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Cardinal Cupich Visited Migrants at SC-SL Shelter

December 19, 2023

The Cardinal’s visit and the move to St. Edmunds were a success thanks to the help of dozens and dozens of volunteers who make everything happen, including our team of asylum-seeking volunteers.

Before the Cardinal arrived, it was 18 degrees outside, and our Guests were lining up outside the church as usual. Our gathered data shows that most were first time arrivals and in general it seems that the number of repeat Guests is reducing (perhaps as we give coat preferences to the first timers, particularly those wearing tee shirts or sweatshirts, and turn away from the coat room repeaters who have taken multiple coats).

Cardinal Cupich greeted the volunteers at our kickoff. He talked about the mustard seed and how our work had grown from a modest shower program to serving hundreds. The Cardinal also greeted our guests in Spanish. He welcomed them to Chicago and listened to them, hearing about their needs, particularly for work. He even spoke a little French with some Haitian guests.

For our last program day at St. Catherine-St. Lucy Shelter, our continuous improvement process resulted in a smooth-running day, particularly with our asylum-seeking volunteers in charge of crowd management. Even the luggage distribution, which is tricky due to high demand, went smoothly. One woman, identified by an asylum-seeking volunteer, received luggage she needed to travel to join her family in Denver.

After the program ended, a dozen or so volunteer vehicles arrived, and our volunteers began moving all of the existing clothing and other materials lock stock and barrel to St. Edmunds School. In addition to hundreds of bags of clothing, this included tables and even a refrigerator or two that we have picked up along the way. By 2:30 pm, we were more or less done with the move.