Rock On WXRT!

Yesterday, a few of us from the Lincoln Park Community Shelter had the privilege of visiting the WXRT studios for a tour, and to pick up the check from the sales of the ONXRT Live from the Archives Vol. 13 CD.  We didn't know exactly how much to expect, but the final amount exceeded our wildest expectations--$25,000!  

What impressed me more than the gold records or autographed concert posters on the walls (Wilco, anyone?), was the enthusiasm of everyone we met there.  The staff were very gracious and had kind things to say about the work that we do.  The WXRT staff told us that LPCS was chosen as the local recipient of the sales because they want to have the money raised make an impact in the local community (there is also a global or national partner each year).  They also recognize that because we are a small organization, the funds raised from the sales of the CDs will really have an impact on what the organization is able to do.  

Thank you WXRT for supporting the work that we do, and helping keep Chicago a vibrant (or should I say rockin'!) community!

--Heather Pressman, Community Relations Manager

More than just Biscuits & Gravy

"Voices of the Lincoln Park Community Shelter" is a place where staff, guests, grads, volunteers, and community members can share their thoughts about homelessness, LPCS, and its programs through blog posts.  This week, the following post was written by one of our wonderful volunteers after making breakfast last week. 

I’ve been helping prepare a monthly hot breakfast at LPCS for a little over a year now.  Our group is made up of members and staff of the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce.  It is always an enjoyable experience between the camaraderie of my Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce cohorts and visiting with the guests over breakfast. Today was especially rewarding--one of the guests that I have gotten to know fairly well over the last year told me she is moving out of LPCS!  We shared a hug and some happy tears.

After a delicious breakfast of Biscuits & Gravy, scrambled eggs, fruit salad, veggie salad, caramelized bacon (heavenly), and sausages, the clean up began. We had decorated for Valentines Day, and I noticed one of the guests removing the decorated tablecloths and folding them up.  When I asked her what she was going to do with them, she told me that she was going to take them to LPCS' Community Engagement Program where she volunteers her time on Saturday mornings.  The Community Engagement Program, or CEP, is where individuals who are currently homeless or tenuously housed can come for a meal, hot shower and laundry facilities. The guest who was saving the tablecloths wanted to make things special for the CEP participants for Valentine’s Day.  In addition to recycling the tablecloths, she also took some of the extra decorations to make Saturday's CEP a bit more festive. Talk about Pay It Forward!

I always leave LPCS with a wonderful, warm feeling. Today those feelings were boiling over.

--Elizabeth Rossdeutscher, LPCS Board Member

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

Welcome Elli!

Around this time of year, the staff at LPCS say goodbye to familiar faces, and welcome new ones.  LPCS, like many other non-profit agencies, utilize various volunteer service corps to fill certain positions (such as AmeriCorps, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, etc.). Working with these groups is a wonderful experience both for LPCS and the volunteer.  Volunteers bring with them a fresh perspective and wonderful ideas.  For the volunteer, they get to learn or improve a new set of skills.  So this fall, as we get ready to say goodbye to Julia Weegar, our Volunteer Coordinator and AmeriCrops*VISTA for the past year, we welcome Elli Krandel who will be taking over Julia's role as Volunteer Coordinator.  So, in her own words, is a little bit about Elli!

Hi! My name is Elli Krandel. Originally from Woodstock, Illinois, I attended the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where I received a degree in Economics, and I am super excited to start this next part of my life by working for LPCS. I will be joining LPCS as the new Volunteer Coordinator, and as an AVODAH fellow.

AVODAH is a year-long service program for people in their 20s combining work at non-profit agencies with pluralistic Jewish learning and living, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of it.

I have always been interested in various social justice issues. In college, I was the treasurer for an organization called Challah for Hunger, which sells challah, a traditional Jewish bread, to raise money for various non-profit organizations. When I found AVODAH, I was really excited about the opportunity to explore my passion for anti-poverty work, while continuing to investigate the connection between Judaism and social justice work. I was equally excited when I saw the opportunity to work at LPCS. I think the work the shelter does is incredible, and I cannot wait to do my part to help the organization continue providing vital services to the community.

So join us in welcoming Elli to the LPCS team! 

Goodbye, Katie!

After two years at LPCS, Katie McNamara is moving on to another organization.  She wanted to take the time to say "Goodbye and thank you LPCS guests, volunteers, and staff!" 

When I was a junior in high school, our Humanities teacher gave us the homework assignment to: Intentionally put yourself in a new and uncomfortable position for a day and report back. My friend and I decided to “be homeless for a day”. We went to the thrift store and bought “homeless looking” clothes, allocated only enough money for the train ride from the suburbs into Chicago, left our wallets at home, perched ourselves in front of the train station at Madison and Canal, and begged for change so that we could get back home at the end of the day and maybe get a bite to eat. Looking back, I realize how ghastly naive this was, but I see what my 16 year old self was trying to accomplish. I was searching for some kind of understanding around what it meant to be homeless; what was the day to day experience of these mysterious folks I saw on the streets of Chicago?; is it easy to be homeless?; is it hard?; what are these people like?; should I feel bad for them?; should I help them?

Now, almost 10 years later, and having worked at the Lincoln Park Community Shelter for two years, these answers are coming into focus. Mostly, the answer is “it depends.” It’s no surprise that this is not something one can discover from a one day high school homework project, in which we received an A for effort and an F at “being homeless.” These days, as a graduate student receiving a Master of Arts in Social Work and taking on the role of Case Manager at LPCS, my “assignments” are more sophisticated, but sometimes still as uncomfortable and new. There are serious emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual challenges that our guests face; however, the most surprising aspect of my time at LPCS was that, despite the heart-wrenching stories that come through the door, it is generally a happy, loose, comfortable place to be. I’ve appreciated that our On Track Program sticks to the philosophy of empowering homeless individuals to make life changes; this fosters an environment where the infamous “burn out” of social service providers is largely avoided. LPCS was also a wonderful place to be because of our volunteers. As Volunteer Coordinator, I would often say that opening up my work email absolutely restored my faith in humanity. It was consistently filled with messages from enthusiastic, creative people asking how they can help out.

My next position will be as a social work intern at the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center in their Addiction Treatment Program. It is frightening sometimes to consider the countless new challenges I will face in this and future jobs. However, I am comforted by my firm confidence that there is nowhere else I would have rather begun my career than at LPCS. Thank you LPCS guests, volunteers, and staff for an unforgettable learning experience.

--Katie McNamara, Case Manager and former Volunteer Coordinator

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

Thanksgiving at LPCS

On this Thanksgiving Day, we here at LPCS would like to offer up thanks to all of our volunteers, board members, and the surrounding community for all that they do for the Lincoln Park Community Shelter and its guests. Every time you make a meal, teach a class, or simply drop off a donation of books or clothes, you are touching someone's life who is need. For that reason, LPCS would like to thank all of our supporters. You make this community what it is.

What LPCS means to me...

It means that even in these "most uncertain times" there are still people (places) that have caring, understanding, and concern for those who are in need, and are willing to step up and take action.
--Cheryl Lifschultz, LPCS receptionist

What LPCS means to me...

To me, LPCS is a place where I can engage with the community. I am privileged to listen to many unique stories, from those of guests and community clients, to the stories of my fellow staff and our volunteers. Each story gives me hope and motivation to overcome the big and small trials that life throws at me.

LPCS also provides me an opportunity to work in a place where I feel like my efforts make a difference: whether it is providing an ear to listen, giving a friendly smile first thing in the morning, or helping someone find employment and housing.
--Abby Lane, Interim Housing Manager