Christopher House

-By Brooke Kelley

Right in the middle of one of Chicago's trendiest neighborhoods lies a house with a heart. Located one block north of Fullerton, and one block east of Ashland on Chicago's North side is the Christopher House. The mission of this home, founded in 1905, is to help parents build a stable lifestyle, in effort to support their families. The Christopher House offers a number of programs that meet the needs of impoverished children, families, and individuals.

*Child and Family Development Services, helps provide parents with jobs, and free day care for the children. The program is intended to meet the individual needs of each child. With more than 650 children, representing 30 different nationalities, this program is designed to encourage children to learn. Through this program, the home also works in cooperation with the Infant Welfare Society, which offers preventative health services for those children under 13.

Another program geared towards child development and services is the Head Start program, which is a half-day program. This program is designed for those parents whose income is below the poverty line.

Jade Dardon, a mother who brings her child to the Head Start program said, "The Christopher House has helped me out tremendously; My little boy has learned how to communicate the alphabet, how to sing, it's a wonderful program. I have been here since September, and within that time frame I have seen a real difference in my son."

The Christopher House also has a subsidized full day childcare program. Within this program, however, the parents pay for the childcare on a sliding scale. In order for the parents to enlist in any of these programs, the family's income has to be below 50 percent of the state medium. Which means that for a family of four, the parents have to be making less than $28,000 a year, which is a federal government guideline.

*Emergency Services is another program that provides services to those families in turmoil. This program helps parents with rent, utility bills, food and clothing, referrals to shelters and employment training, and case management for families without homes.

*Group Work Services is a program that provides social skills and educational opportunities for children and families by offering a variety of activities. For example, the house offers an after-school club and competitive sports for children in the first through eighth grades. These children get the opportunity to participate in several different activities, including field trips, drama plays, arts and crafts, and sports. Also, under this program, seniors get the chance to attend luncheons, movies, arts and crafts seminars, and field trips. Under this program falls the holiday program, which is also called an adopt- a-family program. This program takes or uses people in the area with higher incomes to adopt a family. Once they decide to adopt, they get information about the family, their names, pictures, and their sizes. Then, the one family can buy gifts for the other family for the winter holidays. "We end up with about 500 families at least that get adopted, so there is thousands of people who get help it's really a great program," said Sharon Hurwitz, director of resource development for the Christopher House.

*Partners in Progress is a program offering educational assistance, peer group support, home visits, and doula (birthing assistant) to pregnant and parenting teens. Every week, a home visitor meets with teen mothers in hopes of developing strong parenting skills.

"We also have a duala, which is a birthing assistant that actually helps the girls through the pregnancy and helps them the first few months after the birth," Hurwitz said. Also within this program, the teen parents are provided with transportation to and from the Christopher House.

*Social Work Services helps to build family relations by providing individual, group, and family counseling. "Under this program everyone can receive counseling free of charge," Hurwitz said.

Christopher House serves people mostly from the North Side, which includes the neighborhoods of Uptown, Ravenswood, North Center, Albany Park, and Lincoln Park neighborhoods.

Hurwitz began working for the Christopher House four years ago, when she was looking to work for a multi-service agency that had this kind of approach with several different programs available.

"I became involved because it is the kind of place that has this holistic approach. It is not just a child care center, or a food pantry, it's got all of those things combined and families really have the opportunity to get on the right track," Hurwitz said.

If you want to volunteer for the Christopher House, you can always assist teachers in the Child and Family Services Department as a classroom aide. You can also help children with their homework by tutoring for the Group Services Department. You can also provide childcare for teenage mothers while they are continuing their education by volunteering for the Teen Parenting Support Services Program.

If you can't make a continuing volunteer commitment, you can volunteer at special events such as the House with Heart Gala, 5K Run for the House, and Family Olympics.

"You can even create your own volunteer opportunity, if you have something in mind please let us know, maybe you could share a special skill or hidden talent…use your imagination," said Erin Place, Christopher House volunteer coordinator. For more information, contact Erin Place at eplace@christopherhouse.org or (773) 472-1083 x3067.

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