I am from Lake County, Illinois which is part of the northern suburbs of Chicago. The estimated population is 703,520. Of this population, a large percent are homeless or displaced. Many of the homeless population rely on food pantries, shelters, and kind souls to live. I had previously volunteered at my church, Shiloh Baptist Church of Waukegan, to help the homeless and worked closely with Doretha Johnson, the Director of Finance for the church and, volunteer and food coordinator for PADS. I chose to interview Johnson because she’s someone I grew up with in the church and I watched her help others and get involved with a lot of these kinds of efforts. Previously, I volunteered at PADS and when I was there I felt as if I was truly doing something good because serving others made me feel as if I were making a real difference in their lives. I sat down with her to chat about PADS and how it is helping the community. As we sat in the conference room of the church, it was so quiet. I could hear the clock down the hall chime, signaling that it was 6 pm. She smiled warmly at me, out of nervousness but excitement as well. She wore a pastel pink and white outfit, and her hair was cut short which made her facial features stand out more. She looked almost regal. 

Photo Credit: Chicago Tribune

I started off by asking about what PADS was exactly, and she replied with, “PADS is where we provide overnight shelter for the homeless.” I asked her if she could explain it in broader detail and what was the program’s mission. Without skipping a beat, she said, “The broader umbrella is PADS of Lake County. PADS of Lake County coordinate various shelters through the churches in Lake County. For every night of the week from Monday through Sunday there are at least two shelters open at a different church. We provide a place for the homeless to sleep, we provide them dinner, we provide them breakfast in the morning, and we provide lunch for them when they get ready to leave. So, PADS is a homeless ministry, and the individuals that are in PADS are registered with PADS of Lake County. So, each night these individuals will  sleep at a different church because there is a different location open every night.” At this point, her demeanor seemed to loosen up and I could tell she had gained more confidence as we spoke. 

I proceed to ask her how many people would she say she’s impacted? I explain that could also mean people she estimates that come through PADS every night or a ballpark figure of people that she sees weekly. She explained that Shiloh’s PADS site is open on Wednesday nights. “Wednesday nights there are three sites. We usually average here about between 30-35 individuals, men and woman. And we are open from the first of October, to the end of April, so during the seasons when it’s cold outside. Then when we close in April, almost all of the sites close in April, then those individuals that are coming to us really have no place to go for the summer. So, if we average 30 people per night, and the other two sites average 30 people Wednesday nights, that is 90 people on Wednesday night. That’s for seven nights that they have that amount of people,” she replied.

In the middle of her statement, one of the volunteers for the food pantry pokes their head into the room looking for her guidance on something but they quickly leave. In this moment I reflected on what she said and asked her what the homeless do when all the shelters close. She responded by saying, “During the months when the shelter is not open they are generally out on the street. Last summer a church here in Waukegan opened up for the families so that they had somewhere to go during the summer. I also heard, and I don’t know if this is true, that another church is serving them breakfast on Saturday mornings, which is a good thing. But all in all, a majority of them are out on the street during the summer and I do see them when I am driving around. I see them walking around on the streets during the summer.”

It was quiet for a moment, and then I spoke up to ask her if them being out on the street during the summer makes her feel a certain type of way. I explain my question by asking if it makes her feel personally guilty despite the fact she isn’t a billionaire who can buy out a multiplex or something to house them. She thinks for a moment before saying, “Well, when I see them at least I know that they’re okay, just seeing them. Now I don’t know physically or mentally or whatever if they’re okay from just looking at them. But just seeing them walk down the street I’ll say to my husband ‘oh there goes so-and-so from PADS, you remember him’. I may not know their name, but we know the faces of them from PADS. So at least it makes me feel like they’re okay when I see them on the street. And if you go to the McDonald’s around here, you will see a number of them at the McDonald’s.” Despite the fact PADS is not open during the summer, she still helps the less fortunate when she helps out at the church’s food pantry which happens on Saturdays.

I then asked her if there are stories from individuals who have touched her, or if she has felt particularly close to someone who has come to the site. She thinks for a second and then said, “I just had a situation here in the last month since the PADS season has ended. I was here at the church working at the food pantry and I had to leave to go pick up some more food. As I went to leave right as I got out the door there was a young lady [who] said ‘I remember you, I remember you. You volunteer at PADS.’ I looked at her, but I really didn’t recall who she was. She said ‘I came to PADS and I was so depressed. And there was this guy there who prayed for me and he would give me extra dessert. He always gave me extra dessert because I would be crying because DCFS (Department of Child and Family Services) had my son. I didn’t have my son, and I was trying to get my son back. Every week I would come to PADS and I would just cry and this guy would just pray for me and give me extra desserts. I was just so thankful for that and for what you all did that for me. I just wanted you to know that I got my son back with me and we have a place to live.’ So, when you hear the clients from pads say that they have a place to live that is a major accomplishment for them to get a place to live and be off the streets.” That story really touched me because I see a lot of parents out here who don’t care about their children and don’t care what happens to them, so to see that was a breath of fresh air.

 I then asked her what do the volunteers do when they come to volunteer at PADS. She told me there are different jobs each person does to help out. They can help cook in the kitchen, prepare lunches for the next day, and help get the beds ready. They can also distribute towels and toiletries for the showers, and oversee everyone to make sure there are no problems. She also expressed that she wishes more people would volunteer regularly, but she is grateful for the volunteers she does get.

For my final question, I asked her how she felt she was making a difference in the community. She responded promptly with, “Well the way I see it is I am not doing this for me, I am doing this because I have been blessed to be able to help serve the less fortunate. So, these individuals, some of them are in a situation where it wasn’t their fault that they are there. Something happened and they are there. The one thing about some of the clients we serve is that they have mental illnesses and we are trying to help them with their mental illness because we know services for mental illness have been cut and so we are working with that. But for me personally, I just view this as I’ve been blessed to be able to help serve, I’ve been blessed to be able to help coordinate all these volunteers to be able to serve the people who are living out on the street and it’s just what we need to do.” She encourages those who have not volunteered to help out, and even goes as far as to say that people who are wary of the homeless should not be because the homeless are people like us. For more information about how you can be involved and help the PADS of Shiloh Baptist Church of Waukegan, you can go to www.shilohbcw.org or email PADS@shilohbcw.org.