Volunteering at a Local Women's Shelter

Our scholars planned to have a little bit of a later start this morning, to give us some time to catch up on sleep after last night's exciting shift at Stroger Hospital ER and Trauma Unit, plus the loss of a precious hour of sleep due to Daylight Savings! We got up and got ready, enjoying the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, and headed out to the South Side of Chicago.

We arrived at the Women's Shelter at 11am to start our volunteer activities. The shelter we visited is run by Family Rescue, a social services agency that works to provide comprehensive support services and shelter to victims of domestic violence in Chicago. The facility provides shelter to women and their children, up to 18 years of age, who have experienced domestic violence and are in need of a place to stay. In addition to lodging, the shelter provides education groups for women, including parenting classes, decision making groups and addiction support groups. They also provide groups for the children staying at the shelter, along with counseling and a great array of wrap-around services, including court advocacy and future planning assistance. Family Rescue is funded by a combination of state funding a private donations, but they stretch every dollar to provide incredibly compassionate care for the women and children they are working with.

When we first arrived, we spent a few minutes hearing about the program from the director and learning about the resources they provide. Then, we got to work with some service projects! The first task was to head into the basement and start organizing the clothing and linen donations. As it turns out, we have some expert folders in our group!





Next, we headed into the huge pantry to sort the food, and into the laundry room to work on folding more linens and arranging toiletry items to make them more accessible. We had a great lunch with two of the directors, and had the opportunity to talk to them more about the challenges they face in their line of work. They spoke about what brought them into working at the shelter, as well as the challenges that many of their clients face. It was wonderful to see how much love they had for the women they worked with, and their unconditional acceptance of what the women brought when they arrived at the shelter. We were glad to be able to give our day to such a great organization and help them in a small way!

We headed back to our hotel to update the blog, catch up on e-mails and get ready for dinner. We have a busy few days ahead - check back soon to see what we have been up to!