This past weekend was the annual Lincoln
Park neighborhood “pulpit exchange,” where area pastors celebrated the Week of
Christian Unity by exchanging pulpits for the day and guest-preaching at a
neighboring church. One of the best examples of ecumenical spirit is the
Lincoln Park Community Shelter, in which four of these neighborhood churches –
St. Clement Catholic Church, Lincoln Park Presbyterian, Church of Our Saviour,
and St. Pauls United Church of Christ – collaborated to form our organization
nearly 29 years ago. These four churches, along with Church of the Three
Crosses, participate in the pulpit exchange each year to continue to celebrate
their continued collaboration and shared mission to serve the homeless. Across
these five churches and nine services, nine LPCS Board members and volunteer spoke, and five LPCS Graduates shared their personal stories of how
LPCS helped them turn their lives around. Below is one of those stories.
Greetings.
My name is
Steven, and I want to say what a joy it is to be here this morning. I am one of
five Graduate of the Lincoln Park Community Shelter who are speaking at
neighborhood churches today, whose vision some 29 years ago brought about the
Lincoln Park Community Shelter. I want to say on behalf of myself as well as
the other Graduates of LPCS a heartfelt thank you! The vision the founding
churches collaborated on back then is working, and has helped to change our
lives for the better. So again, thank you!
You see,
back in 2008, I believed I had everything in order. I was working, making the
most money of any previous job I had ever had, doing what I enjoyed. I surely
believed I was on a firm foundation to build upon, but when the economy took a
downward turn, that foundation I was building upon turned out to be sand. The
storms of adversity followed and destroyed the work I had started, and I became
overwhelmed. I quickly found out how unprepared I was to face a collapsed
economy. I lost my job. Next was my apartment and all of my belongings, except
what I had on my back. And rightfully so. The bad economy magnified my
shortcomings. I didn’t have order in my life. I didn’t have a real structure to
build upon and my interviewing skills were dismal at best. I needed help in
these areas because employers were becoming very, very selective about who they
hired and the interview process was monumental to obtaining a job. I couldn’t
see a way out unless I bettered myself.
The only
option I had at that point was to seek shelter. So that’s what I did. And by
word of mouth I got news of the great work LPCS was doing to rehabilitate those
who were homeless. So I called LPCS and eventually was placed on a waiting
list. Finally, I got the call to become a Guest of LPCS and was assigned a case
manager who informed me of the conditions I must meet to remain a guest, such
as:
- Be
courteous to others
- Attend
daily living skills classes - such as
conflict resolution, anger management, and developing communication skills
- Attend
substance abuse meetings (for I chose to self-medicate as a way of coping)
- Give
back to the community through volunteer service
- Job
training classes to improve interviewing skills
- Seek
housing opportunities
Well, I
agreed to those terms, and I was very impressed and thankful the staff were
truly interested in all the Guests finding a life again, free from
homelessness. This was a complete 100 degree difference from the other shelters
I resided at. Those shelters’ agenda for the residents was “3 hots and a cot”
and a five a.m. wake up only to be thrown out into the streets until sundown.
No attempt to rehabilitate, no training, just revolving door policies that made
a hopeless situation more hopeless.
But thank
God for LPCS, and for a real chance to become self sufficient in life again.
All the classes are taught by volunteers from the private sector, giving of
themselves to help someone get out of homelessness to self sufficiency.
Needless to say there was a lot of knowledge coming from these individuals and
their mentoring, along with working with my case manager developed discipline
and a confidence in the fact that if I stuck to the process, I would graduate
with housing and a new job. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t all rosy. I’d go for
housing opportunities but wasn’t called. I’d go for employment but was only shown
the door out. But my case manager Brianne continued to say “stick with the
agenda and things will work out.” And she was right. After 6 months of working
the process, I obtained a job which lad to getting my own residence.
And I once
again say thank you to this church, and the other churches responsible for
starting LPCS, the staff and LPCS for making it work, and the endless list of
volunteers who give of themselves to help someone else. I am a better person
for it and will now dedicate my life to giving back to help others also.
