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
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