PEORIA MAGAZINE August 2023

Khloe Stacy, a fifth grader-to-be at South Side Christian

of times with his friend,” recalled Lisa. “One day I said, ‘Hey, I would like you to come into the house and read to me … He said, ‘I can’t read.’” She contacted the boy’s mother and offered to homeschool him along with another sibling. That partnership lasted two years. Meanwhile, she homeschooled neighborhood children for about four years. Soon, her role became finding students for a new school. The core group joined her in knocking on residents’ doors. South Side Christian Academy opened in the fall of 2016 inside the former Hill top Fellowship Church off Farmington Road. It started with a kindergarten class of 11 students bused from Peo ria’s South Side. The maximum class size was 14, and the plan was to add another grade level each year up to the 8th grade. BIG ASPIRATIONS “We thought, what if we start working with … kids from the time they are young and teach them about Jesus from the beginning, give them a great education, which is also a great pathway out of poverty and … crime and other bad statistics that define this area, that they could make a change in the community,” said Meiss.

had moved into Limestone Township from Chillicothe and begun getting acquainted with nearby South Peoria families. “We started some neighborhood Bible clubs and we picked up kids down on Wiswall Street and brought them into our home,” said Lisa. “We had a heart for this area as far as reaching out to kids and families,” added Matt. “The students did not know math facts. We did math flash cards with them and they always read for 10 or 20 minutes,” said Lisa. “We noticed the kids did not have very good reading skills, most of them did not know anything about the Bible, so we saw the need for Jesus and more academics.” Lisa, who had been homeschooling her own children, saw an opportunity for outreach. It was not unusual for the Waibels to see South Side kids walk up the hill past Lutheran Cemetery to play basketball with their children, three of their nine still at home. As their relationships grew, one by one, the South Side children became a part of their homeschool program. “There was a boy who showed up at my house, he was 11 years old and he did not know his alphabet. We have a basketball hoop and he saw the kids playing basketball. He came a number

Relying heavily on their faith, private donations and volunteers that first year proved a tight squeeze. The budget grew to $120,000 when they had to purchase a school bus. “We basically prayed and sent letters to everybody we ever knew,” said Meiss. Meanwhile, that core group went looking for a new location on Peoria’s South Side. In January 2018, first and second grade students and two teachers moved into a renovated, 12,000-square-foot building on six acres along Hill Street in Limestone Township, a former Knights of Columbus facility west of Laramie Street. The entire $400,000 for reno vation came from donations. The staff was small. Board members volunteered.

JULY 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 51