Power of One fosters community potential

Tricia Stanfield had an idea. Her husband, Jason, was soon on board with her plan. Then her best friend, a stranger initially looking for help, and the stranger’s sister were soon to follow as board members of the newly created nonprofit.

Two years later, Stanfield’s idea — now called The Power of One Project — had increased to a dozen volunteers and is on the cusp of operating from a building in downtown Belleville instead of the Stanfields’ garage.

That building, at 520 N. Illinois, needs some work but owner Randy Keller is hopeful the group’s work can help honor his son’s memory.

Keller’s son, Irvin Lee Brown, died five years ago, he said. Keller says he wanted to start a foundation to make a change in the community, and says he admires what Stanfield is putting together.

“There’s a lot of things that have to change,” Keller said. “I feel like this is the best (opportunity) since my son died.”

The Power of One now operates largely out of the Stanfields’ garage, where they collect and distribute clothing and household items for people in need. P-One, as they call it, goes far beyond providing donations to the needy.

P-One has three main programs, Tricia Stanfield says. They meet to provide some form of community service once a month; and they have Junior Volunteers, where they encourage children to volunteer for the community. There is an annual scholarship awarded to the child with the most volunteer hours.

Then there is the “Break the Cycle” program, where the aim is to break whatever cycle is keeping a family down.

“It’s anything that’s keeping them from living the empowered life that they are capable of living,” Stanfield said.

For most of the families they’ve helped with the year-long program so far, that means breaking the cycle of poverty. The Power of One Project has had three families complete the program, and currently has six enrolled in it.

Volunteers visit the family once a week, providing they have whatever it is they need in the way of food or clothing.

“In exchange, they list their goals, and we hold them to meeting those goals,” Stanfield says.

The program has been largely successful, they say.

Jackie Bruenger, a board member and Stanfield’s best friend, said those who have dropped out have done so because they didn’t want to put in the required two hours of volunteer time the project requires of each family.

It’s the “biggest thing we do all the events for,” says Tonya Deering, of O’Fallon, who is now the director of the Break the Cycle project.

The families now being helped include two that had job losses and are recovering with P-One’s help, Deering says.

“One family, the dad is now looking for work and the mom is working,” she said. Another family has the dad working full-time and the mom back in school, Deering said that family needed “a stepping stone” toward help.

The third family being helped now by Break The Cycle is led by a single mother, Deering said, whose needs are decreasing.

“She just needed a little backbone; (sometimes) you just need someone to rely on for a little bit.”

Laura Gaston and her sister Brittney Sampy direct and co-direct the Junior Volunteers segment of P-One.

“I have four children and wanted my children to be part of something, too. I like what (Tricia) does,” Sampy said.

Gaston said they try to do one event a month, and next month will be leading their charges in a Belleville Helping Belleville event.

But Gaston first contacted P-One not to help, for for some help.

“I contacted Tricia when I moved into Belleville, about Break The Cycle,” Gaston said. “I didn’t have a lot of stuff (moving from an apartment to a house).”

P-One got her a dining room table and a box of toys for her family’s six children, she said. And in the process, she and her sister became volunteers with P-One.

The Power of One Project expects the building to be ready to distribute donations in about a year. The building needs a lot of work — Keller declined a request for a tour because of the kitchen floor’s condition — but Stanfield is excited to introduce more in the community to the Power of One. She says there are still “legal things” to work out regarding whether or not the nonprofit will need to pay property taxes.

This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Power of One fosters community potential."