Tag: homeless

ODS

A brief summary of my most recent ODS activity.

  • First time after a long period of absence, everything went great; everybody participated in making pizza, I had great conversations, I clicked with several young people in the shelter, and everything was great.
  • The second time, two weeks later: way less engagement; only two girls came to help me cook. The girl who was the most enthusiastic about my presence and promised to connect to me on LinkedIn and tell me everything about her progress sat in the corner with her back facing me, and when I approached her, she replied: yes, I am coming in a minute, but she kept staring at her phone screen.
  • Third time: we tried to go to the Art Institute. We talked about it when I cooked dinner, and there was a lot of interest. However, on “day X” nobody wanted to come
  • Forth time, today: almost no participation. The staff came to help me cook. One girl reluctantly approached but then walked away. I asked her later whether she liked the food -she did and she thanked me.

I talked to the staff. They agreed with my assessment that it’s hard to predict, and only the time can tell and only the time can improve. I will keep coming, and I need to find a way to do it ore frequently.

WTTW Event

The invitation to this event came from WTTW directly, and I immediately replied, because the topic of homelessness is on my top priorities list.

Below is a description of the event, which I copied from the link above (as usual, knowing very well that people do not like to click on the links!)

Four walls with a door that locks. Sufficient heat and food. A place to be safe, to rest, and to live. Most of us take these essentials for granted but, on any given day, it is estimated that as many as 65,000 men, women, and children are currently experiencing homelessness on Chicago’s streets, in shelters, or while “couch surfing.” Many are suffering from mental health issues or addiction, and as a result, they may be estranged from family and friends. Without a fixed address, any rental or credit history, forms of identification, and other basic resources, jobs and stability can be unattainable.

“Housing is the foundation for stability and security for people,” says Nicole Bahena, Vice President of Community Partnerships at All Chicago, an organization dedicated to ending and preventing homelessness. “Without it, it’s difficult to keep up with anything else in life – taking care of yourself, finding and keeping a job, getting medical care, caring for your family.”

In a series of documentaries, Firsthand: Homeless will go beyond the stereotypes society often assigns to unhoused individuals through the firsthand perspectives of real people who are navigating its complexities and hardships. And through expert talks, news reporting, and conversations with thought leaders and community members, the project will explore possible solutions.

“When you’re homeless, you’re [just] surviving. There’s not much room to live.”

How do people find themselves homeless in Chicago, and how do they survive? Turns out, each person’s story is different.

Yolanda, grandmother of four, lives with her fiancé Clarence in a tent under the Damen Avenue bridge, in the shadow of a Costco and a block from the abandoned Lathrop Homes where she once lived and worked as a live-in aide to a man who later died, leaving her without a home. She grapples with health issues, including depression, and spends her days panhandling for loose change on the street above her head. Despite it all, Yolanda shares what she has with others and stays true to her faith. As she watches her young grandsons playing at the beach, she knows that she must keep going for them. “Just hold on and have faith,” she says, hopeful that better times are coming.

Dan is also living on the streets. Homeless for more than 12 years since his suburban home went through foreclosure, he now kills time by riding the L and walking around the city. He takes viewers on a tour of some of his regular downtown haunts, including the 11th floor stairwell of a public parking garage where he sleeps. He is surprisingly sanguine about his situation, but it’s clear that navigating life without a home is challenging. Avoiding crimes against the homeless and overcoming an ongoing heroin addiction are Dan’s immediate concerns, but his search for housing just might soon be successful.

At least Jackie has a roof over her head. She lives in a homeless shelter with two of her three young children – out of necessity, her youngest child is living with her ex-husband. She works part-time as a bus operator for a subcontractor for the University of Chicago, a long daily commute from across the city. Jackie is attempting to mend fences with her mother, who previously struggled with drug addiction – it was an altercation between them that landed her and the kids on the streets in the first place. She is hoping to be approved for an apartment for her family soon, which will afford them some freedom and privacy.

Brian feels fortunate to have obtained a transitional apartment at St. Andrew’s Court and a job through the CTA’s Second Chance program. He explains that he spent years moving in and out of the prison system and cites a lack of stable, affordable housing as a key reason why he kept reoffending. To give back, he also works with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless on the city’s proposed Bring Chicago Home ordinance that is designed to help others in his situation.

Like Brian, Kimberly is also working to improve conditions for unhoused people. With her toddler Jasmine, she has been part of a transitional living program since the nursing school she had been attending pulled a large portion of her financial aid when she became pregnant. As she tackles several daunting mental health issues, she strives to make lives better for homeless youth – even heading to Washington, DC to lobby Congress – and dreams of a better life for Jasmine.

Throughout the upcoming year, get to know the stories of people across Chicago who are experiencing and addressing homelessness through five documentaries; four talks by community and thought leaders offering insights, context, and possible solutions; text, audio, and visual journalism; a companion discussion guide for schools, libraries, and community organizations; and, in partnership with The Night Ministry, All Chicago, and the Chicago Public Library, community conversations extending the reach of the project into the many neighborhoods across Chicago.

As I said, I signed up without knowing any details. However, there was something else going on for the past three months.

I always make volunteering for the Night Ministry my top priority, but still, I barely went there for the past three months. It was a combination of things: my travels, Anna’s surgeries, my overall busy schedule, but also the budget cuts in the Night Ministry and the staff shortage. The last time I was there was a real disappointment because the staff was busy on a call with one of the families, and the youth were all in their rooms, and I ended up cooking solo and leaving. I emailed our volunteer coordinator to discuss what we wanted to do next, and we agreed to have a “Make your own pizza” night, but then, to my horror, I realized that I was double-booked for that night! And then he emailed me saying that he was transitioning to a different position, and I would have to coordinate with other people (fortunately, I knew one person from that list!)

This one person informed me that they could only arrange something on Tuesdays, and my Tuesdays are pretty much off-limits. Boris told me that I needed to figure out how I could fit this activity in so that it would be meaningful (which means at least twice a month).

That was my state of mind when I came to the WTTW event, and just when I entered, I saw all these people from the Nigh Ministry and the person who was my new contact, and we sat down and talked. She relayed to me that there will be no dedicated coordinator in the observable future and that they have no budget for the events anymore. I asked her what her plans were, and she said that she would be learning alongside me. And that’s when I realized that I couldn’t walk away.

Also, when everybody was leaving the event, I recognized the face of one young person in the audience and nodded in his direction. He said: I remember you! You were cooking at the ODS!

… I have a feeling that my leadership skills will be needed!

P.S. I didn’t get a chance to ask my question during the recording, and my question is – why do we have ten different lines for housing? Why the process is so convoluted? Why can’t we have a centralized database for people and housing resources? That’s where I would put money first!

Theft, Building Access, And What To Do About It

We had several cases of stolen packages in our building back in December, and you may remember that some of my outgoing mail (four packages with holiday cookies) was stolen as well. At that point, our association raised a question of rekeying the building, but many residents doubted that the theft had happened due to somebody having the building key. They thought that, most likely, the residents were buzzing visitors in without looking. I doubt that (everyone has windows facing the gate, and it takes a second to check). Also, I knew that my packages were stolen during the night hours. In December, everybody agreed to wait till we got new management in January.

A week ago, there was another case of theft, and the same as with me, it happened during the night hours. Once again, there was a conversation about the building re-keying, but this time, our board member related that this project is expensive, and she does not think it will help since the locks are not difficult to break. She even shared the link where you can buy a “lock gun” online.

At first, I was distraught with the decision not to rekey the building, and I was about to write an angry letter to the board, especially when they suggested I could have my packages delivered to a nearby Walgreens (it’s not “nearby,” and time is the most precious resource for me). But then I thought about it and reread the email one more time. This time, I realized that she was right and that locks do not stop thieves, and I am very well aware of that. If somebody is determined to steal, no lock will stop them. The theft does not exist when there is no reason for it. I thought about how I was always against “gating” oneself from the rest of the world and how now I was about to suggest just that, so something was wrong with my moral compass. And then I thought I already knew the answer: the only way to reduce crime, including theft, in my community is to improve the community itself. And my participation in the beat meetings and my new idea to get involved with Howard Community Board were all about that.

I often hear people complaining about the increasing number of homeless people on the streets of Chicago, and I hear their cries, “What do police think?!” I understand that seeing a lot of this misery is disturbing and unpleasant. And I hear some well-off people articulating that they want to be able to pay for never seeing “all that.”

Recently, I thought about how it felt on the streets of Chicago 150 years ago, when there were a lot of very poor people and very few rich people, and how these rich people felt walking the streets and seeing other people’s misery, and how they probably didn’t want to see it, and the policemen were here ready to remove the beggars from the public places. And how these rich people could isolate themselves from the reality behind the closed gates. And I do not want to be one of them.

And I do not want to be that

Homelessness

I am on my way back to Chicago, and that means I am back to facing (literally) people experiencing homelessness. Yesterday, I signed up for a WTTW kickstart of a year-long initiative exploring homelessness in Chicago.


Last week, the city conducted an annual “point-in-time” count of homeless in the shelters and on the streets, which is often criticized for showing a lesser number of people than other surveys indicate. I still say it’s better to count that way than not count at all – see this article.

During the extreme cold of the second half of January, the Night Ministry doubled the effort to protect people from severe weather conditions, but I know that that was only that many people one organization could reach. And although the weather is way milder now, it’s still dangerous to be outside for extended periods of time.

My usual thoughts when I am anywhere in Europe – why are there so fewer people on the streets there?

I Am Back

I typed the title of this post on Thursday morning and didn’t move any further :). Life after the return was intense :).

There are a lot of things going on at work, including some reorganization and interviewing people for an open position. The to-do list is so wast, I do not even want to start on it. Let me rather tell you what I have done so far.

The was this amazing concert on Wednesday which I already blogged about. I went to the youth shelter on Thursday night. I was asked to make pizzas, and some of the youth were so excited waiting for my coming that they made most of the prep by the time I arrived. There was one new staff whom I liked a lot. One girl who did a TickToc recording from out previous cooking asked me whether we could do it again, and I said yes, and we had a lot of fun with that! She asked me about my heritage and what I had for dinner when I was a child, and we had fun chatting about that.

I biked along the Lakefront. I went to the beach and soaked my body in the lake. I received both my CSA deliveries. And I am on my way to the clinic escort.

Art Institute With ODS

Last Thursday, I took a group of youth from the Open Door Shelter to the Art Institute. We used to go there on Thursday nights relatively regularly, but it didn’t happen for a while, and I was very excited to resume this activity.

Yes, as usual, they were delayed to the point that we only had an hour and fifteen minutes left for the museum, and yes, as usual, people got lost on the way (this time, things were complicated by the fact that one person from our group had a double stroller, which meant that we had to search for elevators, which is not an easy task, especially in the older part of the museum.

But with all that being said, and with the fact that nobody except for our volunteer coordinator had been to the Art Institute before, it was a smashing success. At least, that’s what I think. I enjoyed every minute of this outing. Each time I take a group from the shelter to the museum, they surprise me with how they interpret art, how attentive they are to details, and how the art makes them feel. One young man answering my questions about whether he saw that it’s spring in the picture answered with a three-minute monologue telling me about all the things he saw (and I didn’t!) about this landscape. I was listening with my jar dropped!

Also, all of them realized how gigantic the place was and how many things one could see, and everybody resented coming so late. I was glad that I had a chance to spend some “one-on-one” time with three people from the group and listen to their perspectives. One of them replied to my question whether did she know who Van Gough was, replied: I received a very good education! My mother is an artist. But honestly, it didn’t matter: some of them didn’t hear Van Gough’s name before, some knew his works, but no matter what, their insights were amazing.

I hope we can go one more time when I am back form Finland!

ODS

Last night at the Open Door Shelter was one of these, which brought joy and endless satisfaction. When I arrived, two of the residents told me right away that they wanted to cook with me and asked how they could help. Luckily, this time there were several dishes that could be started at the same time, so there were four of us standing around the table and doing something, and three more just standing by and chatting. And one girl said: you know, it reminds me how it was at home when we were all cooking together! And I told her that that’s exactly how it felt for me!

Another girl asked me whether I minded making a TikTok video of us cooking, and I said I do not mind at all, and we had fun filming different stages of the process.

The staff joined us; there were many simple steps that I could delegate to any of the interested parties. It was great to see how in contrast to previous times, most of the youth hurried to package and put away the remaining unused ingredients and clean the cooking surfaces. I almost lost hope I would ever see such an attitude again!

And everybody liked what we made! No, we didn’t sit for a meal together; this is still months apart, even if things will keep going the way they are going now. But we talked! We talked while cooking, and we talked after. I had some really deep and thoughtful conversations, and I hope to keep developing these relationships.

Before I left, I checked how many meatballs were left – not more than a third of what we made, and most of the mashed potatoes were gone, too. I like when people like what I cook!

A girl who already finished eating asked another one, who just started: do you like it? And after hearing “yes,” continued: then say thank you! The second girl looked embarrassed: she didn’t even think about that option 🙂

I left reluctantly at 8 PM, and we made plans for my next visit, and we also decided to try to go to the movies in the park after the holiday.

… and I know very well that one good day does not really mean that everything will be good next time, but I still feel like “the day is not wasted.”

The Night Ministry

Two weeks ago, a couple of days before my upcoming volunteering at the youth shelter, I emailed our volunteer coordinator to check what we were going to do. He replied to me that the shelter and the Night Ministry, in general, were so understaffed that he is working extra shifts at other places, and he couldn’t be there for my volunteering.

That was a very disturbing turn of events, and I started thinking about what I could do to help. I almost felt that donating money makes more sense now than trying to do any volunteering.

Then, last week, it was Lighting Up The Night, the most important fundraising event of the year:

For this event, I was not a sponsor – invited (plus a guest) as a volunteer, which, having all the unfolding situation, felt weird. However, I still wanted to go because I wanted to see people and talk to them. This event is the only opportunity for me to catch up with staff and volunteers from other locations.

I took my mom as my guest so that she would have a chance to see something different (she used to come to the volunteering events with me before the pandemic, and some Night Ministry staff still remembers her).

Overall, the outcome of the evening was positive: I had a chance to speak with many of the staff and the Night Ministry Vice President. The problem with the staff is not the lack of funds, but the lack of people, especially people who would be willing to work with the youth, do the night shifts, etc. And that’s indeed a huge problem, and I have no idea how to help. The staff from the youth shelter told me that I could come even when our coordinator is not there, that they know me, they miss my cooking, and they would help with buying the ingredients. So this should be counted as positive news, even if it does not improve the situation with the staff shortage.

I left the event with one of the flower arrangements from the tables (and I loved it :))

Yesterday, I saw a picture of me in the newsletter:

It almost made me sad, because I think I am doing so little now, and so-so-much-more is needed…

CTA Accident

Just found out that I didn’t publish this post on Sunday when I wrote it (and was wondering why everybody reacted to my lost nail, and nobody reacted on this one). Anyway, publishing it now.

Today, we went to the matinee performance of West Side Story in the Lyric Opera. “Us” included me, my mom, and my neighbor. I chose a matinee performance for this show a long time ago because I thought that that was the show that my mom would enjoy.

She did; she liked it to the extent that she didn’t make any negative comments. But I wanted to share something else about this outing.

Most of the time, I try to take Uber when I take mom out; however, the last couple of days were impossible with all the road construction and Taylor Swift concerts, so after consulting with my neighbor, I decided that we would take the Red line and then a bus to Lyric opera. 

We started way in advance, and the train was on time. However, as it often happens on the Red line, a person asking for “some change” appeared. I give to people on the streets most time, but I never give on the CTA, because that’s a violation, and there are many other places where people can ask for money.

I ignored the requests. Requests turned into hysterical crying (Anybody! Anybody! Any change!!!) Since this is not an unusual scene, and since I had mom with me, I didn’t pay much attention to the development of the event, and the next thing I realized (after the fact) was that this woman tried to commit suicide and managed to almost completely open the doors while the train was running.

The CTA crew stopped the train, then they came and escorted this woman to the front of the train and called for police assistance. We were very close to Sheridan station, but we could not move until the train crew received confirmation that the police arrived and were ready to take this person into custody.

We sat there for 25 minutes with the train engine off (and consequently the A/C off). I was afraid that we would be late (my neighbor was waiting for us by the Lyric entrance), but also, this whole situation was so horrible and hopeless…

Volunteering And Near-Hostage Situation

Yesterday, I was volunteering in the youth shelter and experienced a situation that had never happened in all seven years of my volunteering. The boyfriend of one of the residents of the transitional living program (that’s not the program I volunteer for, but in the same building) can to the entrance threatening residents with a knife. 

I should mention that the day before, I emailed our volunteer coordinator with a concern that I had a very low engagement level with the residents recently. During these past seven years, I experienced all sorts of dynamics. There would be days when the engagement would be low, especially when there were many new people, but the current situation went on for a very long time without signs of improvement. Throughout all these years, I came and cooked together with the residents. Even if their participation was limited, we had a chance to chat and develop relationships. Recently, it was not that some days were worse than others, but it was constantly not working: I asked our coordinator whether he had any suggestions for improving the situation. We agreed to have a brainstorming session, but not on that day – the residents would go to the trampoline park after dinner.

I should also mention that an assistant coordinator scheduled a “build your taco” dinner. I have complicated relationships with Mexican cuisine and know nothing about making tacos.

It all started like any other dinner recently: only one person was interested in making tacos with me. One staff member added spices to my skillet, where I cooked the ground beef. A couple of other residents approached the kitchen and assembled their tacos, I was about to call it yet another failure, and then that happened. 

There was some motion, and I heard people asking why they couldn’t go to the second floor, and nobody was leaving for the trampoline park as planned. And then I learned about the guy with the knife and that we all have to stay inside and not go anywhere, including me!

The situation remained quite tense for the next hour. Police was called, they came (not very fast), and searched this guy, but didn’t find a weapon (as many commented, most likely, he threw the knife into the bushes by the church, but nobody searched there). Then he walked away, and I had hoped I could leave, but he reappeared (we watched the surveillance camera footage). 

In the end, the volunteer coordinator walked me out of the building using one of the emergency exits (it was another challenge for me to find my way :)), and it was scary because he tried one exit and didn’t feel it was far enough/secure enough. 

But – we had a terrific bonding time! More residents came to make tacos, and people tried their favorite spices, and I told them I loved theirs’ better, which was true. We talked and talked and shared who we are and where we are from and planned three more activities!

So it looks like it just took a near-hostage situation to resolve our participation and communication issues!