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Cold, hungry, homeless
December 26, 2006
By Courtney Greve, Staff writer

Gerry feels like a “nonperson“ after six months of living in cars, crashing on couches and riding the CTA elevated trains at night.

“I have no money, no transportation, no ID. I can even get a library card so I can look for a job on the Internet,“ he said. “It's like I don't exist. I'm trapped, and I can't find my way out.“

Sister Therese DelGenio, Executive Director
SW Chicago PADS

For 15 years, Sister Therese DelGenio has been responding to the needs of the homeless in the neighborhood with food, shelter, showers, clothing, and ongoing assistance with life skills. Sister Therese was instrumental in creating the Southwest Chicago Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) in 1993. PADS, an ecumenical and community endeavor which values the dignity, uniqueness, goodness, and giftedness of all persons, assists people with moving from homelessness to stable employment and housing
(more…)

"A Good Summer Job"
By Sheila Bator

Most PADS volunteers are in one of the 25 or so cooking groups who prepare and serve dinners 6 nights a week from October through April. Attention and effort tend to be concentrated on what we call the “warming season“, making certain we have cooks and servers for each of those evenings for all of those months.

Summer at PADS has always been somewhat different. There have been no regular evening meals or services, although case management continues all day every weekday. The case managers and staff have also provided daytime “emergency services“,--toiletries, clothing and bag lunches and showers. (more…)