have schools that will do a food, coat, or sock drive. What a gift to have a community that wants to be involved!
I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Mission Outpost?
We are a staff of 5 people with Prince of Peace and 2 people from the Salvation Army. Our goal is to equip volunteers to do the work so that we can serve more people in our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://popmn.org/mission/mission-outpost/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissionOutpostPOP
