Help Empower Women Who are Homeless in Chicago

Sarah's Circle's Annual Christmas Dinner

Last Wednesday evening, we served Christmas dinner to over 70 women. Each woman also received a gift bag or stocking filled with hand-knit scarves, toiletries, wrapped presents, and baked goods.

Effective November 1^st, Sarah’s Circle has stepped up to operate a 50 bed shelter for women located on the North Side of Chicago. It is one of the largest programs of this type in Chicago, and was in jeopardy of closing permanently.

With this new Program, Sarah’s Circle will deliver all physical services, such as shelter, food, clothing, laundry, and hygiene, as well as comprehensive support services to 50 women 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The goal of the program will be to provide these services for the women while we work with them to find permanent housing, and then, once they are housed, provide services to ensure housing retention. While this is a big step for Sarah’s Circle, it is at the core of our mission, and with your support, the program will allow us to help even more women achieve permanent housing, employment, better health, and connections with family and friends.

With this shelter, we will be able to help more women like Julie secure permanent housing.

For over two decades, Julie was in and out of shelters, struggling with issues of mental illness and substance abuse. With comprehensive services that included support in obtaining consistent mental health services and disability benefits, we were able to move Julie into permanent housing with supportive services, where she has remained housed for over three years, after experiencing decades of homelessness. Julie is able to live independently and has reconnected with family in the suburbs of Chicago. Julie’s life is now significantly healthier in so many ways, and she is on a path to staying housed and healthy for the rest of her life. 

Thank you for your support!

A woman named Mae stopped into my office a few weeks ago to let me know that with the help of Sarah’s Circle staff, she had secured a small apartment with a year of free rent. Mae told me, “I’ve been in shelters way too long. You know the first thing I’m going to do once I move in? I’m going to look for a job. It’s just so hard to do that while you’re homeless. There’s no time to rest; you’re constantly moving from place to place and worrying about the basics. It’s just too tiring to search for a job at the same time, but now that I have housing, I really want to find a steady job so I can take care of myself and take over the rent when the year is over. It means a lot to have a place of your own.”

With your support over the last year, Sarah's Circle placed 61 women like Mae in permanent housing through other housing providers. This is a measure of women who returned with a signed lease after working intensively with a case manager at Sarah's Circle to find an appropriate housing provider, obtain necessary documentation, and fulfill the requirements of the housing provider.  

Thank you again for your continued support!