Around a wooden table in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church, 1427 Chicago Ave., sat a bedraggled group of Evanston’s homeless, enjoying one another’s company.

Seated at the table were a woman struggling with her application for low-income housing, a beggar who had been heckled by a man in the street and a Gulf War veteran who said she had been denied medical care at an Elgin-area clinic, even after showing her veterans benefits card.

The group was taking advantage of the congregation’s winter warming center available to Evanston’s homeless. The basement, open every Monday afternoon, offers its visitors mattresses, reading material and coffee.

First Presbyterian is a member of Interfaith Action of Evanston, a coalition of spiritual centers dating back to 1956 serving Evanston’s needy. Within the coalition, six Evanston churches and synagogues rotate providing afternoon shelter to the homeless during the winter, while a total of 15 Evanston congregations host meals and warming centers during winter weeks.

Joe,* a 55-year-old widower who has been homeless since his wife’s death last winter, follows a crumpled schedule he keeps in the pocket of his baggy blue windbreaker to find each day’s offerings of shelter and food.

Joe said the holidays have lost their meaning. After celebrating Christmas with his wife for years, he is not satisfied with sleeping in hallways, buses, trains and malls.

“I look at what used to be my family enjoying Christmas, but it doesn’t feel like that anymore,” he said. “It’s not in the air, there ain’t no more Christmas.”

A Chicago native, he said his partner of 34 years’ death finalized years of drifting onto and off the street, but knew he could come to Evanston and survive after the loss of his apartment.

“If it wasn’t for Evanston, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now,” Joe said. “In Chicago it’s like they don’t have sympathy at all, but they treat you with more respect here.”

Paul Trainor, who coordinates volunteers for the warming center at First Presbyterian, will chat with the people who drop by to get a snack, rest on a mat, or just stay warm. Trainor said the congregation has been supportive of the plan to use the church’s space as a center for the homeless, although there has been a burglary.

“This is the least amount I could do,” he said. “While they’re here I don’t care what people’s backgrounds are, if they want to come here and be warm so they don’t freeze on the streets, that’s what we’re here for.”

Interfaith Action Administrative Director Susan Murphy said she began working for the organization 12 years ago without fully understanding the struggles homeless people face.”The biggest thing I have learned is that they could be me and that they’re not invisible people,” she said.

Murphy, who coordinates services at all 15 faith-based centers, greets visitors to Interfaith’s headquarters and morning shelter, St. Mark’s Episcopal, 1509 Ridge Ave., with a smile and the gift of a razor or an aspirin.

“I think that people are looking for things to do to help … but they don’t really know what there is to do,” she said.

In addition to dinners prepared and served by out-of-town volunteers at one of four soup kitchens operated by Interfaith, some volunteers do more. A congregation is launching a special overnight shelter for when temperatures drop below zero. Job counselors offer their services, and yoga instructors teach meditation classes on the beach. Other volunteers include a man who wants to start a book club and junior high girls who collected chapsticks to give to the homeless last year.

“We also have a lady who comes in on Fridays and does jewelry with people,” Murphy said. “Especially around Christmas, it’s nice because they make gifts for people.”

Interfaith served 758 breakfasts through its various sites in September, Murphy said. She estimates there are 125 homeless people in Evanston, but many come and go from Chicago and neighboring suburbs.

Of Evanston’s homeless, 20 are provided a bed, shelter and breakfast at Hilda’s Place, operated by the outreach organization Connections for the Homeless. In addition to Hilda’s Place, 1458 Chicago Ave., Connections runs EntryPoint, prevention services and transitional and permanent housing programs. Connections receives funding from Evanston’s Department of Health and Human Services, but funding cuts forced the organization to offer fewer beds at Hilda’s Place.

Because an application is required for one of the 20 beds at Hilda’s Place, Joe said he plans to spend his winter nights riding CTA trains.

Those who are approved to stay at Hilda’s Place are permitted 90 days of shelter and breakfasts. Volunteers prepare donated food to serve residents for the early wake-up call.

As a volunteer for Northwestern Community Development Corps, Weinberg sophomore Luke Ding reports to Hilda’s Place at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays to cook breakfast for the residents, leaving time for a nap afterward.

“There’s a huge bubble at Northwestern, and if I didn’t do this I would be isolated from Evanston and the larger community,” he said.

Damien Engelhardt, a senior majoring in theater and economics, organizes NCDC’s morning volunteers at Hilda’s Place. An international student from Wales, Engelhardt said his passion for helping the homeless and his interest in social justice began when he shared his room with an illegal refugee during high school. In addition to coordinating NCDC volunteers, he also volunteers at Sheil Catholic Center’s soup kitchen and advocates with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

“You see a homeless guy outside of CVS and you think that means there’s poverty, but as soon as you go west of Ridge Avenue, it’s much poorer and there’s much more homelessness,” he said.

As the holiday season and final exams draw nearer, Engelhardt said he worries students will be too busy volunteer at Hilda’s Place. While Interfaith churches generate more donations during the holiday season, Susan Murphy said it will be difficult to find staff for their outreach locations.

“We’re just going to try really hard to be open,” she said. “On all of the holidays we’ll have our soup kitchens.”

Special holiday events for the homeless include the Salvation Army turkey drive, an interfaith thanksgiving service at Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, 303 Dodge Ave., and a Christmas party at Beth Emet Synagogue, 1224 Dempster St.*Name has been changed[email protected]