Last night was my last night (for this year, which I also hope means ever) spending the night at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Naperville, IL. The night before was my last in Trinity Lutheran in Lisle, IL. And the night before, my last in St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Downers Grove, IL.
With the end of the month and the approach of winter, interim housing locations are changing. It makes me sad. I don’t like change, and everything is perpetually changing, especially right now. But beyond that, these three locations were really awesome.
I’ve never made it to St. Luke in time for the entry lottery, since I have been teaching on Wednesday evenings. I’ve arrived there around 8:30 pm, and every time the PADS worker has said, “We are full,” and then turned to a very tall, bald, skinny man. They whispered together a few seconds, and the man has sent off a teenager to check some rooms and their storage – and they’ve found a place for me to sleep (and tried to find a late dinner for me, if I requested it.)
The volunteers at Trinity were among the few who stood up to PADS. Another client told me that when told that they had a maximum number of clients that would be allowed, they said, “No. If you use this site, we will find a place for everyone who needs a pad.” And while I’ve only a month’s experience – that’s what I’ve seen offered there.
Our Saviour’s site is a satellite location of a large church – and it’s packed with volunteers who feed us incredible home cooked meals (the first night I was there, roast beef – last night, chicken breast), and who actually listen, when we speak to them.
Beyond those changes, I feel pretty lousy right now. What follows is something no one particularly wants to think about – least of all, me. I am prone to pretty intense cramps, cyclically – and feel generally “icky” for a few days, and then have another few days of pain. Let me just say that it’s a blechy and messy stretch of time. (I almost typed ‘period of time’. Wouldn’t that have been funny?)
That cyclical issue was enough to deal with in a private toilet, in my personal bedroom, etc – the complications of dealing with everything in a public bathroom (do you know how many stalls in public bathrooms won’t lock?) and in needing to get down and up from the floor at least once every night is pretty horrible. Something I never would have thought about, had I not been here.
And again – I’m lucky. I have my vehicle (since someone asked before – a Chrysler Town and Country Mini Van that is in pretty good shape – needs new rear wheels & a new windshield, and maybe a new battery). It has dependably gotten me to each interim site and to my work, as well as to libraries, the laundromat, or a park where I can sit and read. And on days like today, where it has poured for 10 to 15 minutes every hour or so, I’m dry.
There are others in the shelters who have vehicles, but many walk or ride bicycles and use the limited public transportation available – two train lines that run east to west (“Metra – the way to really fly”) and very limited bus routes. How they keep their things dry in weather like this, while moving to their next interim site is beyond me.
I’m thinking of them today, while reporting the news of the homeless in the Woodridge Public Library.
© 2015 sheddhead – not to be used without written consent of the author, unless quoting portions of this diary on DailyKos, with links back to the original quotation