On Thursday, December 10, students traveled to the Franciscan Outreach Marquard Center, near North and Ashland on the north side of Chicago. Students supported the volunteer community that lives there and the many ministries they sustain, including nightly suppers, shower and laundry access, social work, food and clothing donations, and more.Representing our class this week on the blog are Liz Ramos, Jada Shelby, and Antonio Gonzalez...
Liz Ramos
For our second urban immersion exercise, our class went to the Franciscan Outreach Marquard Center, a program where the homeless can eat, obtain clothes, obtain groceries, keep warm, or receive mail. In this exercise, I was asked to organize apparel by sex and size. As I was organizing the clothes, I began to question: who wore these clothes before? did they wash them before giving them away? what was there story behind these clothes? As I questioned the story behind these clothes, I began to sympathize for the poor because they did not have the same abilities as me. For example, they could not wash the clothes they received, and they could not afford new, brand-name clothes, which is something we as humanity take for granted.
However, now that I begin to write my reflection, I realize I was in the same position. Back in 2008 when there was a recession, my father and my mother were unemployed since they were undocumented, and their employers were only seeking people with a work permit. Thus, my mother would pick up freelance jobs, such as cleaning houses or handing out flyers for a company. During that time, my mother would apply at this pantry to receive groceries every Tuesday. Every Tuesday for that year, I would join my mother in a line about the size of one street block, and we would wait until they called out our number to receive groceries. As we waited in line, I felt humiliated and a little ashamed because my nine-year-old mind could only understand that my family could not afford something as simple as one-dollar food items. Additionally, I would wear hand-me-downs from my best friend and from kids that my mom cleaned houses for. Thanks to the experience at the Franciscan Outreach, I feel grateful because it made me reminisce at how many advantages I have now, and I am grateful that I was able to work with others who need it, which is what the Catholic Social Teaching of the Preferential Option for the Poor calls us to do. Because of my experience of being low-income, I feel like I can identify with the marginalized population. Because of this experience, I feel implicated in marginalizing these people because they are pushed off to the edge of the world. How do I know? Well, as we were in the building, I noticed there was a few people in charge. There was one lady who was categorizing us students into each department, the desks for social workers were empty, and the front desk person was a homeless person which shows that not a lot of people are willing to help. Additionally, as we passed to our stations, there were boxes of clothes, shoes, and appliances cluttered all over the place, which were also indications that the program did not receive enough help from others. There are some people who do their part and help others, like my best friend who helped me or the lady that assisted us during last week's urban immersion exercise, but it is just a little help in the bigger picture of the number of citizens in Illinois or just in Chicago. For this reason, I am called to marginalize the homeless or the less fortunate population.
Moreover, I feel like I need to respond in faith because Christ would expect me to. Christ states,
“Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Luke 21:33-34)
By this, Christ means to find love neither in money nor possessions but rather in helping the needy and doing good deeds. Therefore, I have decided that I shall respond to Christ’s call of love by helping the needy, by giving my attention to the homeless when I am waiting for the public transportation, by donating my clothes, and by giving some of my time at the Franciscan Outreach even for a couple of hours.
Jada Shelby
A Bible verse that I believe connects with this would be, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’” (Deuteronomy 15:11) This is saying that there will never be a time where there is no poor man on this Earth, but we should be mindful of them by offering them our help.
This goes along with the Catholic Social Teaching of Preferential Option for the Poor, where Christ calls us to consider the poor in every decision we make individually, communally, or socially. In my opinion, Franciscan Outreach is a wonderful program because the volunteers work five days a week to give men a better life in response to this call.
I can relate to the volunteers because once upon a time my uncle did not have a place to go, so my mom allowed him to stay with us. It was during this time that he had just had a heart transplant, so he was weak. Therefore, I had to cook for him, go to the store for him, and wash his clothes for him. I could have been considered a volunteer working full time because I did not get paid and it was the summer time so I was not in school. I felt like God called me to do those things because during that time I was truly blessed with scholarship offers from St. Benedict School and I was asked to join the basketball team. It was because of those blessings that I started to realize that helping people who are less fortunate is never wrong because good things will not go unnoticed, though they might be postponed.
I think as a society we should reach out our hands to all. We should not push anyone aside because what if we were in their shoes? As a society we should find people that can help the poor and be a listening ear. We should do what Christ calls us to do in the Catholic Social Teaching of Solidarity by loving and being mindful of every single person as our brother/sister.
Antonio Gonzalez
In the afternoon of December 10, 2015, I went on a class trip to the Franciscan Outreach Marquard Center with the rest of my Catholic Social Teaching class. It was an interesting learning experience, getting to organize food on shelves and fold clothes as donations for those who need it. This organization was very organized with handling food, clothing, and the distribution of these items. Even though I was there for only an hour, the time that I spent gave me a large impression about how many homeless people there are in the city of Chicago. Not only that, the amount of food there was to organize demonstrated the amount of people that are willing to donate. Homelessness, as it is shown by many news networks and newspapers, is happening all around the world, affecting many single adults and families. It’s hard to avoid this subject, as it can easily be seen down any neighborhood or alleyway. Especially during the Christmas time, organizations and stores try to put themselves out into the consumer world to entice people by saying that they support the homeless and food pantries.When it comes down to it, the populations that are wealthy are the one that provide most of the donations in funding. Larger organizations such as the Salvation Army have the advantage of widespread advertisement to the people. These groups not only put in money to different shelters, but they also have a wide array of volunteers to help out at any situation. Of course, this one organization cannot reach out to every single homeless man or woman, but it does its best to help as many people as possible. The Salvation Army along with many organizations in the community provides a healthy motivation for the population to tend to the needs of the homeless and/or the unemployed. Relationships can be created between the volunteer and the needy directly or indirectly based on if one may do volunteer work or purely make donations.
This can be traced back to Scripture, to the story where Jesus cured a man of leprosy. In Matthew 8:1-4, Jesus comes across a man who is suffering from this deadly disease. Instead of walking away, Jesus confronts the man and saves him from his pain. This is what God would want from his people, to help out the brothers and sisters of the world, no matter in what condition and situation. Passages like this one can help one to grow in faith and in love and service. Jesus, for example, has all the characteristics of a loving person and is not afraid to show it to everyone. The way that he lives is a good way to live life, considering the needy and suffering at all times.
After reading this passage and attending the service trip, my knowledge about how the homeless are taken care of increased in a variety of different ways. Organizing the food by the storage area showed me how different items are donated all the time like bread and canned soup. Franciscan Outreach was very similar to different places that I have volunteered at like the Lakeview Food Pantry and my local church. As a person who has grown up in the Catholic faith, the reality of homelessness is nothing new, but making personal connections with the needy makes that much more of a difference. Whenever I walk to my job at Jewel-Osco, I run across a couple of homeless men on the street, and I see them talking with other pedestrians. It goes to show that the smallest choice can make the biggest difference.
These small choices can be made in multiple ways. There are many different organizations and shelters in the Chicago area that are willing to accept anyone who is willing to volunteer. As I mentioned before, the Salvation Army is a great place to donate time or money into when it comes to helping those who are struggling. One can also spread the awareness of homelessness at any local church or among family and friends. Either way, making the effort to spread the awareness of this topic is enough. Having everyone help out with homelessness can lead to the decline of the needy and shows the people that anything can be done with enough support.
Note: Minor grammar/style edits have been made to each post not affecting the content or perspective of these students.
