About Us
75 years of serving and strengthening the Peoria community.
Our Mission
Empowering families by giving them hope and a path to prosperity.
To empower families with hope and faith to grow beyond life circumstances.
Our Vision
Who We Are
Peoria Friendship House is a community-based organization dedicated to supporting individuals and families across Peoria. Through a wide range of programs focused on education, food access, family support, and personal development, we work to create opportunities for stability, growth, and long-term success.
What We Do
Our programs are designed to meet the diverse needs of our community.
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Our Core Values
These core values have been and will continue to be our guiding light for hiring, firing, performance, promotions, and even the families we serve.
Adaptability
We are faithful to client and community needs as life circumstances alter in every family. New interactions and challenges require us to be solution-driven to resolve issues and adapt our services to the needs of the community. Our staff remains fluid and flexible to accommodate the daily changes that occur.
Passion
We serve others with a passionate heart and embrace families with a positive, collaborative, and energetic mindset to help them see the potential in their path to prosperity.
Commitment
We are committed to empowering families through unconditional support, uplifting, and enhancing their livelihood through our programs and services. We strive to provide a safe space for every community member entering our organization.
Mentorship
We are ambitious mentors creating resourceful opportunities for our staff, families, and youth to guide them toward success by providing accountability, accessibility, and ownership of their future.
Our History
Incorporated in April 1951, Friendship House began as a cooperative effort by the American Baptist Church and the local Council of Churches.
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Our first facility, a Quonset hut donated by Bradley University and dubbed “Operation Friendship House”, generated community excitement and served as both missionary residence and recreation center.
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The Friendship House Board took a leap of faith in 1957, securing the former Grace Presbyterian Church building at 800 NE Madison Avenue, acquiring ten times the amount of program space. By 1963, Friendship House of Christian Service had grown to serve nearly 150 families and provide over 23,000 contacts.
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Then, with the growth of services and need, in the mid-1970’s, Friendship House needed to create a new space that would allow for that growth for the years to come and the former church building was taken down and a new building was erected in its place, complete with a commercial kitchen, offices, meeting space, classrooms and a full-size gymnasium. Today, that building is the home of all of the amazing services that Friendship House provides with our complete wrap-around services
