For August 17, 2006 - Pooch Walk Registration Open!

Sign up now for our Pooch Walk 2006 at Lake Katherine Nature Center in Palos Heights on Saturday, September 23, 2006 at 9:00 am.

Registration forms and photos from last year's Pooch Walk are available at  www.franoutreach.org/PoochWalk.htm or by contacting Matt at Matt@franoutreach.org or (773) 278-6724.

Raise a socially responsible pet - have him or her help the homeless! Sign up now for a fun Saturday morning with your dog.

SAVE THE DATE - for our Fall Benefit Dinner at The Chicago Firehouse on Thursday, November 9, 2006.

For July 28, 2006 -  Ending Homelessness

          Ending homelessness... is it a dream?  Imagine a city like Chicago without homelessness! It could happen. In 2002, Mayor Daley was the first mayor to sign onto a Plan to End Homelessness. The goal to end homelessness in ten years. There are three key elements of the Plan:

• providing enough permanent, affordable housing

• stopping the flow of persons into homelessness

• helping those who are homeless end their homelessness as quickly as possible.

Its part of a nationwide effort to re-think the way homeless persons are helped.

          How is Franciscan Outreach participating in these efforts? Mostly through the last element.

        Our Chicago Loop Case Management Project places two case managers in the heart of Chicago's downtown area - where there were none before. Their goal is to move people into permanent housing as quickly as possible. The Streets-to-Home initiative of the Chicago Department of Housing provides the funding. They've recently awarded us funding for a third case manager. Along with funding comes vouchers to place 20 persons into permanent housing. We've also provided help on lots of other issues. Click here for some stats. Once we have persons in permanent housing, we will provide ongoing case management support to keep them from becoming homeless again. The case managers work in donated office space at First United Methodist Church and St. Peter's Church, both of which are right downtown.

       We're planning a Recovery Program for our Crew Staff at the shelter. We'd like to be able to help our Crew Staff maintain a sober life and find housing and employment. This would involve having them stay at the shelter 24 hours / day while developing work skills and and doing whatever it takes to find and maintain a stable lifestyle. Features will include substance abuse recovery group meetings, job training, life skills training, and housing placement. This may qualify as an Interim Housing program that's part of the Plan. We will begin seeking funding for this soon. Let us know if you'd like to help us plan or support this effort.

       We are a point of contact for persons who are homeless. Current strategies under the Plan call for outreach workers who visit homeless persons on the streets and offer them food or other immediate assistance and try to engage them in housing. We do some of this already with our Loop Case Managers. Our other case managers, however, have to walk no further than our front door to find homeless persons who need assistance. We build a relationship with homeless individuals and encourage them to find housing and whatever else they need. We could never walk enough miles to see all the people we currently see. Our efforts may qualify as either the Outreach & Engagement or the Community Based Case Management elements of the Plan. We are looking for funds for a housing placement coordinator and several more general case managers.

We are committed to maintaining our emergency services for as long as they are needed. One goal of the Plan is to phase out all emergency shelters by 2012.  Wouldn't it be great if there were so few homeless persons that we could transform one of our men's dorms into a supportive service center? That would be fine with us - we could expand our services in one or more of the areas listed above. Until then, though, we are committed to providing food and shelter to those who line up at our doors. Our basic programs give us the infrastructure that allows us to do special projects that are geared toward a specific sub-population of our guests. We remain committed to them for as long as they are needed by our guests.

You, too, can be playa part in ending homelessness by providing financial support for the work we do. Click here to donate.  

For July 14, 2006 - Looking at a Homeless Person

The following was written by Steve Greenberg, the Services Administrator here at FOA: 

    The other day I asked one of our guests at the shelter how he was doing. He said to me that "life sucked" and that it was the "Same old cr@p - just a different day." I asked him why he felt this way. He said to me: "No one ever looks at me." I said "Never?"  He said "Nobody ever looks me in the eye."

     This seemed very sad to me. I asked him why he felt this was. He said that maybe people feel guilty, maybe they're scared of him, or maybe they really just don't care. Whatever the reasons are it makes him feel bad by the end of the day.

     When I first started here I decided to talk to each and every guest that passes through our doors on the nights that I am here. I look into their eyes and say something simple like "How are you tonight?" or "Enjoy your meal." or "Have a nice evening and be careful out there."

     They seem to be simple things but now that the guest brought it to my attention, I feel that they are huge things to do. They are something that each and everyone of us can so for a homeless person, or anyone else for that matter.

     Next time you see a homeless person, look at him or her. Say hello and look them in the eye.  You'll be making a small but important improvement in that person's day.

For July 3, 2006 - Yearning to Breathe Free

Its the 4th of July, a time when we celebrate the many blessings we have here in the United States.  Do you ever wonder how this vision of the American dream affects the homeless? Read the poem that's inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty...

The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" ~ Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus" (1883)

Franciscan Outreach, in a way, is like the Statue of Liberty. While we do serve a some recent immigrants, our typical guest is an American. Tired, poor, homeless, tempest-tossed, and yearning to breathe free. (We do not think of them as wretched or refuse, however.)

Tired?    Yes - of walking all day, of not being looked at, of thinking about finding food and a safe place to sleep for the night. Tired of their unsuccessful search for housing or a job - needing the help of someone who's knowledgeable about these things and wants to see them succeed.

Yearning to breathe free?     Yes - from substance abuse, mental illness, and all the factors that caused their homelessness in the first place. Yearning for someone who can show them how to overcome their difficulties and find new ways of doing things.

Tempest-tossed?    Yes - by the many storms that affect those who have limited coping skills, storms that might not affect those who are more well adjusted but are overwhelming for those who need our services. Looking for someone who can help them navigate the bureaucracies that bounce them around only to throw them back to the same beach they started from. 

So, this 4th of July, don't turn your back on the Americans who need your help.

Did you know that the non-profit corporation is an American invention? When the country started we didn't have wealthy nobility who were obligated to help the poor. Rather, ordinary Americans began to combine their excess resources solve the social ills of their day. Today the wealthy also contribute through foundations and other large donations. For everyone who has a little extra, its as easy as writing a check or making an on-line donation. Summer is a slow time for donations to Franciscan Outreach, so please do what you can to keep our beacon of hope burning brightly for those who are adrift on the sea of life.

For June 16, 2006 - We Need TOWELS

A shower is important to human dignity - especially this time of year when its hot outside. Unfortunately, our shelter is running low on towels. Have you ever in your life not been able to take a shower because you didn't have a towel? that's what some of our guests will face if we run low. How can you help?

  -- Go through your closet and find any mismatched towels.

  -- Could you ask people in your workplace to bring in their old towels? The only things you need to do this are a few large bags to collect them.

  -- Visit your favorite inexpensive place to shop and buy a few cheap ones. Don't buy really big ones - the smaller bath towels are the best since they work great and don't take much space in the washing machine. We wash 250 towels a night.

  -- Do you have a parish group, scout troop, breakfast club you belong to? Ask members to donate new or  their mismatched towels.

  -- Could your parish hold a weekend collection for us?

  -- Do you know a hair salon, health club, hotel, school, or any other business that uses towels? Ask them to donate the ones they'd like to get rid of.

Getting them to us would be part of the volunteer effort - we're short staffed at the shelter because of vacations at the moment, so any help you can provide in that regard would be greatly appreciated. Call Carin at (773) 278-6724 for more info or to report your success.

For May 23, 2006 - New Summer Volunteer Opportunities

Got some time on your hands this summer? We have some new volunteer opportunities for you...

• Reception at Chicago Temple and/or St. Peter's Church - You would be staffing a desk near our case managers and keeping track of which client is next in line to see a case manager.  You would also be the keeper of the bathroom key, the maker of coffee, and a friendly presence that will let the men and women we serve know we care. Hours are weekdays during the day. Sign up for as much or as little as you want.

• Relief Receptionist for Marquard Center - Its Summer and time for vacations! We have several days on which we need someone to answer the phone and the door here at the Marquard Center. Hours are on weekdays from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm - with half-day or full-day shifts.

• Serving with Meaning - We have several open dates in our Marquard Center soup kitchen in July and August for volunteers who want to serve dinner and then reflect with their group afterwards upstairs in our chapel. Hours are from 4:45 until about 7:45 pm. This is a great opportunity for Small Christian Community groups, SFO groups, parish human concerns and peace & justice groups, and family groups. Its a great way to work with the homeless and then make the experience more meaningful by talking about what you just did. A trained facilitator will lead the discussion for you (and no, she's not named Meaning)..

• Handing out Sandwiches at the Shelter - Not a new position but one that is certainly interesting. Hours are from 7:45 pm until 9:30 pm. We have lots of open dates this summer. See the online calendar at the link on the left side of  www.franoutreach.org/volatshelter.htm

• Pooch Walk People - Work on the team that's preparing for the Pooch Walk in Palos Heights in September. Next meeting is in Tinley Park on May 31 in the evening. Join a committee that's getting ready for the event.

• Near North Event Committee - We'll be hosting a new event on the Near North side to raise awareness about Franciscan Outreach and raise a little money for our programs. Get in on the ground floor. What kind of event sounds interesting to you?

For any of these opportunities, contact Diana at diana@franoutreach.org or (773) 278-6724. Make your summer one to remember!

For May 16, 2006 - Loop Case Management Program off to an (overwhelmingly) Good Start!

On February 17 we announced our new Chicago Loop Case Management Program (read announcement) that's funded by the Chicago Department of Housing.  From February 1 to April 30, we saw 124 different case management clients. In fact, there are often so many clients that we can't see everyone who is waiting.

What kind of help do they need? We're also finding that a lot of them are not connected with any social services at all. The following chart shows the issues we discussed. The numbers represent each time an issue was discussed. 

We have also located 15 permanent housing units and are working on placing 15 of our clients in them, courtesy of the City of Chicago Department of Housing's Streets-to-Home Initiative. Once these clients are in housing, one of our two case managers will shift her duties to helping them retain housing, as provided by our City contract, so that they don't just end up back on the street when the first problem arrives.

Then we'll be down to only one case manager at our downtown office space. If anyone would like to help fund the third case manager and keep this very successful program successful, please contact Diana at  diana@franoutreach.org. Your funds will go straight to the Loop program!  We would like to have the third case manager by June 1 so there is no gap in services. You can make it possible!

For May 5, 2006 - Staying out of Trouble (and out of Prison)

       One of our guests stopped by yesterday to thank us for helping him through a rough time. "John" as we'll call him, is a 47 year old man who was released from prison in December. He came to us shortly after his release on parole when he was having trouble finding a job, a place to live, and keeping away from drugs and alcohol.

       John's first point of contact with us was in December of 2005 when he came to our HIV testing program. He heard on the street that we offer free HIV testing and came over. He was tested and then went to an Awareness & Prevention discussion group. While in the group he mentioned that he was having trouble staying clean and sober but that he wanted to get his life back on track. He was afraid that if he didn't stop using he would violate the terms of his parole and end up back in prison.

       Steve, our Services Administrator, told John about the Recovery Group meetings we have. John started to go to the meetings and found them helpful. He then began to go to the AA meeting we have. There he was told about an inpatient/residential program at the Salvation Army. By this time he was ready to make a commitment to being clean and sober, so he enrolled.

       John came in to visit us yesterday. He looks great!  He told us that he has had 5 months of sobriety and couldn't have done it without our help. He is meeting his obligations for parole. He has a good relationship with his wife and son. He's also employed and living on his own.

       He told Steve: "I'm so glad I found you guys. I'd probably be back in prison if it wasn't for your help. I never would have been able to do this on my own."

       We congratulate "John" for working hard to get his life back on track. Its nice when guests come back just to thank us for helping them through a rough time. We know that life will never be easy for John, but at least now he has a good chance of doing the right thing.

       You can be a part of this work through your donations and volunteering. A great way to donate and have some fun in the process is to come to our Spring dinner...