This weekend, we celebrate the 4th of July, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. You may recall these words from that world-changing document:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident,

that all Men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator

with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

In all Franciscan Outreach programs, we go out of our way to recognize that all persons are created equal.  All persons are "endowed by their Creator" with human dignity and all are deserving of respect.   We do our best to recognize each of our guests as an individual, one of our peers in the human race.

We too believe that all people have certain unalienable rights.  In 1963’s Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII taught that “Man has the right to live.  He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services” [11].  We fight for our guests' right to live as the meals that we serve at the Marquard Center give them the sustenance to go on and the shelter of Franciscan House of Mary & Joseph provides a secure environment in which to make it through the night.  All guests are at liberty to accept or reject our offers of more comprehensive case management services.  We respect their self-determination.  Those who so choose can work with case managers to improve the quality and stability of their lives, pursuing happiness.

Looking for a good follow-up to a fun-filled holiday weekend?  On Sunday, July 13th, we will be adding a special raffle to the fun of the weekly trivia contest at Ginger's Ale House, which benefits Franciscan Outreach.  You could win great Chicago Cubs Tickets, donated by WNUA, for July 29th's match-up against Barry Bonds and the National League Champion Giants.  Winner must be present at Ginger's Ale House, 3801 N. Ashland (on Ashland between Irving Park and Addison), at time of drawing.  For more details about Ginger's, click here or visit www.gingersalehouse.com

For the week of June 24 - New Ways to Volunteer!

Do you want to do something to show your care for the homeless, but you just haven't found the role that fits right?  You're in luck!  Now there are new volunteer opportunities available at the Marquard Center.  You can choose a position from among the following options:

~ Cook ~

~ Shower Supervisor ~

~ Laundry Volunteer ~

~ Food Donation Rider ~

~ Relief Receptionist ~

~ Resource Developer ~ 

~ Newsletter Distributor ~ 

For more information and to sign up to volunteer, click here.

For the week of June 17 - Hope for the Desperate

    You may have heard a heartbreaking story in the news recently about Chicago homeless men agreeing to have their limbs smashed after being promised a tiny percentage of the payoff from insurance settlements for their "accidents."  The following article appeared in Sunday's Chicago Tribune Metro Section.  You may recognize such names as Franciscan House and Barry Steele.

Victim of scam comes forward:

Homeless man got arm crushed but no payoff

by David Heinzmann
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 15, 2003

The 45-year-old homeless man found himself in a dingy, unfamiliar garage, with his left arm laid out across a jagged slab of concrete.

Minutes before, he had been standing on a corner outside a West Side shelter when two men drove up and asked if he wanted to make some easy money by posing as the victim in a car wreck staged for a phony insurance claim.
 

The deal was the injury would have to be real to ensure a big settlement. One of the men who had picked him up held out a jacket and told him to put it over his head.

The homeless man shook his head. "I said, `I can take it.'

"No, you need it," he was told.

So the man covered his head. An instant later the flat end of a homemade ax came down on his left forearm, about three inches above his wrist, snapping the ulna and the radius.

"The next thing I know I was in shock for a minute," said the man, who told police he was promised $3,500 of any insurance settlement.

The man, who asked that his name not be published, was just one of many homeless men--drifting from shelter to shelter, addicted to alcohol and drugs and desperate for any kind of opportunity...

Click to read the rest of the article

     Reading this story makes us sad that some of our guests feel so desperate that they believe that participating in such scams is a worthwhile opportunity. We do our best to keep our guests from feeling such desperation.  We make our program sites warm, welcoming, friendly environments, where our guests can relax and go to sleep after a trying day.  We offer services, such as showers and laundry, that help them to maintain their dignity and self-esteem, which in turn helps them to believe that they are worthy of good things. 

     Most importantly, our case managers work one-on-one with our guests and let them know that there are resources that are available to them.  They help guests to find, apply for, and receive whatever services and housing opportunities they need to leave our shelter. 

     Unfortunately, as of this moment, we don't have enough case managers to reach all of our guests. If you'd like to find out how you can help us hire more case managers, call Diana or Fr. Larry at (773) 278-6724 or email them at diana@franoutreach.org or frlarry@franoutreach.org.  We're working on a plan, but we need help from interested persons. Together we can make bring hope and very real assistance to our most desperate guests. 

For the week of June 10 - Caring for our Guests

The following article was published in March 2003's How Can I Help? newsletter from the Catholic Network of Volunteer Service.  It was written by Denise Flaten, a former full-time volunteer at Franciscan House of Mary & Joseph, at the end of her year of service.

Success Through Caring

by Denise Flaten

Everyone is idealistic when they start their service.  They're excited to go out, make a difference, and really save the world (or at least one person).  Maybe friends and family praise and compliment them for the work they're doing, whether they're building houses or ladling soup or teaching kids to read.

But after a while, they realize there's so little they can actually do.  Ladling a bowl of soup cannot stop someone from dealing drugs or prostituting themselves.  Making a little kid understand the social commentary in Catch 22 doesn't make their parents stop beating them.  It's sad to realize what little power we have to help these people we've come to care about so much...

...But that's the most invaluable thing we can do for them - care about them so much!  I didn't feel like I was making the impact I'd hoped for, until I realized I had to quit thinking I could save them and just care for them!

I was doing one last check of the bathroom before I went to bed for the night, when I saw Veronica sitting in the bathroom reading the paper.  I asked her if she was having trouble sleeping.

"Yeah..."

"You can come sit with me at the desk and we can waste some time talking if you want?"

"You wanna talk? Yeah, sure," she said happily and got up.

She spent two hours talking and two great hours listening.  She told me all about her old neighborhood, her kids, her crazy days, how she has to stay away from her old house because the dealers are bad there, what she could buy with a dime when she was a kid, what it was like to be turning 50 soon, and asked me, looking for reassurance, if I thought God could forgive people for doing truly bad things.

Though we were laughing and having a great time when she finally said good night, I could tell she was nearly in tears.  After that night, she never let me forget how grateful for that she was.  I didn't work the next night, but the next time I saw her, she told me the day after we spoke, she didn't drink.  She said she'd been having a terrible day but was left with such a good feeling from the night before that she said she felt strong enough not to drink.

A week later, Veronica started a job and moved out of our emergency shelter into a transitional shelter.  I know I'm not responsible for her improvement, but I was made so happy to hear that I contributed in any small way to brightening her day.  She is a beautiful, wonderful lady.

I realized my success in this volunteer role doesn't depend on how well I can make their soup, sort their mail, or do any other of the tasks I'm responsible for here.  My success is caring about them.  I did more for Veronica in the two hours listening to her than in all the times I did her laundry or hander out to her some clothing.

It's not what we do, but how much love we do it with.

At Franciscan Outreach, we always try to maintain an atmosphere of love, caring and respect for our guests.  If you think that you might have love to give in a year of service to the poor, or if you know someone who might, please consider becoming a full-time volunteer with Franciscan Outreach.  We especially need full-time volunteers who could start at the end of the summer, in August or September.  For more information about our full-time volunteer program, click here.  (Please note that we are unfortunately unable to offer AmeriCorps Education Awards at this time, due to major cuts in government funding of the AmeriCorps program.)

For the week of June 3 - Happy Anniversary, Father Larry!

This week marks 25 years since Fr. Larry Janezic, OFM, Franciscan Outreach's Executive Director,  became a priest.  The following is an article that will appear in our upcoming Spring 2003 Newsletter (currently at the presses), in which he reflects on his years in the priesthood.

I Am So Grateful

by Fr. Larry Janezic, OFM

Anniversaries give us an opportunity to appreciate God’s blessings in our lives. These next few weeks will be special for me as I remember and reflect on my 25 years as a priest.

The world was a bit different 25 years ago. Jimmy Carter was president of the United States; Paul VI was Pope; Anwar Sadat was TIME’s “Man of the Year” in 1977. Jimmy Carter served one term; Paul VI died in the summer of 1978, a few weeks after I was ordained; and Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. But even as world leadership changed, certain factors in our world 25 years ago contributed to our experience of the world today.  Our country was experiencing growing inflation. The development of the Mid-East was a significant element of our international policy.  Paul VI’s legacy of the connection between peace and justice was an insight that can be applied to our contemporary international situation. The old adage can still be applied, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”  

Twenty-five years ago, I began to learn about the impact of poverty on our nation and on the people to whom I ministered.  In the concrete lives of people, I began to appreciate the joy of simplicity and humility.  I also saw the hardship and the struggle that poverty brings.  Most importantly, I witnessed the importance of faith in the people who struggled day by day to support their families. 

For about 20 of those 25 years, I worked in Hispanic ministry in San Antonio and Chicago.  I experienced the joy of a faith-filled life and a culture that nurtured that spirit of faith.  My faith has deepened by witnessing the demonstration of the faith of others, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist. These experiences endure as the years go by. 

For the past 25 years, I have experienced the effects of poverty on people that I have come to know.  For many of them, life has been a constant struggle.  When I began my work at Franciscan Outreach Association four years ago, I was almost surprised that our shelter’s occupancy rate and turn-away rate were increasing.  I was under the false impression that as things were better for many people in the country, things would be    better for the poor. 

Instead, I found a complexity of factors the make people homeless and keep people homeless. In fact, the homeless situation in our country was becoming worse.  The cost of housing, the low standard for a minimum wage, the fragmentation of social services, and the reality of prejudice and discrimination are very much in evidence in our work at Franciscan Outreach. Despite all that has changed in 25 years, many of the factors that produce poverty have remained the same.  

I am very grateful for the past 25 years of priestly ministry. I have experienced many transforming moments.  The most challenging and the most transforming were moments of liberation— liberation from the dark side of poverty.  These have been moments when I have experienced the joy of valuing friendship, compassion, and understanding.  I have shared these moments with people of very little means.  I am very grateful to my Franciscan brothers who share life with me and call me to a deeper love of Christ in St. Francis.  I am grateful for my family, who taught me a sense of compassion and understanding.  And I am grateful for all those who support Franciscan Outreach Association, who enable us to be a transforming presence in the lives of the poor.           

We are certainly grateful for the fact that Fr. Larry's journey has brought him to us at Franciscan Outreach!

If you would like to congratulate Fr. Larry on his anniversary, you can email him at frlarry@franoutreach.org

For the week of May 27- Summer Bash 4 the Homeless!

Come have a good time

while raising $$$ for

Franciscan Outreach Association!

SUMMER Bash 4 the homeless

at

TRADER TODD'S

www.tradertodd.com

Saturday, June 14, 2003, 7:30 p.m. to ???

Open bar from 8 to 9 p.m. (sponsored by Trader Todd's)

Raffles every half hour with White Sox tickets,

restaurant gift certificates,

electronics, and more!

Admission just ten bucks!

Must be 21 to enter

Volunteers needed--get in for free!

To see the invitation, click here.

For the Week of May 20 - Who eats at the Marquard Center?

On April 30th, Fr. Manny conducted a census of the guests who ate at our dining room that night. 

The survey showed....

70% were living on the streets or in a shelter

and 

18% were living with friends or family, while 

   8% were in their own home.

So, depending on how one defines "homeless," either 70% or 88% of our guests are homeless. The other 8% live in a home of their own and can't afford enough to eat. (4% didn't answer that question.) We're here for anyone who's hungry.

The survey also showed that ...

18% of our guests speak Spanish as their primary language, 

80% speak English, and 

   2% speak Polish. 

Perhaps this shows that we need more case management services in Spanish. Fr. Bill Frigo, OFM Cap., volunteers with us as a case manager and speaks Spanish, but he's not able to meet with all those who need his services. Someday we hope to be able to meet all the needs we see!

For the week of May 6- His Name Was Dave

     Respect and dignity. That's what we serve up here at Franciscan Outreach along with our food and shelter. Throughout their 800-year history, Franciscans have tried to embody this attitude in all they do. Here's an article by a Franciscan at St. Peter's Church in downtown Chicago, Fr. Bill Spencer. He talks about a homeless man who visited there often and the work of a few other Franciscans. Here's the article:

     If you’ve walked West on Madison Street some time during the last two or so years, you’re bound to have seen him. Dave was one of any number of people on the streets of our city with a hand held out. The Northwest corner of Madison and LaSalle Streets was where he spent most of his days. For a while he sold Streetwise; and when his violation of the newspaper’s rules meant that he could no longer do that, he just asked for money from passers by. You may have grown so used to him being there that you stopped noticing him; or you might have even found yourself irritated by his presence every once in awhile. Dave wasn’t intimidated by the weather. He was on his street corner whether it was warm or cold. The same was true for the reception with which he and his requests were met. Whether it was warm or cold, he held his ground and kept on asking.

     “The Northwest corner of Madison and LaSalle Streets was where he spent most of his days.” When he wasn’t on his corner, there was a very good chance that he was... Read the rest of the article...

   To donate on line using     click here. 

Go to What's New Archives pages:  

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]

[10]   [11]   [12]   [13]   [14]   [15]   [16]   [17]