“How many people do you get off the streets?” It’s a question people often ask. They appreciate that we provide emergency food and shelter, but want to know that we’re changing lives, too.
In 2009, we got 89 persons into housing. “CeCe,” as we’ll call her here on this web page, is one of them. In February, she told me: “I’m blessed because I woke up this morning….I just got a place of my own Monday.”
CeCe hadn’t had a place of her own for 15 years. She had been coming to Franciscan Outreach since 1996 off an on when she couldn’t stay with friends of family. Over the years we’ve helped her get her state ID, gave her food and clothing, and connected her with dental, legal, and medical services. But housing? “I just wasn’t ready,” she said.
On February 21, 2008, she took the brave step of deciding to go into a substance abuse treatment program. Our case managers and the nurse helped her find one and get admitted, but the real work was hers. She stuck with the program and the follow up treatment and cooperated with all the rules of the half-way house she went to. “It isn’t easy living with 17 other women!” she laughed.
“I still have hard times, but I’ve learned to use my tools. I see my sponsor and make the meetings.” She proudly told me that she will soon be celebrating two years of sobriety.
While at the half-way house she tried to find a job. “That took a long time,” she said. Now she’s been employed for a year and two months with the same company. She goes out and visits the elderly and does cooking and cleaning for them in their homes. She’s a friendly person, so she’s probably very good at that.
In October, she was reaching the end of her time limit for living at the half-way house. She asked our case managers for help in finding a place to live. Fortunately, we had an opening in our Streets to Home program, through which the City of Chicago funds housing vouchers for 26 units of housing. We helped her get into a single-room-occupancy unit at the YMCA.
She soon set her sights on a studio apartment where she could have her own bathroom and cooking facilities. We’ve helped her apply for a subsidized unit where she’ll pay only 1/3 of her income for rent. It only took a week for her to get approved. Now she’s just waiting for her background check to come back.
“I’m so excited.
I waited on it, prayed on it, and got out of th
e
way.
The case managers worked with me when they saw I was working with myself.” said
CeCe. The case managers specialize in helping those who want to help themselves.
They helped 1,357 of our guests in 2009. In fact, we placed
89 persons into housing:
· 39 persons into housing through our general case management program
· 16 through the Streets to Home housing voucher program
· 15 graduates of the voucher program into more independent housing, and
· 19 shelter guests into housing for persons with medical or mental health complications through a collaborating agency that works at the shelter.
In order to keep helping people like CeCe, we have to raise enough to meet our operating expenses. Last year, we were able to keep all our programs open, thanks to the generosity of so many of you and our grantmakers. But we had no excess and even ended the year in debt. We need your help to keep everything open this year.
This Lent, a Secular Franciscan Group will match donations from new donors dollar for dollar up to a total of $1,000. This is an easy way to tell your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, employers, and church group friends about the good work we do.
Please give what you can this Lent so that we can continue to provide 86,513 shelter nights at our 246 bed shelter, 170,941 meals at the shelter, 41,963 meals at the soup kitchen, 1,819 bags of cleaned laundry, 41,722 showers, 1,500 client visits and 1,200 lunches at the day program, and 9,021 one-on-one case management contacts for the homeless and poor of Chicago.
You will be helping people like CeCe stay alive in the short run and make their lives better in the long run. “I’m so grateful,” she said. “I was given a second chance to live my life right.” May you have a blessed and holy Lenten season. Please keep CeCe, and all our guests, in your prayers. Forward this on to your friends and family and ask them to donate through our secure donation page and to say who sent them. Any new donor is eligible for the match.
Sincerely,
Diana Faust, SFO
Executive Director