Coats Off Your Back 2020
Our last Rotary Club meeting was a joint one with the Deerfield Club. It was fun to get together and share a report on a joint project of our two clubs – “Coats Off Your Back” – to support PADS (Providing Advocacy, Dignity & Shelter).
John Cavanaugh, Northbrook Rotary, who has coordinated the annual program for several years mentioned there are about 20 collection barrels around town. But says “as businesses close (eliminating access to barrels) we are doing the best we can.” Deerfield has a dozen barrels placed in their town.
PADS speakers included Attorney Richard Greenswag, one of their long time volunteers and Emeritus Board Member, who introduced a touching video about a homeless couple. This video provides a vastly different face of homelessness. Especially now.
Some images of homeless people imply that homeless people are all mentally ill, often dirty, disheveled migrants. But today – especially with the job losses during the pandemic - this may not be the case at all.
A letter sent to PADS from “Craig” who received services this year gives you an idea:
“I never thought I’d be in a situation where I would wind up on the streets not knowing where my next meal would come from, or where I’d be sleeping that night, but it happened to me on April 3rd, 2020. I was freezing and hungry sleeping under a playground play area in a park along the banks of Gages Lake, feeling helpless and in despair. Not only that, but a worldwide health crisis was also about to hit Lake County………Many who think PADS is nothing more than a place where the homeless hang out, they are sorely mistaken. PADS provided me with a chance to start fresh and look to each day as a blessing.
Also speaking was Jamie Roberts, MA, PADS Director of Development & Communications who “believes that philanthropy makes incredible things possible and is responsible for raising funds, creating awareness, and fostering community engagement & support for PADS in the hope that one day everyone in Lake County will have a place to call home.
She has spent her career garnering support for a wide range of social justice organizations and causes, and is thrilled to be a part of the PADS team where she works to create a community where everyone has sturdy foundations in stable housing and the opportunity to not only survive, but to flourish.”
Here are some other stats from https://backpackbed.org/ about homelessness in the USA:
552,830 Americans are homeless and needlessly suffering tonight
1 in every 588 Americans is homeless.
194,467 people will sleep on the street across the USA tonight (HUD 2018).
The ten states with the highest homeless rates account for 55% of the homeless population - CA, NY, FL, TX, WA, MA, OR, PA, IL, CO.
18% are chronically homeless (HUD 2018).
7% are unaccompanied youth under 25 (HUD 2018).
7% are veterans (HUD 2018).
Donation bins can be found in Northbrook at the Village Hall; Library; Sunset Foods; Orange Theory; Waterway, American Weathermakers and the Methodist Church.
Find out more for ways to help the homeless at https://www.padslakecounty.org/
