For the week of March 2, 2005 - Help Sr. Patricia turn your Used Printer Cartridges into Sheets for our Shelter

Sr. Patricia Doebber, OSF, of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Frankfort, Illinois, is a retired sister with a new ministry. She collects used printer cartridges and sends them into back to the manufacturer for a refund. She then uses the money she collects to buy sheets for our overnight shelter.

Any kinds of computer printer or photocopier cartridges qualify - ink jet, bubble jet, toner, etc. 

Send them to us at Franciscan Outreach at 1645 W. LeMoyne, Chicago 60622 or drop them off at St. Peter's Church in the Loop at 110 W. Madison.  Diana will deliver them to Sr. Patricia who will send them away for a refund. 

So turn your used cartridges into sheets ~ its almost like turning water into wine!  Your efforts will be appreciated by the staff and guests here at Franciscan Outreach as well as Sr. Patricia.

For the week of February 22, 2005 - Calling all New Donors! Double your gift with a One-to-One Matching Grant

Great News! We have received a challenge grant from the Raskob Foundation.

 If we can raise $5,000 in new funds, we will receive an additional $5,000 from the Raskob Foundation. These funds must be "new funds" from "outside sources" for the purpose of "staff salaries/benefits, volunteer stipends, utilities, community living expenses, and program supplies" of the Marquard Center soup kitchen, Franciscan House shelter, or the Case Management Program. 

What are "new funds?"

• a gift from a donor who has never donated to us before

• a gift of $1,000 from a donor who's highest annual gift since 1998 has been $100 would result in $900 of "new funds."

• a grant from a foundation that hasn't made a grant to us yet

• a corporate gift from a corporation that hasn't made a gift before

This would be a perfect opportunity for Lawyers who may wish to join Lawyers United for the Homeless for the first time. Its a great way to show how Lawyers can get together to do something good for the homeless! For more information on Lawyers United for the Homeless, visit www.franoutreach.org/LawyersUnited.htm.

This challenge grant is in addition to an outright grant for $5,000 that the Raskob Foundation has made to us. Thank you Raskob Foundation!

Any questions? Contact Diana at (773) 278-6724

Spread the word! If you're putting this into an email, send people to the Archives page at www.franoutreach.org/what's_new_archives_17th.htm, since we'll move it to that location when we post next week's What's New. Don't let this opportunity pass us by!

For the week of February 15, 2005 - Introducing the Wednesday Bridge Program!

For more than seven years, the STAIRS program of the Heartland Health Outreach (HHO) would bring case managers and substance abuse counselors to the Marquard Center every Wednesday.  Over the years, we brought medical, mental health outreach, and art therapy services on board for Wednesdays as well.  As of last December, due to organizational restructuring, STAIRS was no longer able to offer their services at our site. 

We recognized that the Wednesday program meant a lot to our guests.  Each week, they could come up to the Marquard Center, meet up with friends, have some snacks, and make use of a variety of services in a relaxed and familiar environment.  We didn't want to take that away from them and so we decided that we would continue to offer the same services, even without the STAIRS personnel.

Beginning in December, Ambryn began to lead the weekly Motivational Meeting.  She, Nick, and Roy took on the commitment to meet with all those seeking case management, even though they could no longer share the work with STAIRS case managers.  Fortunately, our other collaborators are still on board: nurses from HHO provide clinic services; a mental health outreach worker from HHO meets with guests; Br. Joe Manning offers an art therapy group; occasionally we have Veterans' Administration staff on-site to help those eligible for VA services.

Our Franciscan Outreach Wednesday day program has been a tremendous success.  Motivational group participation has remained steady, as has use of the collaborative services.  Our case managers have maintained their previous levels of Wednesday service, while covering the case management services that had been provided by STAIRS.  This has more than doubled their Wednesday caseload.  In December, Franciscan Outreach case managers had 137 Wednesday meetings with clients.  In January, they had 119.

The only thing that our program was missing was a name.  In order to increase our guests' sense of ownership of the program, we put the question to them.  Forty-eight individuals offered 164 entries in a contest to find the best name.  Last Friday, the winners were announced.  Dave Smith (right) submitted the grand prize winner: the Wednesday Bridge Program.  He says that he had fun thinking up suggestions and that our program has helped him immensely.

The case management team chose the Wednesday Bridge Program because they found it to be an appropriate metaphor for the day's activities.  The Wednesday program bridges the gap between guests and the services that they need by bringing many services together in a safe space.  Further, the case managers see their work as providing a bridge from where our guests have been to where they want to be, helping them surpass the obstacles in between.  The case management relationship is one of assistance through transition. The bridge can be one from hopelessness to hope. In the future, we hope to have enough funding to add even more case managers so that we can help even more guests.

For the week of February 8 - Increasing our Availability to our Guests

For years, our case managers have been going to Franciscan House of Mary & Joseph in the evenings to conduct outreach among the shelter guests.  They meet with guests, ask about any needs that they might have, and explain how they might be able to help with case management.  In order to follow up with the case managers, however, guests had to come to the Marquard Center.

Now, at least three mornings of the week, guests can meet with case managers at the shelter itself.  Roy, Ambryn, Fr. Bill, and Br. Mike are all putting in daytime hours in the new shelter office space.  Generally, case managers are available from 9 am to noon.  On at least one of the mornings, two case managers will be available to work with guests.  Our case managers' presence adds to the daytime services already provided by our Chicago Housing for Health Partnership (CHHP) case managers, who work with chronically medically ill individuals, and the three mental health outreach workers who work with our guests as part of the Shelter Linkage Project, though employed by other agencies.

We are paying close attention to supervising the guests who come to the shelter to meet with their case managers.  We would like to use the kitchen as a reception area during the day.  In order to keep our guests occupied and calm while they wait, we would like to install a TV for them to watch.  With a VCR/DVD player, we could also show training or motivational videos.

We are looking for a TV in the range of 24"-27" that can be mounted on the wall. If you don't have a TV to donate, could you donate the funds and we would buy one?  We could buy a 25" or 27" TV for $180, with a wall mount costing an additional $100 and a VCR/DVD player for $80. You would be making a trip to see a case manager more pleasant for our guests, reducing conflicts between guests, providing the tools for showing educational videos, and creating a welcoming atmosphere at our shelter during the day.