A big thank you to Cross and Crown Church

Each and every Saturday of the year the volunteers with the Ministry of Hope at Cross and Crown Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois, serve a feast for the homeless and low-income of the area. Approximately 50 to 70 people enjoy the hot breakfast and lunch each week. Many partake in the opportunity to attend a worship service.

The volunteers and pastors of Cross and Crown are a gift from God to the homeless. They live from their hearts, offering smiles, joy, friendship, hope and support to all who need. They serve delicious meals, give clothing, bikes, and more. They give transportation to and from the church in a church member’s van. The Ministry of Hope is NOT even part of the church budget–all costs come out of their own pockets!

The Ministry of Hope volunteers are absolutely amazing! I honestly don’t know how such a small church can do so much for so many! Some may remember that it was this same church that was vandalized around Christmastime. There was an outpouring of support from communities all around, including an awesome new Christmas tree to replace the one that was damaged by the vandalism.

I felt glad that this church was able to celebrate Christmas and feel the warmth of the community help that we homeless feel when we go to the Ministry of Hope on Saturdays. I hope to return the love and kindness someday by finding a way to help them myself, perhaps by finding them a new or used van of their own to give us rides in to and from the church. It would even grant the church the ability to give us rides to the church on Sundays so that we may attend the regular worship service–something many of us wish to do but can’t get to the church on our own.

View a pdf file about the Ministry of Hope.

Free Stuff in Chicago!

According to a report From Red Eye’s Chicago Now, there are freebies to be had in Chicago!

Headwear Association at 1000 N. Lake Shore Drive by Oak Street Beach is giving away 100 sun-protective hats at noon today!

The Museum of Science and Industry at 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive has free general admission today!

Dunkin Donuts is offering a free 10-ounce latte on Sunday for Father’s Day!

YES!!!

I got  response back from an optometry office and we can get charity care help from them!  I am so excited!!!

Free donuts!

Today only Krispy Kreme is celebrating National Donut Day by giving away a free donut of your choice all day today! Enjoy, and bon appetit!

Website Changes

Greetings! Hope everyone has been enjoying the nice weather! Won’t last long. In case you haven’t heard, we have several days and nights of rain coming. So try to stay dry! I’ll be doing the same at night. It’s not so easy to find a safe and dry place to sleep at night where the police and public won’t bother you nor you them. You know how it is.

The Chat Room is now finally up and running again! Log in with any user name you choose and have a great conversation! Yes, I will log in to the chat room once in a while. If you see me in there, please say hi! Heck, you don’t even need to go in to chat to say hi–just send me an email to padschicago@aol.com, send a fax to (661) 885-6105, post in the Pads Chicago Forums or just post a comment here. I make it so simple for you! And by the way, you can send a fax to me for FREE by going to Fax Zero online! This is NOT a paid advertisement–I have used them many times and it’s great–and–did I say–for FREE too!!!

Also, you may notice the new icon for Pads Chicago! It will show in the address bar or when you bookmark the site to your favorites. (Sorry, not the blog.) Its nothing fancy, but it’s kinda cool. (Made it myself, LOL.)

That’s it for now! Have a great day, everybody!

New events!

Hey! I finally added a few things to the events calendar! Check them out! Both are ministries which serve, if I must say, GREAT meals to anyone in need! Both offer some form of transportation to the location, have clothing closets, and other help.

I also plan to (finally) start adding info on happenings geared more toward homeless and social services agencies, and other public events related to homelessness and issues surrounding it.