Press Release from Epworth United Methodist

Following is a press release from Epworth United Methodist Church in Chicago, located at N. Kenmore and W. Berwyn. It is republished here without comment or editing, with the sole exception of links added for informational purposes. Press Release Epworth UMC, Chicago Warming Shelter Monday, January 26, 2009 Over the past two weeks, many prayers have been answered at Epworth UMC – Chicago. As the year drew to a close, with help from the 48th Ward Alderman Mary Ann Smith’s office and the City of Chicago, Epworth was able to keep its shelter open. The shelter – an emergency men’s shelter which has a 65 bed capacity, is full virtually every night of its 50 operating weeks per year. Closing the shelter was thought to be eminent as the former administrating agency - Residents for Effective Shelter and Transitions (REST) - was not able to meet the increase in space-sharing fees and pay for the shelter’s portion of heat expenses. At the last minute, Cornerstone Community Outreach met with Epworth Trustees and decided to take on the shelter project. Under Cornerstone’s administration of the shelter, alcohol and substance abuse counseling as well as job counseling will be part of the shelter program which had been nonexistent with the prior administration. During the Martin Luther King Memorial Holiday, a Day of Service as suggested by our newly elected President of the United States Barack Obama, under the direction of the Alderman Smith’s office, approximately 60 people from the Chicago neighborhoods of Uptown, Edgewater, and Rogers Park, volunteered at the Epworth Shelter for nearly 12 hours. Epworth is truly thankful for this community action and looks forward to more work days in the future to “help the least amongst us”. -------------- CNB RSS Feed

No R.E.S.T. at the Homeless Shelter

The shelter can stay, but the R.E.S.T. of you must leave. Hot update on the continuing saga of the homeless men's shelter at Epworth United Methodist Church in Chicago's 48th Ward: In an e-mail to Edgewater residents, [Alderman Mary Ann] Smith announced that Epworth United Methodist Church has agreed to keep the shelter in the church's gym at 5253 N. Kenmore, "with changes to reflect the expressed concerns of our office, the church congregation and the community." Smith also announced that a new service provider would supervise and manage the shelter. Today, the Chicago Department of Human Services fired the Uptown group Residents for Effective Shelter Transitions as shelter manager. Full story by Lorraine Swanson, Editor, News-Star... Subscribe to Chicago News Bench

UPDATED: Homeless Shelter On Endangered List

UPDATE 11/21/2008: SEE "R.E.S.T. STOPPED: CHICAGO ALDERMEN DENY HOMELESS SHELTER" Big meeting at 48th Ward Alderman Mary Ann Smith's office on Wednesday night, October 29. The subject: The fate of a homeless shelter in Edgewater. News-Star's Lorraine Swanson was there, and she has the report. The Bench was there, too, and we've got exclusive photos of the standing room-only event (click images to enlarge them). Residents jammed into Ald. Mary Ann Smith's 48th ward service office at 5533 N. Broadway on Wednesday night to discuss the imminent closing of the neighborhood's only homeless shelter. This Saturday, the homeless shelter at Epworth United Methodist Church at Kenmore and Berwyn will close its doors after serving at that location for more than 20 years. For the past nine years, the Uptown social service organization REST-Residents for Effective Shelter Transitions-has operated the 65-bed overnight shelter for men. Within the past year, Uptown and Edgewater have lost 115 beds with the closing of two other overnight shelters. The Rev. Joe Johnson has said that Epworth can no longer afford to keep the shelter at the church. FULL STORY at News-Star...