Life as a Case Management Intern

My name is Amy Gillespie and I have been working as a case management intern for the past nine months. I am finishing up my first year of studies for social work and I am extremely grateful that folks at LPCS welcomed a student intern to grow and learn alongside the guests, volunteers, staff, and graduates of LCPS.  Reflecting on my time at Lincoln Park Community Shelter is a challenging and exciting task. I learned so much this year about myself, homelessness, substance abuse and addiction, fundraising, advocacy, and much more. 

Over the past year I have grown immensely in my professional identity, in my confidence, and in my ability to serve men and women who happen to be homeless. I have gone on an emotional journey with the people on my case load and I think I have helped them in some small ways, even if it was simply believing in them and helping them believe more in themselves.  I have grown fond of the people I have worked with--staff, volunteers and guests alike--and I am invested in their successes and struggles.

As I finish up my last couple of weeks at LPCS, I have thought about the things I will miss and the things I will carry with me from LPCS.  I will miss walking into the shelter and saying good morning to the guests and smells of cinnamon rolls wafting from the kitchen from the amazing volunteers who just cooked breakfast. I will miss hearing everyone’s stories that come to LPCS and being blown away and humbled by their incredible resilience in the face of rough times. 

I will also miss working with men and women living on the streets or in emergency shelters through the Community Engagement Program. That is where I felt I could do something immediately helpful for clients that were first hearing about LPCS. They may have come to do laundry, take a shower, have a hot meal, and escape the trials of their lives, but many simply needed to tell their story to a compassionate person. 

The vast majority of the people who happen to be homeless that I have met through my time at LPCS have been older men who are often highly motivated to improve their situation, but stuck in a system that is broken and usually does not give them the time of day. That is why it has also added a layer of reflection and perspective to my experience seeing how passionate and involved the staff, volunteers, graduates, board members and guests are in advocating for larger changes at the systemic level.

I will miss our staff meetings and potluck lunches. I will miss Linda, the Interim Housing Manager’s sassiness, and Betsy and Erin’s banter in staff meetings. I have grown to love everyone I work with and have felt totally embraced and respected as a growing and emerging professional. I will carry with me so many memories of working with guests at LPCS and how their stories have impacted me as a person and as a clinician. I have learned more from them than they probably have learned from me.   

Before I leave, I have been given the task to present recommendations to the staff on changes to one of the programs that serve our guests. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute in this way. It shows trust and support from them that I have been given a leadership role and it is simply consistent with how I have been treated from the day I stepped inside the door of LPCS. Everyone operates out of a lens of respect for each person’s strengths, gifts and perspectives. There is enormous diversity within the population of the guests at LPCS but it is made most clear that all are welcome and that is a true blessing that LPCS offers those that become involved with the organization. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for welcoming me into such an amazing, textured, and life changing experience and allowing me to work with all of you at LPCS. I won’t forget it and I hope to be back some day in one capacity or another.

New Experiences

We love it when volunteers share their experiences of volunteering at LPCS.  We recently received an article written about a Wisconsin youth group's trip to Chicago and wanted to share it with you.  Enjoy!

If you walked into the Lincoln Park Community Shelter in Chicago, IL on July 31, you would have seen 15 people from Menomonie's First Congregational United Church of Christ.  Kids and adults alike would be found playing games, preparing a supper, and laughing with the guests in the homeless shelter. 

The group of 6 adults and 9 youth left on Friday, July 29, for a long, long drive down to the Windy City.  Upon arriving, the group stayed at St. Pauls United Church of Christ in the Lincoln Park area.  Three teams prepared tow breakfasts, two dinners, and three bunches of sack lunches over the course of three days.  The preparation entailed planning, shoppiung for, cooking, and plating and serving each meal.

This was the first mission trip for many of the youth, and it really showed them that not everybody has a place to come home to every night.  The Lincoln Park Community Shelter is a facility in the Lincoln Park neighborhood that provides housing and meals for 35 homeless people.  Because it's privately funded, the guests, as they are called, can stay as long as they need to.  Some of the men and women staying at the shelter have jobs or are going to school and are making the transition into permanent housing, which is the goal of the program.  When they leave, a spot opens up and a new person comes into the shelter.  Alumni of LPCS (Graduates) often volunteer once they have left, creating a cycle of good-deed doing. 

The experience was a new one for the youth.  "It really made me realize that people on the street sometimes have good skills and just need some help to get into a shelter and have a better life," saus Sean Williams who went on the trip with his father Todd and his younger brother Max.  Rachel Ropella says, "Going to Chicago truly opened my eyes about how I see poverty and how much of a difference serving them with a smile makes."

Fifteen adults and youth returned Tuesday, August 2, with a new way pf perceiving the world.  Everyone had a great time, as is evidenced by their blog: uccchicagomissiontrip.blogspot.com.  For more information about the trip, contact First Congregational UCC at 715-235-5838.

--Emily Billingsley, First Congregational UCC

Community Impact

Working the morning Interim Housing shift often includes interacting with breakfast volunteers.  On several occasions this summer, high school youth groups participating in short term mission trips cooked and served breakfast.  The students are often timid and unsure of what to expect at a homeless shelter, but eventually realize that homeless adults aren’t so scary, and most are even willing to have a conversation similar to any other adults with whom they interact.

I was once one of those students, later an adult chaperon, away for a week with my church youth group, trying to see what impact I could make.  These experiences are often eye opening and challenging.  They also create lifetime memories and change one’s heart.

When someone asks what my “life changing event” was, or why I want to work at a homeless shelter, I think of one such trip to New York while I was in college.  One of the ministries during the week was to cook food at the facility where we stayed, and bring it to Tompkins Park (of RENT fame) along with clothing to pass out.  Hanging out with homeless people who slept in the park sure was intimidating, until I discovered that as humans, we are all able to connect and to learn from each other.  Seeing the effects of systems of oppression in that park, I began to feel like this one week wasn’t enough for me.  I began to feel as though focusing on social justice would be my life’s work.

Fast forward 10 years.  I have been working at the Lincoln Park Community Shelter for almost a year now through Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC).  LVC’s core values include Community, Simplicity/Sustainability, and Social Justice.  My job placement with the LPCS is primarily the social justice function, by walking alongside and finding ways to empower individuals to make life changes. 

I also see the other two core values of LVC reflected at work.  This interim housing shelter is a community of adults working to better themselves and each other, existing within and being supported by the community in Lincoln Park.  My experience living in an intentional community as part of LVC has allowed me a bit of understanding about community living within a shelter: it is challenging, and requires both patience and compromise. At the LPCS we encourage guests to learn about “Living Green,” while we also try to reduce environmental impacts (sustainability) and well as unnecessary spending (simplicity). 

I’ve found that the little things make an impact.  Maybe you have the time and resources to cook a hot breakfast and eat alongside the people for whom you cooked.  Maybe you can share your skills through teaching a class. Perhaps you have some household goods that someone who finally has their own space could use in their new home.  For some of us it’s a week long mission trip to serve, or a year long volunteer commitment; at the LPCS, our daily mission is serving and walking with fellow members of our community.

--Brianne Spresser, LVC, Case Manager

What a year it's going to be!

There I was, covered in flour, red and green food coloring staining the tips of my fingers, as I kneaded a mound of salt dough in the kitchen of Lincoln Park Community Shelter. An informal assembly line of guests filled the space around me, armed with rolling pins and cookie cutters as we laughed and crooned, rather off-key, along with the Rat Pack playing on the stereo. Our mission: to make fifty ornaments for Sunday’s Holiday Sing-A-Long at St. Paul’s Church.
This was not quite the scenario I’d imagined when I took over the Volunteer Coordinator position here at LPCS. I am, however, quickly coming to realize that these are exactly the kinds of moments that are going to make the next year one of the best I’ve ever had!


I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have welcomed me into the LPCS community. The few short weeks since I began have flown by faster than I could have imagined! It’s been a whirlwind of information and faces and wonderful stories and the sense that I’ve become part of a pretty incredible group of people--from the volunteers, to staff and, most of all, the guests of LPCS--grows stronger every day!
 

--Julia Weegar, LPCS Volunteer Coordinator and AmeriCorps*VISTA

Top 10 LPCS Moments

As our 25th year celebrations wind down, we asked several staff, volunteers, and board members to share their top 10 memories--good and bad--of LPCS.  Here is what current Executive Director Erin Ryan had to say...

Last September, I celebrated a decade at LPCS with a surprise party full of friends, co-workers past and present, and the LPCS Board. This started me reflecting on all I’ve learned and experienced in these 10 years. Boiled down, here are my Top 10 LPCS Moments:

1.      I remember my interview at LPCS in August 1999 for a volunteer coordinator position. It was my first job out of college, and I had just moved to Chicago. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into! When I asked why the position had been open for over a year, I was told, “This is a special place, and we need a special person to fill it.” When I was offered the position and started at LPCS, it became immediately apparent that this IS a special place, and I felt honored to have been welcomed into the LPCS family and determined to make it proud.

2.      One of the best parts of working at LPCS is being able to help someone move into their new apartment. One of the first people I helped move was LaVance. Over his 7 months at LPCS, we had established an easy rapport, and I learned a lot from him about recovery and how hard it is to start over in mid-life, reconciling years of disconnectedness from his family and addiction with this new leaf. As we loaded my car with his few possessions and drove to his new apartment – his first in over a decade – LaVance said, “I never thought that at the age of 50, my best friend would be a 23-year-old white woman.” I was so touched that he thought of me as a friend, and that he had learned as much from me as I had from him. This showed me that despite our differences, we all have something to offer each other, and LPCS had allowed that to happen. LaVance is still one of our greatest success stories, 9 years later!

3.      After two years at LPCS, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in social work to improve my skills and prepare me for other roles at the organization. In school, I took an internship with another agency that served women in recovery. The first day of my internship was Sept. 11, 2001. I was introduced immediately to my first client: a woman who was skeptical, at best, about my ability to understand her situation or help her. As we sat, though, watching the TV in awe at the events unfolding, she said, “for the first time, I feel really connected to something bigger than myself.” Joyce taught me the power of community. Those who are on the margins of society are often disconnected from community, and those of us with it usually take it for granted. I have ALWAYS felt a part of something bigger than myself, and I realized that I could help bring that sense of community to the guests at LPCS, and that would be more powerful than anything.

4.      Advances in technology - when I started, we had one computer and no email or website! We did all our volunteer scheduling via phone trees. Our main office was on the 2^nd floor of the church, and the case management office was in the basement. Every time our social worker Evan got a phone call, we had to walk the cordless phone down 5-something steps! Things are so much more efficient now!

5.      Testifying during Zoning Board of Appeals hearings (to get a special use permit and start our renovation); I have never felt so nervous…the reputation and future of the organization was at stake. I felt very alone at the front of the room, being cross-examined about the need for LPCS programs and hoping desperately to make a case. But as I exited the city council chambers and saw over 400 people standing there in support of LPCS and our mission, my confidence was bolstered and I knew that we would win the permit.

6.      Laughing with staff about strange donations: from wedding dress crinoline to gas masks, we’ve seen it all! We’re so appreciative of all the in-kind support we receive, but some things that are not very practical for use by homeless people slip by from time to time!

7.      Waiting up at St. Pauls with Barb, Evan, or Amy for a notoriously late overnight volunteer. We didn’t need two people to stay, but some of our best conversations about the programs and guests happened in the St. Pauls kitchen at 10:30 pm!

8.      Trying desperately to avoid earning the “marshmallow award” – given to staff when we are “soft” on enforcing the rules, then growing into the realization that being compassionate and responsive to an individual’s needs is not necessarily being “soft,” and that sometimes, being “soft” is the best approach.

9.      Celebrating the open house of our newly renovated facility, then watching it flood two weeks later. In a torrential downpour, we had several inches of water all throughout the facility. However, we also had dozens of guests, staff, and personnel from Lincoln Park Presbyterian and St. Pauls down the street furiously mopping and vacuuming up water to save the floors and furniture. I’ve never seen so many people come together so quickly! One guest remarked, ”I didn’t know we were getting a swimming pool!”

10.  Sitting vigil with Mike, a graduate of LPCS who was in hospice at Lincoln Park Hospital. Mike was estranged from his family, and his LPCS family was all he had at the end. Fellow staff members Betsy, Anna, and I took turns sleeping on the couch and sitting with him, and volunteers and even guests who didn’t know Mike joined the rotation to keep him company until he passed away.

There are plenty of sad/confounding moments as well over the years. But these are the 10 I’ll choose to remember because of their lessons and inspiration. Thank you to everyone who has made the last 10 years fly by as I’ve grown and learned so much about the world and my place in it!

 --Erin Ryan, LPCS Executive Director

Compassion Still Burns In Lincoln Park

This past Saturday, I attended a memorial service for a man who was instrumental in the early days of the Lincoln Park Community Shelter. Jim Northcutt lived for several years on a bench at Clark and Deming streets. His story made national headlines in 1986 after he and his belongings were set on fire while he slept there, a sign of the times in the mid-80s when homelessness was emerging as a national crisis, and communities were struggling with how to respond. Lincoln Park residents, including those who founded the LPCS, were outraged, and redoubled their efforts to establish a safe haven – a shelter – that was community-supported.

Jim was a sporadic guest at the LPCS in our early years. He spoke little and seemed wary of the assistance we were providing, but was always cordial and allowed a few people to get closer to him. He left an impression, as those gathered on Saturday to remember him told stories of simple interactions and lives changed forever as a result. The mystery of Jim reminded everyone who encountered him that each homeless man and woman had a story, a history, and a family who loved them.

Jim had been an engineer with the CTA until he descended further into depression and mental illness, eventually losing his apartment and touch with his family in the late 60s. His sister Gail finally located him in 1986 when she recognized his description in an article in the Wall Street Journal, chronicling the fire and his unwitting role in a national debate about how to address the growing problem of homelessness. Via a long chain of social workers and priests, Gail helped to get Jim medical attention and temporary housing, and some sense of reconnection before he passed away in 1988 from leukemia.

A year later, the Northcutt family dedicated a drinking fountain to Jim’s memory. The fountain still stands near the North Pond gazebo in Lincoln Park, and is inscribed “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” (Isaiah 55:1) They gather every five years to celebrate his memory and the reunion they were able to establish before he passed. I was honored to be included in this year’s tribute, and am so inspired by the stories I heard from Jim’s family and long-time Lincoln Park residents who remember him.

Unknowingly, Jim’s journey helped to fan the spark of awareness and compassion that many Lincoln Park residents were feeling in the mid-1980s, prompting them to come together to form the LPCS. Although Jim died many years ago, his memory lives strong in this community, proving that the fire of compassion is still burning strong in Lincoln Park!

--Erin Ryan, LPCS Executive Director

My enlightening experience at LPCS

My perception of the homeless and homeless shelters has changed dramatically since I started volunteering at LPCS in August. It was kind of a revelation to meet such a wide range of people classified as "homeless." There are history buffs, yoga fanatics -- people with whom I can easily relate. Before stepping into LPCS, I thought shelters looked kind of like POW camps, with dark, vast sleeping areas full of creaky twin beds. I'd never heard of extended-stay shelters, in which guests take a wide range of classes to get their lives back on track.

As a front-desk volunteer, there is a lot of sitting around and talking to guests/employees/cooks. For me, it's a nice way to wind down after a day of work. I've made some good friends during my time at LPCS, and I'm hoping to get more involved as long as my schedule allows it.

-- Emile Dawisha