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Homelessness: Response Requires More Than Words
By Stan Friedman
CHICAGO, IL (April 27, 2006) - Their Christian faith and relationships with
the homeless led North Park University students to lead a recent
national Sleep Out to bring awareness to the problem.
"When you develop relationships, it's putting a face to statistics,"
says Matt Enquist (lower photo), a freshman who attends the Libertyville
Covenant Church in Libertyville, Illinois. "Statistics can make you
angry, but faces can make you love."
Different sites across the country focused on varied issues during the
Sleep Out on March 31. North Park students and other organizations in
Chicago focused on youth homelessness.
They held a press conference in front of City Hall, distributed
information, and displayed signs highlighting the crisis that includes
what they said are only 24 shelter beds for 1,832 homeless youth between
the ages of 14 and 22. The average age of a homeless person in Chicago
is nine years old, they said, quoting statistics from the Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless.
The protesters also unsuccessfully sought a meeting with Mayor Richard
M. Daley. Afterward, they fanned across the city distributing
information and roughly 130 spent the night sleeping with homeless
individuals.
North Park sophomore Tara Allison, who previously attended Covenant
Bible College-Ecuador, was one of the North Park students to speak at
the press conference that brought out newspaper reporters, several
television crews and more than 150 people.
Tim King, the North Park student who led the national event, had
encouraged her to lead the Youth Homelessness Challenge Fund that was
being started by PACT, an organization of young adults with broad
interests. Organizers hope to raise $100,000 to directly impact youth
homeless and challenge the city to designate funding to combat the issue.
"Money is power, and all the money is in there," Allison said, pointing
to City Hall and office buildings. "The city of Chicago is not run by
the people who live in it, work in it, grew up in it, and certainly not
by the people who live on the streets in it."
Organizers were upset that repeated attempts to meet with Mayor Richard
M. Daley over the previous months had been rebuffed. In response,
Allison told the gathering, "The men and women who run our city won't
even look at us let alone listen to us unless we have something that
gets their interest. As much as we would like to believe their interest
is what is best for the people of this city, you know as well as I do
that power and money are equally - if not more - important."
Deborah Griffith, director of ministry development for the Evangelical
Covenant Church's Central Conference, donated $500 from the Conference's
Church and Society Commission. Several local politicians also contributed.
Last year, King organized the first Sleep Out, which drew students to
Chicago from the Midwest. This year was different in more ways than
size, he says. "Last year was specifically advocacy," Kings says. "This
year it is standing with," he explained, noting that homeless youth
helped prepare the event."
Erik Saviq, a freshman from the Evangelical Covenant Church in Fort
Collins, Colorado, also addressed the press conference. Afterward, he
said it was important for Christians to work for justice for those who
can't help themselves.
Eric Landin, a freshman who attended Zion Covenant Church in Jamestown,
New York, was visiting the North Park campus when the first Sleep Out
was held last year. He says he knew then that he wanted to participate
in ministry to the homeless and was excited to be involved in the recent
event.
Saviq, Enquist and Landin are part of the campus's popular Friday night
homeless ministry, in which students serve food and take time to get to
know homeless individuals and families.
"I chose North Park largely because of its commitment to the community
and its location in the city," Enquist says. Enquist quickly got
involved, meeting leaders of the ministry his first week at the
university. "I've been doing the Friday night homelessness ministry ever
Friday night since then."
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