Cornerstone Community Outreach: Day 5

Today was our last day of service and I think I’m still slightly in denial about it. Coming off of three phenomenal days at Cornerstone, I was really looking forward to what Chicago Hopes had in store for us today. Chicago hopes is a program based in a variety of shelters that offers educational support to homeless children. Seeing that Cornerstone also hosted Chicago Hopes made me incredibly excited that we would have the opportunity to work with the program in another setting.

            Our group was split with half of us going to San Jose and the other half of us going to Su Casa. The San Jose group would be painting a mural while the Su Casa group would have a mystery task in store for them. I opted out of painting and chose to venture off to Su Casa! I was fortunate enough to act as our van’s copilot on the way there, which gave me a great view of the legendary Chicago traffic.

            Su Casa is a shelter that houses about six families at a time and most of them are predominantly Spanish speaking. There are bilingual staff members and volunteers, many of who also stay at Su Casa. Cathy, the Su Casa director, first greeted us when we entered the property. She immediately offered us coffee and tea and we were introduced to a much more intimate and homey environment than the one we were used to at Cornerstone. Cathy gave us an overview of the services provided at Su Casa; one unique quality being that families usually stay at Su Casa for about a year as opposed to the typical 4 months at other shelters in the Chicago area. Cathy also informed us that while Su Casa accepts families of all denominations, it operates under the Catholic Worker principles which center around peace and social justice. Shortly before beginning our task, we were joined by two graduate Psychology students who intern with Chicago Hopes.

            We spent the rest of our day sorting children’s books by their Scholastic level. This required a smartphone so I was lucky I had a fully charged battery. Many of the books were not in the Scholastic database or did not have an available letter, which was disheartening because Chicago Hopes would not utilize the books that could not be leveled. Cathy had left us as soon as the interns arrived so all we did was sort through books and didn’t really learn very much more about Su Casa or the overall Chicago Hopes program. I thought task was pretty monotonous and it was difficult to stay awake and focused, probably because I felt disconnected from the overarching cause we were working towards. However, seeing the completed shelf with labeled boxes of books made me feel proud of the work we did that day. In addition, we leveled a few books from an upstairs floor of Su Casa and had the opportunity to meet a young girl who resides in the shelter. Watching Sophie read to her (while simultaneously sorting books like the dutiful volunteer I am, of course) was a really bright moment of the day.

            Despite struggling to stay focused during our sorting duty, we made it through and definitely left Su Casa’s Chicago Hopes space a little more organized and accessible! I’m also glad this service gave me a new shelter perspective.

            Having opted in to the mural painting, I went to San Jose where Chicago Hopes borrows space for its headquarters of sorts. The San Jose shelter is the only other shelter besides Cornerstone Community Outreach affiliated with Chicago Hopes that offers temporary housing for families including adult males. Pat, the director of Chicago Hopes, while speaking about the diversity of San Jose clients informed us of one who is a grandfather living with his grandchildren. Having just learned about the issue of adult men in homeless families, I was pleased to hear of another shelter offering these services and am inspired to take this knowledge back with me to D.C. I am curious about the dynamic of shelters in our backyard and eager to expand these services to our neighbors.

            Getting back Chicago Hopes, they had a classroom and playroom area expanding into a hallway in the basement of the San Jose shelter. Our task was not only to paint the signature mural, but also to paint the rest of the walls in the playroom and hallway. This goal seemed daunting at 9:00am, but around 3:18pm, we had finished completely with pride in our work. We worked alongside Pat, the director, and two graduate students from a local college who volunteered regularly as tutors for Chicago Hopes. Getting to know these three people made painting that much more delightful. Interactions with clients, though, were limited. Those that did occur, though, were incredibly heart warming. The few women that walked by were audibly ecstatic at having brighter walls, and thanked us enthusiastically. We would have had the opportunity to interact with clients more as one of the employees of the shelter invited us to each lunch with them, but unfortunately we learned this after finishing our packed lunches and had to get back to work.

            This project truly was the icing on top of the cake of this week. My time at Cornerstone Community Outreach left me inspired and compelled to continue working with this issue, but having the opportunity to leave a physical mark on Chicago completely my sense of fulfillment. I learned more, felt more, and had more fun on this experience than I anticipated, and I am confident the lessons will stick. So get ready, College Park/D.C., to end homelessness Chicago style!

Rebecca & Tori

Cornerstone Community Outreach: Day 4

Today was the last of our three days working with Cornerstone Community Outreach, and it is strange we won’t be returning in the morning. The volunteer coordinator was not only energetic and dedicated to her work, but optimistic about the change that a group of thirteen students could make in only three days’ time.  Between lifting boxes and organizing donations of toys and clothes, we interacted with individuals experiencing homelessness and those that work with them. Though I entered this experience aware of my tendency to ascribe to the stigma attached to currently homeless persons, I was unaware of the kind of reaction I’d have to the shelter itself. In short, I was disappointed in myself. I found myself thinking part way through our second day that “they” (the proverbial Other) were so lucky to have us volunteering our time to make their living place better.

            In an attempt to counter my own reaction, I stopped working for a few minutes and talked with some of the men in the day shelter about nothing in particular. I firmly believe in the education-service-reflection model we follow as Alternative Breakers, but this separation from our service was necessary for me. I believe I was bogged down by the root causes that then allowed me to continue “othering” the population for which we are seeking to access and advocate. The conversation, again, was inconsequential, but reinforced our working definition of homelessness we devised last night.

Homelessness: need to copy this don’t post without its being here

            Many thanks to this phenomenal group of students I’ve gone on this experience with. Though we’ve laughed every step of the way, our social issue is heavy and there is so much to absorb. When they see this, I want them to know how much it means to me that they are so invested in the group process and using this knowledge when we get back to College Park. Two more days with these hooligans, but I wish it would slow down.

Sophie

Cornerstone Community Outreach: Day 3

My experience here in Chicago has been absolutely amazing so far. I feel like actually helping because sometimes when I volunteer I feel as if I’m doing busy work or I feel like I can’t be trust to do something significant. The community partners at Cornerstone trusted us and were so grateful for our help. Looking back at the work we completed yesterday at Cornerstone was such a great feeling. We were in charge of sorting the donations and organizing the toy store for clients of Cornerstone. At one point I looked around and couldn’t remember how the space looked like before we came. I was also taken back by how much was donated. I always had this notion that community centers were always desperate for donations. In addition, the donations were brand new and were clothes/toys that people would actually wear/play with. Also the idea of having a toy store for children experiencing homelessness is a novel idea to me. I thought it was incredibly thoughtful considering that kids make up a very large population of people who experience homelessness.

Shalom  

Cornerstone Community Outreach: Day 2

Today was quite a day. Waking up early was not bad, I think we all have gotten used to it. However, there was an unexpected walk to our community service location. We had to walk 30 minutes in the cold Chicago wind to reach our destination. It was long but the exercise was needed. Upon arrival we were briefed by the Volunteer Coordinator, Sarah, about some of Cornerstone’s programs. Cornerstone is a homeless shelter that offers temporary space to homeless individuals with different backgrounds like: single women, single women with children, males, and families. Residents are provided with 3 meals a day with food donated. After getting briefed by Sarah we split into 2 groups. Half of us went to the Leiland house and the other half helped Sarah at the shelter. The Leiland house is a community partnered organization that provides permanent housing for the homeless and low-income families. Tenants pay 1/3 of their income for housing, despite the type of apartment they are receiving. 4 housing units recently opened up that needed renovation. As a group we went into one unit and cleaned and scrubbed, as Raye would say “booger walls” until lunchtime. We did manage to meet a group of Oklahoma college students also on an alternative break service trip. The other half of the group did service with Sara, separating items for the free store, which provided donated items like, clothes, toys, and furniture. After service we had an amusing lunch that was led by Sophie and Martial Artist Andrew. After lunch we helped unload the food truck for the shelter. Once we got back to Ravenswood we worked on preparing food to our Homeless Outreach Bus service trip. We prepared mac n’ cheese and our special AB Chicken Soup. Being with the Cornerstone Outreach program was a fun experience for the first day. We are both eager to return to Cornerstone tomorrow and continue our service! During today’s experience I was surprised to hear that the average age group for homeless individuals is 9 years old. I knew that children had the highest rate in poverty but I did not expect the average age to be that young. HOPEFULLY WE CAN CHANGE THAT!!! OHHHHH, and Kushal a.k.a Uber is here!!!! We are so excited for him to be apart of our Chicago experience.

Brittney & Bilal

Coalition for the Homeless: Day 1

Today we started our day around 8:20 when we walked down to the Montrose stop of the brown line to begin our journey to Chicago’s Coalition for the Homeless. Surprisingly, we made it there without getting lost or losing anyone. At the Coalition, we met with a couple of representatives of the Speaker’s Bureau who sat down and told us their story of how they got involved with the Coalition. First, we spoke with Sonovia. Sonovia told us her story of how she was once incarcerated, but found hope and support in the Coalition after she left the system. She spoke to us about how mental illness really affects many homeless people and gave us advice on how we could personally help.  She urged us to look past the stigma of homelessness, and get to know the person. She said that a simple, “Hello, how are you”, could go a long way. Then we spoke with Kendra, who told us her riches to rags story of how she ended up homeless. I liked her story because it was so different from Sonovia’s story. It really showed how many different people can be affected by homelessness. Kendra spoke about how the Chicago school system was a hindrance to the success of her children. She told us her story of how difficult the school system was after she became homeless. This was the foundation for our outreach today. Lastly, we spoke to Julie about her battle with raising children at a young age. She spoke about her challenges with the Chicago hospitals and moving house to house with small children. Julie also suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and she told us about how that affected her throughout her journey. Today was a great start to my alternative break experience and I’m excited for what tomorrow has to offer.

            “If you haven’t met the devil at some point on the road, you were probably right there walking by his side.” One of our speakers today, Kendra, was a mortician, but she lost her job after being injured. This quote was something her grandmother had told her when she said she thought she could not make it through anymore. She told us about her experience with plummeting from being able to provide for herself more than well as a mortician, to hurting her back and being cast out on her own. She emphasized the fact that she knew where government programs were, but she was not able to benefit from them because they would not provide services to someone with a car or a small amount of money in her bank account. Out of desperation, she ended up moving back in with the father of her child. She expected it to work out well, but one night he to strangle her. She could not rely on the police because he was a sheriff in the town. However, she ended up filing a restraining order and winning. Now her children are in school and she is working with Chicago’s Coalition for the Homeless and community outreach.

            Stories such as this show me that the stereotype of what a “homeless” person is unwarranted, and the stigma is without ground. It is frightening that we create an “us and them” situation with the homeless; it boxes them out and makes them seem less than human. Often, it really is impossible to just pull yourself up from your bootstraps and you need assistance. It is hard to do so when they are looked at as a group and not as individuals such as Kendra. There was an overwhelming feeling of power and resilience emanating from all three speakers. These are two words not often associated with homelessness.

            After hearing the personal stories, we split into two groups. Both groups handed out flyers in different parts of Chicago, and my group was in front of the Department of Human Services. On the front, the flyers said “Need Help With Public School Fees?” and detailed the rights of families/students on the inside. They had the contact information of Chicago’s Coalition for the Homeless on the back so that individuals would have a place to call if they needed more information. I think that people were pretty receptive overall, and it was worth our time if even one family was able to keep their child in school after learning about their rights. However, I saw how much remains to be done.  The three speakers we had worked so hard to get where they got to, I almost feel like we owe it to people like this to use our own privilege in order to make our system more receptive of those who can not afford their own homes.

Raye & Shalom