Tag: homeless

Christmas Cookies At ODS

On Tuesday, I took a whole box of non-decorated cookies, along with several tubes of icing and multiple containers of sprinkles, to the ODS for our traditional cookie-decorating session.

As I already mentioned, this year was not smooth, and I was not sure how many residents would be there, and how many would be interested (because there is always this balance between these teens being teens and being “too cool” for cookie decorating and not having enough fun when they were kids). So I started decorating with one of the girls, J., who is always ready to cook with me. Then one of the male residents joined and decorated a cookie, and said he was going to eat it. I asked to take a picture first:).

Then one staff member, J.L., joined, and she was not even trying to hide her excitement and enthusiasm :). And all of a sudden, the rest of the residents pulled up to the kitchen island, eager to participate. Some of them did a rather clumsy job, some – a very neat one, but everyone was creative:).

One of the relatively new residents, M, asked J.L.: if you could get anything in the world for Christmas, what would you wish for? And J.L., who is young, energetic and anything but sentimental, replied: If I could have anything in the world, I would want my grandma back! M. looked at her and said: You know, that’s what I would want, too! I would want my grandma back!

It struck me, since one more time, it reminded me about the life expectancy gap which everyone is talking about…

I said, that if I could get anything for Chirstmas, I would want the war i Ukraine stop, and Russians being out and never come back. They nodded: yes, they kill people, even children!

We kept talking about Christmas, and I mentioned Finland, and it turned out that most of them knew about Finland, and the “real Santa living there.” I told them about the snow that falls quietly, and about the granite crumbs used instead of salt on the roads, and mentioned how many people in the US don’t even know that Finland is a country. M stared at me in disbelief: Even I know! If many people don’t, I am seriously concerned!

Everyone loved how the cookies turned out. At some point, I thought I should have brought more cookies (I had more), but in the end, it was just the right number. Here is what was not eaten by the time I was ready to leave (as “too pretty to eat”):

.. and it was one of the best nights in the shelter I had this year!

Homeless in Chicago

Last night, when my neighbor and I were returning from a Christmas show in the Auditorium Theater, we passed a long row of cardboard boxes that homeless people used to protect themselves from brutal overnight temperature. Nobody was panhandling. They were just trying to survive till morning.

When we got on the L-train, the first thing I saw in the new was this WBEZ article. Full text below.

As cold weather hits Chicago, Trump’s new policies on homelessness criticized

Feds said they plan to shift $3.9 billion from long-term housing to housing that requires work and addiction treatment. More than 7,500 Illinoisans could lose their permanent housing.

By  Michael PuenteDec 3, 2025, 8:48am CST

For people experiencing homelessness like Ivan Patterson, Monday night’s snow was another reminder to get out of the cold and into a shelter.

“It beats staying under a bridge. It’s too cold to do that,” 52-year-old Patterson said outside the Shelter Placement and Resource Center at 2241 S. Halsted in Pilsen.

The Memphis native said he’s been staying at the shelter for a week even though he holds a job at a nearby Jewel-Osco supermarket.

“I’m trying to get my apartment again, but it’s been tough. It’s too expensive,” Patterson said.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to shift $3.9 billion in long-term housing funding to transitional housing requiring work and addiction treatment.

Just as temperatures drop and the city digs out from under record snowfall, housing advocates say that the new policies could put people at risk of losing long-term shelter.

“We believe that over 7,500 people in Illinois are at risk of losing their permanent housing,” Christine Haley, chief homeless officer for the Illinois Department of Human Services, said Tuesday.

“The Trump administration is moving away from housing first. We’ve seen that this was on the horizon … in a few different ways,” she said. “Through the president’s executive order to fight crime, it talked about moving away from housing first. It talked about utilizing grants as a way to implement this new piece of really criminalizing homelessness.”

On any given day in Chicago, more than 1,300 people are unsheltered, according to a snapshot taken earlier this year by the city.

In a statement, HUD said its new policies restore “accountability to homelessness programs and promote self-sufficiency among vulnerable Americans.”

But Haley said the lack of affordable housing is what is driving homelessness.

“That is the true cause of homelessness, our lack of affordable housing, lack of income to be able to afford market-rate rent,” she said.

Mark Ishaug, head of Chicago-based Thresholds, said the change in federal housing policies could force many to the streets, even during cold weather. He said that includes people of color, older adults and people with disabilities, including those with mental illness and substance abuse issues.

“We are already in a housing and homeless crisis in Chicago. If this policy were to go into effect, it would take us from crisis to catastrophe,” Ishaug said. “There are thousands of people living on the streets today. … So if we have a problem now, which we do, and a crisis now, we are moving to catastrophe.”

La Casa Norte clients, who stay in La Casa Norte shelters and requested that their name be kept private, interact at La Casa Norte’s North Avenue drop-in center in Humboldt Park, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
La Casa Norte clients go over paperwork at the agency’s North Avenue drop-in center in Humboldt Park.

Jonah Storr, associate director of programs for La Casa Norte in Humboldt Park, said it’s been an especially difficult time finding shelter for young people who are homeless.

“We see teenagers or young people who have been kicked out of their homes, or maybe have gone through the foster system and have aged out at 18. People end up here through all sorts of reasons, including young people who are trying to make it on their own,” said Storr, whose agency assists people ages 16 to 24.

Julian Martinez was standing outside the shelter placement center Tuesday afternoon smoking a cigarette. He’s been homeless for three years.

“It’s definitely hard if you ain’t got nobody out here and helping with your family,” Martinez, 23, said.

The father of a 4-year-old daughter, Martinez said he holds down a job as a landscaper, but the $200 a week he makes isn’t enough to pay rent. He’d been staying at the center for nine days.

“I usually sleep outside,” he said.

Kenyatta Mays, 56, who uses a wheelchair, said many people think he’s panhandling when he’s sitting outside the shelter on a smoking break.

Kenyatta Mays, 56, smokes a cigarette outside the Shelter Placement and Resource Center in Pilsen.
Kenyatta Mays, 56, smokes a cigarette outside the Shelter Placement and Resource Center in Pilsen.

“I’m just here to get off the street. It’s too cold,” Mays said.

ODS

As I keep saying, there are more misses than hits with ODS dinners, but it was really good today. First, I met a resident who had been there for a while, and we had several in-depth conversations over the past few months. Also, I know that these conversations are important for him, and even if it’s a small part of his life, it’s a positive part :).

There were just a few people when I arrived, so at first I thought that we would have to make pizzas only with the staff helping me, but then the residents started to appear, and a couple of late arrivals expressed interest in making their own pizza. I started the oven again, and helped with the process, and it was a very good new connection.

The kids in the shelter continue to surprise me. It so often happens that some of the residents have previous experience in catering or hospitality, and often are more comfortable cooking for a large number of people than I am. Today, one of the boys told me that he worked in the pizzeria before, and I could tell by watching his professional pizza slicing. I ended up asking for his recommendations on how long to keep pizza in the oven (the ODS oven functionality has always been imperfect, to put it mildly).

ODS Dinners

On a local front: on Wednesday, I rehabilitated my cooking skills at the ODS. Last time I was there (at the beginning of April), I tried to cook the Boudin Balls, which I had no idea about! How they should look, how they should taste – nothing! Yes, I said – ask the residents what they want, but now I know better – “want” should be a subset of what I “can.”

After my attempt was declared an experience rather than a success, we decided that next time we should make a baked salmon, but then I had to cancel my volunteer shift because I had to go to Helsinki, and I was only able to come this Wednesday.

Baked salmon was a smashing success, and homemade mashed potatoes too, but they are always a success. One of the residents asked me to put aside some boiled potatoes before I mash the rest because “he didn’t like how mashed potatoes are soggy.” I put several pieces aside, but told him: just you wait! In a little bit, he was telling everyone that I proved him wrong 🙂

I am glad that I had a couple of people who actually participated in the process, and even suggested the spices, and that I could share the love :). And I forgot to take pictures again!

Pizza With ODS

I’ve been to the ODS twice in the past two weeks, which is a record, especially considering everything that has happened in the past year. Both times, it was pizza-making, and I have no idea whether we will ever graduate to something more advanced, as we used to cook for years. But again, that’s progress.

There is better staff in the shelter than we have had for years, and even when the youth are not actively participating, I feel that my presence is important to them. I receive more thanks than I deserve. Last week, I said I would be able to come on Tuesday, forgetting that my meetup was scheduled for Tuesday, not for Wednesday. When I realized this mistake, I messaged the volunteer coordinator, who said it was fine. They had the kitchen ceiling painted, so it was not exactly fine. I had to bake upstairs (in the kitchen of the long-term program), so the kids were assembling the pizzas without me – all not ideal, but yay, better than nothing!

Last week was way more fun because we did everything together, but the downside was that we had unbaked dough, so we had to half-bake the crusts and then the pizzas, which took a very long time!

… I am glad I kept trying 🙂

Cookie Decorating With ODS

A week earlier, we made Gingerbread houses, and it was a surprisingly delightful activity, as I mentioned in this post. On Thursday, I brought two boxes of plain cookies to decorate, and once again, it was a hit! One of the boxes contained gluten-free cookies, which was very much appreciated by one of the residents.

As it happens these days, there is a sigh: oh, you are leaving already? when I tried to leave around 8 PM. I stayed for a little bit longer, but I had a workday ahead and a relatively long way home, even when I took Uber (which I did).

Now, I need to figure out how I can appear at the ODS more consistently, even when I travel and have other conflicts. Overall, though, I am happy with how this year ends at ODS – way better than it looked three months ago.

The Night Ministry

On Thursday, I attended the Night Ministry Annual fundraiser. With almost everybody I knew gone, I was unsure whether I would see any familiar faces. However, I wanted to make another attempt to resume volunteering, which has been challenging to schedule for the past several months. Surprisingly, I met many people, and even those who barely knew me recognized me.

I ended up having three long and in-depth conversations about my future at the Night Ministry. Everyone mentioned that I am/has been a person who could bring young people together, and “I was the best” and it would be a shame if the Night Ministry won’t have anything for me to do. One of the opportunities was a Crib, which is a completely different volunteering pattern but might actually work for me. I guess we’ll have to see in November.

Overall, I feel hopeful. For the past several months, there have been many times when I thought that I just needed to give up that part of my life, but then I felt a huge void and could not be a whole person without the Night Ministry, so I kept trying.

What I Was Saying…

From Chicago Sun-Times:

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration spent $814,000 on a giant fence as part of an effort to shut down one of the city’s largest and most visible homeless encampments ahead of the Democratic National Convention, City Hall records show.

The massive barrier was part of an “emergency” effort to permanently lock out unhoused people from the location near the United Center, where the convention was held, the records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.

The Johnson administration had refused to say how much taxpayer money went toward blocking off the green strip of land between the 1100 block of South Desplaines Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway just north of Roosevelt Road, until after the nationally televised gathering was over. The Sun-Times has been asking for those records, which should be public under state law, since July, when that tent city was cleared of its residents, the tents and the items they left behind.

WTTW Event

On Wednesday, Igor and I attended one more WTTW event in the FIRSTHAND: Homeless series. This event was dedicated to the migrant crisis. I was extremely disappointed with it. I had to leave to return to my guests, but Igor stayed to talk to the participants., soI might have more updates from him when we talk. My disappointment was mostly because I do not think this event achieved its purpose.

The purpose, as I see it, was to make more people aware of migrants’ challenges: why things are so difficult for them, what obstacles they never thought about, and why they are fleeing their countries in the first place. None of these questions were answered. To be honest, I do not even think the documentary covered “homelessness” specifically. There are multiple (too many) challenges these people face, and my feeling was that the questions of getting work permits and enrolling kids in schools took preference, and the horrific housing crisis was sort of left on the back burner. (Waiting for Igor’s comments on that).

Th Night Ministry Founder Passed Away

I learned about the passing of Father Behrens two days ago, and today, the official email notification arrived in my inbox.

April 20, 2024

Dear Henrietta,

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the passing of Rev. Tom Behrens, the Founding President & Former CEO of The Night Ministry. Tom’s vision, dedication, and unwavering commitment to serving our community’s most vulnerable members left an indelible mark on our organization and the city of Chicago.As we mourn the loss of Tom and keep his family and loved ones in our thoughts, we also celebrate his remarkable legacy. Tom’s passion for helping others, particularly our unhoused and marginalized neighbors, inspired all who knew him. As the organization’s first employee, he laid the foundation of compassionate service that still anchors The Night Ministry today. And as our Founding President & Former CEO, Tom provided visionary leadership for decades that deepened and widened our impact in Chicago.In 1976, a coalition of diverse congregations hired Tom to perform outreach to individuals on the streets of Chicago at night in response to loneliness, poverty, and homelessness in the community. As Tom told the Chicago Sun-Times the following year, it was his job “to be present to them, to be available, to listen.”As Tom pioneered street outreach in Chicago by holding office hours from the trunk of his car and visiting bars and all-night diners, the encounters he had raised his awareness of gaps in the availability of services to Chicago’s unhoused population, specifically in the areas of shelter for youth and health care. And as his awareness grew, he took action.In the late 1980s, Tom played a key role in successfully advocating for the passage of new state legislation allowing nonprofits to operate group shelters for unhoused youth, which had been prohibited in Illinois. As a result, the landscape of youth services in the state changed dramatically as opportunities became available for unhoused, runaway, and at-risk youth to access safe shelter. The Night Ministry launched its first youth shelter, with 16 beds, a few years after the legislation was enacted. Today, across several Youth Programs, we provide shelter, supportive services, and critical resources to hundreds of young people and their children each year.Tom also oversaw the launch of The Night Ministry’s Outreach & Health Ministry Program in the early 1990s, when the organization outfitted a recreational vehicle to offer mobile healthcare services to individuals who struggled to access more traditional means of care, such as clinics or physicians’ offices. Initially focused on Chicago’s North Side, today our Health Outreach Program brings free medical care, case management, and resources like food and clothing to neighborhoods across the city and even to public transit, serving thousands of people each year.Tom’s tireless efforts transformed countless lives and set the standard for compassion and advocacy in The Night Ministry’s work. His spirit will continue to guide us as we carry forward his mission of providing human connection, housing support, and health care to those who are unhoused or experiencing poverty.

In gratitude,

Carol J. Sharp, MPA
President & CEOMichael V. Borromeo
Chair, Board of Directors

I was extremely privileged to know Father Behrens in person. Moreover, when many years ago, my friend from Russia, who worked for a similar organization in Sain-Petersburg, “The Night Bus,” asked for guidance and emotional support; Father Behrence wrote a long letter to her. I just found it!

Continue reading “Th Night Ministry Founder Passed Away” →