THE CAPITOL TIMES   Monday, April 21 2003

 

Helping the homeless

 

 

Felishia Slater, a guest at lmmanuel Lutheran Church on

Spaight Street this Easter, gets her daughter

Jamica, 8, ready for breakfast Sunday.

Immanuel Lutheran offers some Easter joy

By Anita Weier

The Capital Times

As members of Spaight Street's Immanuel Lutheran Church arrived for services Easter morning, the sun was just rising behind clouds and three homeless families were struggling to rise in the downstairs classrooms.
      They were using the bathroom, packing their belongings and folding up beds for transport for the coming week to another church within Madison's Interfaith Hospitality Network.
      Some members of the congregation had been up much longer, preparing a breakfast of egg dishes, sausage, French toast, muffins, fruit, orange juice and coffee that would be served in elegant fashion to church members between services, as well as to the guest families.
      Saturday night, as the homeless families enjoyed a hearty pork chop dinner, played games and watched videos, a group of church volunteers started preparing for the breakfast - setting up centerpieces, table settings and a long buffet-style table.
      Mary Wenk, Immanuel's coordinator for the 4-year-old Interfaith Hospitality Network program, said the church houses homeless families about four weeks a year, taking a maximum of 15 people at a time.
      She oversees the program, assisted by an overnight coordinator who finds two people to stay with the guest families each night, as well as a dinner coordinator, a grocery coordinator and others.
      "There is one person doing five to six hours of work for every guest we have," estimated Roger Boeker, one of two Immanuel members who had stayed overnight Saturday, helping out and keeping watch.
      "I coordinate people for after-dinner activities," said Wenk, a substitute teacher who spent 15 hours working on the program last week, plus one overnight stay.
 
Tracy Enerson prays with her children Jonathan, 8, and Sarah, 11, before enjoying Eas­ter breakfast


Volunteer Juanita Ebert sets out pastries; and Felishia Slater packs up the family’s belongings while her children Aqueela, 1, and Carl, 2, sleep. 

 The homeless guests -most of them single-parent families - arrive on Sunday evenings and stay seven nights. During the days, the kids go to school and parents can go to the network's day center on University Avenue, where they make and receive calls about .jobs, take showers and handle other necessary duties of life.
      Fourteen churches and synagogues house the homeless, and another 25 "buddy" congregations help them. About 1,500 volunteers are involved. "We have two buddy churches that help us, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ and St. Paul's Lutheran Church," Wenk said. The buddy churches are those that do not have sufficient facilities to house the homeless but want to do their share.
      "It's a team effort," said Wertk. "We work to meet the needs of the people." Felishia Slater, 27, was busy getting her five children up and dressed and ready for breakfast and the trip to the Interfaith network's day center. That included carrying their belongings outside to a van that would carry them to the next church.
      Slater found out about the network program through the Salvation Army. "I had stayed at the warming shelter at the Salvation Army, but that stopped April 1," she said of the program that operates during cold weather.
      Slater's cousin brought her to Madison from Chicago in December because she was having domestic problems with an ex-boyfriend who was angry when she wouldn't go back with him.
      "He was kicking my mother's door in," she said. But though the cousin moved her here, Slater couldn't stay with that person. So she is grateful for the housing provided by the interfaith program while she looks for a job and a more permanent place to stay. Slater, 27, wants a job in the fast food business or as a nurse's aide.
      There is no help from the fathers of her children. One is dead and the other is incarcerated, she said. "It's really fine at the church. They have a lot of volunteers who help with the kids. During the week we had a cold breakfast and can have oatmeal. We also can pack a lunch," she said.
      "They are very helpful. Anything I need they try to get. So far this has been the best church I've been to. Mary is a doll." Tracy Enerson, 33, was at the church with her two children. They had been living with her husband, who is not the father of her children, but the landlord thought too many people were in the apartment, said Enerson, who has lived Madison all of her life.
      The Enersons also had been staying in the Salvation Army's warming shelter, and were glad to find a place in the local churches. The hospitality network operates all year, though it has a 30-day limit for stays, which can be extended in severe cases. The phone number is 294-7998, though there is usually a waiting list.
      Deaconess Juanita Ebert who was in charge of the Easter breakfast, stressed the fact that members of Immanuel' youth group worked getting ready for the breakfast, doing some tasks Saturday night and arriving at 5:15 am. Easter morning.
      Amber Kopplin, 12, said she got up at 4:30 am. to come to church, and her grandfather who was attending the sunrise service, gave her a ride. "I wanted to sleep really late," Amber said. But she didn't.