Although a Chicago February record 12.6 inches of snow fell at O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday as temperatures fell to 24 degrees, it was not cold enough to activate the only emergency shelter for homeless residents in Evanston.
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 1004 Greenwood St., makes overnight shelter available when temperatures drop below zero degrees.
“We haven’t had to use the emergency shelters yet,” said Ralph Starenko, treasurer for Interfaith Action of Evanston, a coalition of churches and synagogues that coordinates afternoon warming centers, soup kitchens and the emergency center at St. Paul’s.
Interfaith Action of Evanston began offering emergency shelter at St. Paul’s last year with volunteer support from Connections for the Homeless, an Evanston organization providing a variety of housing and emergency services to the homeless community, said Interfaith Administrative Director Susan Murphy.
The cut-off temperature was zero degrees when the program was implemented last year, Murphy said.
“We had to pick a number and zero was the number we chose,” she said. “If we opened when it was 10 degrees, we’d end up having to hire people. Right now everything is for free.”
Hilda’s Place, Evanston’s other overnight shelter, which is operated from the basement of Lake Street Church by Connections for the Homeless, has also reduced its services due to financial constraints. The shelter reduced its number of beds from 36 to 20 and is currently at full capacity, said Case Manager Eric Martin.
Hilda’s Place differs from emergency shelters because guests must apply for admittance and are given 90 days to seek employment and housing. There is currently a waiting list to stay at Hilda’s Place although guests frequently come and go, Martin said.
With Hilda’s Place at full capacity and temperatures too warm to activate the emergency shelter at St. Paul’s, the rest of Evanston’s homeless population of 125, according to Interfaith estimates, must look elsewhere for places to stay overnight.
“It sucks to see only one church in Evanston open its doors,” Martin said. “Zero degrees is pretty ridiculous.”
For people who don’t get into Hilda’s Place, the most talked-about option is riding the CTA trains.
“It ain’t all peaches and cream,” said Alen Hunley, 46, who was staying at the First Presbyterian Church of Evanston. “Sometimes you sleep and sometimes you don’t.”
Safety is a common concern among many homeless people, who are afraid of getting arrested or robbed while riding the trains late at night.
Sandy O’Meara, 52, came to the warming center at First Presbyterian after she said was kicked out of her shelter in a van by the vehicle’s owner, forcing her to seek a new place to stay overnight. There was no room at Hilda’s Place and the CTA trains were not an option.
“You know what they’re going to do to me? I’m fresh meat,” she said.
O’Meara spoke in rushed sentences, panicking to think of a place to go after the warming center closed. She could go to the police, she said, but did not want to be relocated to Chicago. After eight years in Evanston, the petite woman feared traveling to other cities alone.
“I just won’t sleep at all tonight,” O’Meara said, hanging her head. “Cold is cold, winter is winter.”[email protected]
