Twice a month for the past 20 years, the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Zachary Parish in Des Plaines has made sandwiches for the hungry and homeless. Why? “Because you have to feed the homeless,” said Dave Mueller, the society’s treasurer and the designated shopper for sandwich preparation nights. Mueller has been part of the sandwich making since the beginning. No one is sure exactly how it started. “Someone wanted it and we started it,” he said. Each sandwich comes with packets of mustard and mayonnaise and a juice box. The 300 sandwiches are prepared Friday nights and then society member Paul Mika drives them down to the Port Ministries on the South Side. The Port Ministries distributes food everyday through its Bread Truck. It takes the St. Zachary crew of about six people — any more than that and “we get in each other’s way,” said Diane Rabicke — about 45 minutes to make the sandwiches. St. Zachary’s group doesn’t just help the Port Ministries. They also make sandwiches for the Franciscan House of Mary and Joseph homeless shelter once a month. And each day someone goes around to area bakeries — and once a week to a Pizza Hut — to collect leftover food that is distributed to places like Reba House in Evanston. Because they collect so much food and so often, the society purchased its own van to pick up and drop off food. There are about 25 members of St. Zachary’s St. Vincent de Paul Society and most of their funds come from the parish “poor box.”
Vacant rectory sees new life as an emergency shelter The rectory at the St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy church site at 38 N. Austin Blvd. now has a new purpose. Since Jan. 4, it has served as a temporary emergency shelter for men, women and families who need a roof over their heads for a night.
Students learn about homelessness, take action A Nov. 22 service day aimed at raising awareness of homelessness inspired Josh Grzeczka, a fifth grader at St. Elizabeth of the Trinity School, 6040 W. Ardmore Ave.
Parishes with PADS programs find new ways to help the homeless Parishes across the Chicago area had been sheltering homeless people for more than 30 years when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. Faced with suddenly being unable to accommodate overnight guests, many of them pivoted to providing food instead.