The DePaulia

Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: Up Close

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of the LPCS Volunteer groups cook meals.

Anyone who lives in Lincoln Park knows that the neighborhood is not all doggie day spas and cupcake bakeries. Amidst the million-dollar condominiums and manicured lawns live neighbors who face the daily struggle of homelessness and poverty. Before such an opulent backdrop, it seems likely that these people would become invisible, but a dedicated group of Lincoln Park residents have made certain that this is not the case. The Lincoln Park Community Shelter, or LPCS, at 600 W. Fullerton and its network of volunteers has operated within the community since 1985 to help their homeless neighbors overcome the obstacles keeping them in poverty, providing valuable resources and empowering them to make the right decisions to build their own success.

"LPCS is important because it's not like most other homeless shelters," said Heather Reynolds, who has been the shelter's Volunteer and Community Relations Coordinator since August of last year. "People can stay as long as they need to-as long as they are willing to be accountable. Many shelters have time limits on how long people can stay. We don't because we want to help break the cycle of homelessness," she said.

Although the privately funded Community Shelter was originally formed from a partnership between Lincoln Park's United Church of Christ and the Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, it is not religiously affiliated. The churches simply provide sleeping facilities, kitchen facilities, showers, storage areas, laundry rooms and offices, while volunteers and staff conduct programs.

The shelter and its impressive resume of programs to help its guests overcome their homelessness has not always been this way. Executive Director Erin Ryan has worked at the shelter for the past nine and a half years as a volunteer coordinator and case manager and has held her current position for the past two and a half years. Although many of the changes to the shelter took place before Ryan began working there, she is familiar with the shelter's history. "For many years, we were just a winter overnight shelter," she said.

Changing to meet the needs of the community is nothing new to the LPCS. According to their website, in 1999, the LPCS transitioned from a seasonal shelter operating from October to May to a year-round shelter as a response to a 300 percent increase in Chicago's homeless population since the shelter's inception in 1985. And again in the summer of 2004, the shelter increased its summer guest capacity from 20 to 40 guests to respond to the community's needs.

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