How to help for the Holidays!

Thanksgiving dinner for clients in the PADS emergency shelter program is prepared and served by a church group at the Schlater Building in Winthrop Harbor. All emergency shelter clients are invited to attend. If you are interested in volunteering, or would like to make a food donation to the dinner in Winthrop Harbor, please call Pastor Devalon at 847-746-8801. No Thanksgiving dinner will be served to clients at the day shelter in North Chicago. There will be holiday meals at the evening emergency overnight shelter sites, but these sites are not looking for any additional volunteers beyond their normal “staff.” Clients from The Family Center and The Veteran House will have their holiday meal at the Holy Family soup kitchen.

The Safe Haven is a residential program for 15 formerly homeless clients who have a mental illness and/or substance abuse problem. This program is housed on the 2^nd floor of our offices on the grounds of the VA Hospital in North Chicago. These clients would be very interested in a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner, but due to confidentiality issues, dinner can only be dropped off, and not served. If you are interested in preparing and delivering a meal for 17 people (includes staff), please call Lynn at 847-689-4357, ext. 121.

Christmas Dinner is served at the overnight emergency shelter sites, and the Volunteer Coordinators for the sites have let us know that they already have enough helpers in their regular volunteers. If you would like to do Christmas dinner for the 17 people at the Safe Haven, call Lynn at 847-689-4357, ext. 121. Dinner is needed for the Safe Haven every night, so if Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are already taken you might select another date anytime during the holiday season or the new year.

If you would like to donate GIFT ITEMS for the clients for the holidays we need NEW underpants, SOCKS, bras and undershirts, long underwear and sweat suits, all sizes from infant to 3X.  While we appreciate your desire to purchase and wrap toys, our shelter children are covered by a Holiday Gift Program sponsored by Catholic Charities (if you would like to adopt a family, please call Jim Wogan at 847-782-4126). In addition, clients must carry all of their belongings from site to site each night and there are limits on the number of bags they are allowed to have. We are blessed to receive a yearly donation of warm coats, mittens, hats and scarves, so we DO NOT have a need for those items for this holiday season. What we can always use is WARM GLOVES for men and women, especially the large sizes. We can also use items to facilitate client assistance such as gas cards, all-purpose cleaner (such as Fantastik or Pine-Sol, not glass cleaner), powdered laundry soap, bleach, toilet paper, paper towels, 20# white copy paper, manila folders, letter-size hanging folders, disposable latex gloves, garbage bags (55, 33, or 13 gallon), foam plates (large and small), foam bowls, foam cups and plastic utensils (no knives). Other items we always need for clients are baby diapers, deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste,PACE bus passes, backpacks for adults and children, gift certificates for local food stores, fast food gift certificates, gift cards to Wal-Mart, Target, K Mart and Kohls.

If your group or organization would like to do a holiday drive for us, please call Lynn first to see what we are most in need of.

Your generosity is overwhelming. Thank you for thinking of PADS. We can’t do it without you!