The Beginning of the Middle

"I felt like I gone and won the lottery, and I never won ANYTHING before!"

So a day later and we're still in the Windy City (which, news to us, does not refer to the amount of air rustling the city leaves, but instead to the idea of politicos blowing hot air?). It took a little longer than expected to get our sea legs ready for our voyage, but now we are ready (really!) to depart. Our second act of giving was a success! Yesterday we posted that Alex was fiendishly hounding different managers of the Chicago Housing Authority to find tenants that could use a little extra help, preferably a low-income and deserving family. The Chicago Housing Authority is an oraganization that was created under FDR's New Deal and has recently made great efforts to revamp what once a highly-criticized system of housing and rental developments. In the past, the CHA has been plagued by segregation issues, overcrowding, and violence. Now, the CHA is working to rebuild and revitalize old buildings and areas once the target of such criticism. It's acronym, CHA, begins the word they utilize as their motto: CHAnge. And that is exactly what they are hoping to do. If you would like more information about their mission, please click the following link.

Location: Lawndale Gardens. Chicago, Illinois.

Alex was able to get in touch with an extremely nice and helpful woman by the name of Cherie Norwood. Skeptical at first, ("Um, sure, you want to do what?") she invited us down to talk with the Human Care Services department of the Lawndale Family Works. The man she put us in touch with, Daniel Cassell, introduced us to a tenant named Antoinette. Antoinette is a lovable and vibrant mother of four, three boys under 18 and a girl, 20. Two of her sons, both in local schools, were at home when we met her. She has been bedridden for some months due to health issues and has been unable to work and keep up her rent. She was quite taken aback and somewhat confused on who we were and how we found her and what we were doing and why would we do that... but was so gracious and thankful and excited. We paid her rent and a half of next month's as well, and she was so glad to be able to buy her sons new school supplies and uniform pants for the upcoming school year. The quote which leads off this post is attributed to her. In all honesty, we felt like we had won the lottery too.