St. Jude House
After a nice breather in Cleveland, we spent a week in Chicago working with the St. Jude House, a domestic violence shelter for women. It is located in Crown Point, Indiana, so we commuted about an hour each way from Rogers Park (North end of Chicago), where we were staying with one of my best friends, Leah. I must say, aside from the work we did at St. Jude’s, I had such an awesome time seeing all the faces I haven’t seen in months and months, and getting to live at Leah’s, just like the good ole days when we were roommates. (I went to Loyola Chicago up until the development of Being and Doing, and hadn’t been back since.) So, we had a nice home to return to everyday after what was usually a long day at the House.
Throughout the week at St. Jude’s, we power-washed the exterior of the house, trimmed bushes, painted the basement stairs and two resident bathrooms, cleaned out and organized the food pantry, as well as cleaned and organized the “borrow room” where they keep clothes and shoes for the residents to use when needed, along with some minor miscellaneous jobs. The House is comprised of a small community of employees and volunteers that are dedicated to the health and safety of the women in the House. Maybe not-surprisingly, most of the staff are women, and as a result there is this powerful sense of rapport with the fellow female residents. The whole place is bubbling with positivity, acceptance, and honest relationships; and it’s obvious how such an environment would act as a safe place to heal, regain strength, and develop a strong sense of self, as many of these women are able to do when they come to the House.
The staff is so nurturing, in fact, that they even shared the love with us, by helping us out with some lunch money one day, and sending us off on our last day with three big bags of goodies from their pantry—which we thought was an awesome gift, because food can get expensive, and we do love to eat.
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