Evanston losing its Emergency Homeless Shelter for the summer

This week I found an article that is closer to home. 

https://evanstonroundtable.com/2024/05/23/as-seasonal-shelter-closes-city-will-go-another-summer-without-emergency-homeless-site/

I attended Loyola University Chicago, which is 5-10 minutes from Evanston, from 2010-2014. I started my volunteer work with the homeless after I got in trouble for drinking in the dorms. In my drunken stupor, out of desperation for trying to avoid strike 2, I pretended to be one of my friends who lived in the dorm and this decision landed me 50 hours of community service. I originally went to serve my hours at Misericordia, which is a charity that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, with my friend who had also gotten in trouble. He told me it was a sweet gig because they had him baking cookies for the residents and staff. I thought that would be a great way to get my hours in as I love baking cookies (still do, buy over $250 worth of Cherry Willow merch and I'll send you a dozen!). However when I showed up they gave me a brush and a bucket and had me scrubbing the walls of the kitchen. That was the last time I went there for community service hours so I was forced to find other ways to get my hours in. I found an opportunity to clean Loyola's Chapel with the legend Sister Jean which was very nice but unfortunately they didn't need very many volunteer hours. This led to finding a program where we made sandwiches and distributed them to homeless people and families throughout downtown Chicago. 

I served the remainder of my hours with this group and found it very rewarding. It was extremely interesting getting to know some of the people who were homeless and listening to their stories. Little did I know that 10 years later I would be starting a business trying to document those stories and share them with the world! Unfortunately after I completed my required volunteer hours I did not stay consistent with my service work. I got wrapped up in my own life and it took years before I was able to consistently dedicate time every week to give back. I believe community is extremely important and that looking out for other members of the community is what is needed to get people out of homeless situations. As I have been volunteering every week over the past year I've gotten to know many of the guests that stay at Hesed House. I have also come to know a few homeless people that aren't in the shelter and learned more about them and their experience. Many homeless people choose to camp when the weather is nice instead of staying in the shelter. They do this for many reasons but mainly the shelters can be very loud, crowded and tense places, which is not ideal for people who deal with anxiety. 

Homeless people in Evanston won't have any choice but to camp or to try to get to a different part of the area where there are beds available with Interfaith Action of Evanston's shelter program ending for the year. Many people may also turn to the public transit system to attempt to get some rest. When riding on the CTA buses and trains I would often encounter a homeless person sleeping. No one should be forced to sleep on a train or a bus as there are thousands of people who utilize them everyday. It is not safe as some people harass and abuse the homeless people. It is not their fault, it is societies role to take care of those who are unable to care for themselves. Yet our capitalistic society only values people if they are able to generate a profit for someone else. There are many non-profits and church organizations that are working to support homeless people but it is going to require the entire community to get involved to solve the problem. We need to work with local authorities to provide housing options for people impacted by homelessness. The real estate industry is too focused on profit and has caused many people who have jobs to feel stressed about affording rent. Many homeless people qualify for government sponsored housing but there is a lack of landlords who are willing to house people with section 8 or other HUD grants. We need more housing! 

Cherry Willow Apparel will use the profits generated from merchandise sales towards creating more housing specifically for people impacted by homelessness. Providing people with a safe place to call home and helping them get connected with people who are trying to help is the only way real progress can be made. I am working with people impacted by homelessness who would like to share their story. You can donate and support people that share their story and allow us to raise money on their behalf and that money will go towards their housing, medical bills or any personal development programs they want to take advantage of. Please consider supporting us and getting some cool merchandise that you can wear proudly knowing that you are helping make a difference for someone who is impacted by homelessness!

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