Offering Dignity and Warmth to Chicago’s Tent Residents
March 2017
Arlene Siavelis Kehl and Katherine Siavelis
St. Andrew’s, Chicago, Illinois
It has
always been a part of Philoptochos’ mission “to help the poor, the destitute,
the hungry…the unemployed…”, but there are times in all of our lives when we
encounter those in need who tug especially at our hearts. One of those times was in the fall when our
St. Andrew’s Women’s Philoptochos Society (SAWPS) and our local Orthodox
Christian Fellowship (OCF) students at Loyola University of Chicago learned of
a group of homeless people living in tents under four viaducts along Lake Shore
Drive in the city’s Uptown neighborhood.
Problems
Identified: How will the residents in the tent cities
survive the winter months? What will
happen to those residents if the city takes away their tents and forces them to
relocate? What happens to the viaduct
dwellers if there are not enough homeless shelters for them to relocate?
Although we,
the SAWPS and the OCF from Loyola, want to be compassionate and solve
completely the problems of our fellow men, sometimes we can only offer partial,
short-term solutions to help those in need as they face life’s challenges. This was the case with the residents of the
tent cities.
In talking
with the residents, we learned that they needed blankets, essential clothing,
toiletries and non-perishable foodstuffs, and wanted fast food gift cards to
help them get by and survive during the winter and early spring. These conversations led us to developing our
two-gallon size Blessing Bags. Each
Blessing Bag contained a hat, scarf, gloves, socks, hand sanitizer, toothbrush,
toothpaste, toothbrush holder, comb, granola bars, fruit snacks and a McDonald’s
gift card. We sourced competitively
Blessing Bag supplies along with the Blankets, assembled them, distributed them
to the residents, and fundraised for sponsorships to offset the cost of the
supplies and blankets.
Short-Term
Solution Implemented: Team of SAWPS members, OCF students and
clergy visited the residents of the tent cities to minister to them in their
time of need and to provide them with Blessing Bags and Blankets offering these
individuals dignity and warmth during the cold months in Chicago. May God bless the residents, keep them safe,
and show how much we at St. Andrew’s care for our fellow men.
