I’m no stranger to poverty, having spent the first five years of my life in shady Philadelphia neighborhoods with an alcoholic mother who was nearly destitute. My older brothers did what they had to do, watching me, making sure I was dressed, and feeding me ketchup sandwiches because sometimes that’s [...]

  Our friends at “New Life for Old Bags” are at it again, supporting Cornerstone Community Outreach (CCO — our homeless shelter) with one of the most brilliant “repurposing” projects we’ve even seen. They take old plastic shopping bags and weave them into beautiful — yes, really — floor mats. [...]

Cornerstone Community Outreach’s Leland House Christmas Party took place this past week at Jesus People USA’s 920 Wilson address. The residents of Leland House, a wonderful Covenant Church who partnered with with us, and our Leland staff made it a wonderful time. (Tom Wray photos (c) 2012 Tom Wray)

(From Jeremy Nicholls, JPUSA member and liason to the homeless men at our Cornerstone Community Outreach Shelters. Reprinted here with permission from Jeremy’s Setting the Prisoners Free.)   My co-worker introduced George to me…. He was a fragile old white man; scruffy, pale and scrawny, he had a dazed and [...]

Pain is seen in their eyes Anger is seen upon their foreheads Confusion is seen in their wanderings Distance is seen upon their hearts Crying for patience Acceptance beckons to be found Crying for family Love beckons to be seen Lost, they wander in the shadows Lost, they search for [...]

Two groups of preteens gaze up at their teachers. They’d all been asked exactly the same question, but each group responded with answers that were exactly opposite. Both sets of kids live in Chicago, yet they are from contrasting parts of our divided city and attend extremely different schools.     [...]

Our holiday season opens with a homeless man appearing in our lobby who looks like Santa Claus. He disappears before we can figure out how to help him. Is even Santa Claus falling on hard times? The weather outside is frightful. It is erratic and severe, causing CCO to go [...]

THE VIADUCTS – Where Chicago’s Homeless Hide in Plain Sight by Sandra Ramsey, Director of Cornerstone Community Outreach Shelters The following entry was journaled two years ago by CCO’s Sandy Ramsey; the questions it raises are if anything more pertinent now than they were then. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – Aug [...]

There are times when people step into our lives and present ongoing dilemmas. These people are never easy. These people become our constant headaches, heartaches and bellyaches. These people are there, leaving us scratching our heads at the crossroads, asking us to put our faith into action. At this intersection, we are [...]

One night I was serving food at our single women’s shelter program.  I noticed a small, elderly woman standing among the mats.  She was new to the program and seemed disoriented and confused.  Her white hair was disheveled and she had a very unkempt appearance.  When she came through the [...]