Brookside Community Church has been around since 2008, helping feed families and offer support to their community.  Prior to 2014, Brookside had seen three different pastors and none of them worked out.  At that point, David and Mindy Cederquist took over and the church has flourished ever since.  David Cederquist is the head pastor and Mindy Cederquist is the executive assistant and Children’s Ministry Director. The two have made Brookside into the  church community that it is today.

Brookside offers a church community, a re-entry program for those who are ex-offenders, a play program, and of course, the food pantry.  

The re-entry program helps bring members back into the community who are either reentering society from prison, homelessness or addiction.  Brookside has about 16 referral partners, some being parole officers and/or prisons who let Brookside know they have someone who should be interviewed to be a part of the program.  However, Brookside doesn’t refer to the re-entry program as a program, but rather an environment.  There are plenty of programs around the city, but the Brookside offers the community feel.  Members of re-entry have to go to a bridging program on Mondays which is a program where they talk about bridging where they came from, where they are trying to go and how to sustain that.  On Tuesdays they have a Bible study, Wednesday they have an addiction class and they also have to be a part of Sunday service.  All the members work and stay in the community and are given a bus pass.  They are allowed a maximum of 18 months in the program and Brookside has a wait list so once someone has graduated from the environment, someone else is ready to step in.  They currently have 16 members and are looking to expand to help more members of the community.    

The play program started in 2016.  It is an after-school program that specializes in kids defying the odds of trauma through the power of play.  That could be through STEM, sports, arts, or any similar activities.  Before COVID it was right after school and the kids would have their program time to “play” and then Brookside would feed them a meal, which their families could choose to join them and eat as well, and then they would be picked up around 9 pm.

 

The food pantry aspect of Brookside accepts donations from anyone and from everywhere.  They are a partner with Midwest Food Bank which acquires  food products for free, most of which were created in excess or are near their expiration and donates them to Brookside.  Northview is also responsible for a large portion of the food Brookside gets.  Since COVID happened, a member at Northview was able to connect Brookside to the restaurant Divvy, located in Carmel, and Divvy prepares wraps for the church and food pantry users.  Another way the pantry has received food during COVID is from a chef in Broad Ripple.  Due to the pandemic, his restaurant had to close down and he wanted to help the community so he started making meals for the underprivileged.  The chef, Josh Stoneking, created Indy’s Courageous Kitchens.  Brookside pays a small fee to the company and is able to receive well-cooked and complete meals for the people who need it.  

Brookside is a community that thrives from its dignity.  Cederquist said there is no reason to describe the community based on its disadvantages, because the disadvantages are obvious.  Cederquist said, “There is a lack of opportunity because of the failed education system, the struggle for safe and affordable housing, high drug use and prostitution.” However, she says, they have dignity and with that, Brookside aims to restore hope and opportunity to a community that does not have the opportunity that other communities have.