Thank you for Having A Heart, Lincoln Park!

During the month of February, if you had walked down the stretch of Clark Street between Webster and Diversy, you might have noticed bright yellow and pink flyers in the windows of many of the businesses advertising the Have A Heart drive.  If you looked closer, you would have noticed that the Have A Heart drive was for the Lincoln Park Community Shelter.  For the second year, LPCS partnered with merchants along Clark Street to host boxes to collect cereal, coffee, oatmeal, and other non-perishable breakfast items.

If you are an avid reader of this blog, you might be thinking to yourself, "I thought volunteers made breakfast at LPCS," and you would be correct--on some mornings they do.  The opportunity to make breakfast at LPCS is fairly new, so there aren't volunteer groups scheduled every morning, which is where the food drive comes in.  On the mornings that there is no breakfast group, LPCS provides cereal, coffee, oatmeal, and other breakfast items.

The idea for the breakfast food drive stemmed not only from our need for donations, but also from the idea of giving back to the community that has supported us so well for the last 27 years.  Being a community based organization that was founded by a group of concerned neighbors, LPCS likes to give back when it can, in the ways it can.  One of these ways is by encouraging people to shop locally since it has been shown to help with economic sustainability. 

Thank you to all of the individuals who donated to the drive.  While we didn't collect as much as we had hoped, we are grateful for everything that we did collect.  Thank you to Abeille Beauty, AKIRA, BankFinancial, Cycle Smithy, Floyd's Barbershop, Frankie's on the Park, Holtzmann's, Lincoln Park Market, Nest Furniture, New Balance Chicago, Panache, See Eyewear, Siena by Maria, and Spex for participating in this year's drive.  A special thank you to Big Apple Finer Foods who made the generous offer to donate any additional needed items after the drive was over.

We look forward to partnering with the community for the Third Annual Have A Heart drive again next year!

Happy Anniversary LPCS!

On Sunday, February 12th, the Lincoln Park Community Shelter celebrated its 27th anniversary.  The idea for a neighborhood shelter was first formed when a group of Lincoln Park neighbors got together to discuss a way they could help the homeless in their community.  On a cold February night in 1985, the Lincoln Park Community Shelter opened the doors to its first homeless guests.  With the help of four neighborhood churches, the Lincoln Park Community Shelter was born and we have been serving the greater Chicago area ever since.  The LPCS is not religiously affiliated and continues to be completely privately funded.  Truly a community based organization, the LPCS is volunteer-driven with over 1,500 volunteers helping to serve as meals, providing overnight supervision, delivering programs, and more each year. 

While we wish that there were no need for LPCS to exist anymore, we are grateful for all of the support we have received from the community over the past 27 years.  Without your support we wouldn’t be the successful organization that we are today.  So thanks, and here’s hoping that we won’t have to celebrate another 27 years!

To learn more about the history of LPCS, click here. Read about our 25^th anniversary celebration here. 

Want to learn more about volunteering?  See what opportunities are available here.

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

Living Below the Line

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that he was going to take a "SNAP challenge," spending a week buying and consuming only what he would be able to afford on an average food stamp budget.  For many of LPCS' clients, that would be just under $50/week, since if you are homeless and have no income, you are eligible for as much as $200/month.  With sample menus and shopping lists provided, I jumped on board, too.

My husband was convinced of the plan, but bargained not to participate during the nation-wide challenge the week before Thanksgiving, since he had a birthday to celebrate in there.  So, we decided to try to live out the challenge in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, figuring we could reasonably survive a week of challenge, but nearly a month would be more hard core, right?

I began to review the sample menus.  They had a weekly menu for vegetarians, for quick cooking, for cooking from scratch and a menu from Walgreen's.  Since we were planning on a month-long challenge, we decided to use each of the weekly menus provided, one for each week.  Although we did not follow the exact menus outlined, we found that with careful planning and spending, taking the time to cook from scratch, and increasing the number of vegetarian meals we were eating, we were able to nearly average a food stamp budget for ourselves.  Homemade dishes featuring beans were common; some days, my husband Mike cut out his glass of OJ; snacks were non-existent; a glass of wine with dinner was rare.  Then we got to the week of Walgreen's meals and I found I could not myself nor ask my spouse to willingly follow that menu plan: each day, lunch was a package of ramen noodles or a single peanut butter sandwich.  These items also featured prominently in dinners.  A week short of meeting our challenge, we stopped.  Because we have the ability to make other choices. 

Although living on a tight food budget was a challenge for us that left us ravenous for the next meal, my husband and I were able to meet the SNAP challenge most weeks (with the occasional help of gifted holiday cookies!) because we live in a neighborhood that has bountiful choices for us to shop.  I picked up produce at the fruit market, staples at Aldi, "specialty" items at Jewel and even stopped at Trader Joe's on my way in to work once.  For many people on Chicago's south and west sides, areas known to be food deserts, living on a food stamp budget is a much greater challenge than for us.  If you are in a food desert, you may spend many weeks buying ramen at Walgreen's because the nearest Jewel is too far away.  If you are in a food desert, you may spend many weeks buying higher-fat, higher-sodium, lower-nutrient foods at Walgreen's because there isn't a fruit market nearby.  If you are in a food desert, you may spend many weeks buying processed and frozen foods because fresh foods aren't available at Walgreen's.  (More information on Chicago's food deserts can be found here.)

On a personal level, I am so thankful for my own opportunity to choose where and what foods I buy, cook and eat; and also for the economic ability to keep snacks on hand for when hunger strikes. On a professional level, I am so thankful for the volunteers who provide abundant and healthy dinners for LPCS' guests; and also for the work of anti-hunger organizations and advocates like Michelle Obama and the Greater Chicago Food Depository who are working to provide the opportunities and choices I have to everyone living in Chicago.  Food security is a human right for all of us.

Want to try your own SNAP Challenge?  Sign up to participate in the national "Live Below the Line" challenge taking place this May.  You can sign up by visiting the Live Below the Line website.  

If you want to read others reactions to their SNAP challenges, check out the post-challenge blog from the sponsoring nonprofit.

--Betsy Carlson, Program Director

Meet an LPCS Graduate!

We love to share to good news when someone graduates from LPCS.  Here is the story of one individual who graduated recently:

Lisa*, in her mid-60’s, came to the United States almost three years ago. After looking for work on East Coast, she moved to Chicago where she thought her employment opportunities would be greater.  However, she was not able to obtain employment here and became homeless, entering LPCS.  Lisa worked diligently in job training programs and in computer classes to increase her employment skills but was never able successfully land a job.  In addition to working towards her goals, Lisa became very involved in doing volunteer work at two local churches.  This summer, Lisa became very ill and spent several weeks in the hospital.  After her release she needed frequent treatments on an outpatient basis.  Since she still needed an intensive level of medical intervention while she recovered, which could not be provided at LPCS, Lisa initially went from the hospital directly to Interfaith House, a shelter for people with substantial medical needs and who are homeless.  Her case manager at LPCS kept in close contact with the social workers at Interfaith to make sure that her transition back to LPCS went as smoothly as possible.  Shortly after her return to LPCS this fall, she was informed that an apartment was available for her in a permanent supported housing program.  She now has her own apartment in Edgewater and has maintained many contacts through her church activities, as well at LPCS.  She has gotten a clean bill of health from her physicians and is very happily living in the community once again.

*name changed to protect identity

Giving Back

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something, and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do something that I can do."

--Edmund Everett Hale, Writer

This quote came across my desk recently and I was immediately struck by it.  Edmund Everett Hale captures the essence of what drives many of our volunteers to give their time and energy to LPCS and its guests.  Since the recession hit, like many organizations, we have seen an increase in the number of volunteers.  Our volunteers come from all walks of life.  Many have been with the organization since its beginnings in 1985, others have only been volunteering a short while, while most fall somewhere in between.  We always ask new volunteers why they want to volunteer at LPCS.  More often than not, their response is about giving back to their community.  More and more we are hearing that people want to volunteer not only to give back and help those in need, but because they are grateful--grateful that they are lucky enough to still have a job, a home.  Stories like these are what the quote above reminded me of.  Volunteering has been a part of our nation since its inception and it is important that we continue this tradition today.  Even our guests give back to the community through the GIVE program (Guests in Volunteer Experience), donating their time to area nonprofits while networking and building skills.  

Think you are too busy to volunteer?  Try micro-volunteering!  Sites like Sparked are popping up, connecting busy individuals with organizations (including LPCS) that have projects that don't necessarily need to be done on site.

So for those of you who volunteer, either at LPCS or elsewhere, thank you for continuing a meaningful tradition.  In case you are interested, you can read more about the history of volunteerism here.

--Heather Pressman, Community Relations Manager

Keeping the Neighborhood Safe

Last winter, LPCS received a surprise one day--we had been awarded "Excellence in Sidewalk Snow and Ice Removal" from the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Mayor's Pedestrian Advisory Council!  LPCS was nominated in conjunction with Lincoln Park Neighbors for Safety, a neighborhood organization.  Over the last several winters, Lincoln Park Neighbors for Safety has employed our guests to snow blow and shovel the neighborhood.  This is a great partnership that not only benefits our neighbors and guests, but pedestrians who are trying to make their way through the neighborhood as well.  LPCS is proud to partner with Lincoln Park Neighbors for Safety to help keep the neighborhood safe and navigable in the snow.  As the city readies for the first storm of the season, our guests are ready to get to work to keep the neighborhood safe for all!

You can read more about LPCS' snow removal efforts in an article written just after last year's historic blizzard: http://skylinenewspaper.com/News/02-09-2011/Homeless_shovel_out_Chicago_neighbors.