On Feb. 4, the Villa St. Benedict Chef's and Culinary Team prepared 90 delicious meals of BBQ Beef, mac-n-cheese, vegetables and cookie for the residents in the Emergency Housing program with DuPagePADS.
The meals were handed out with volunteers from First United Methodist Church in Downers Grove.
The children received laminated place mats filled with games made by Villa St. Benedict's Benedale Assisted Living residents.
Addition to the meals, VSB Outreach-Marketing staff and residents held a fundraiser and collected over $2,600 for the Emergency Housing Relief Fund. The need this year has been overwhelming due to COVID-19.
The Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery had a long history of providing interim housing for DuPagePADS.
The gymnasium from their former Sacred Heart Academy was used for overnight housing every Thursday night from DuPagePADS inception to the early 2000s.
Students from neighboring Benet Academy in Lisle would help set up the pads and blankets.
Along with the Sisters, neighboring parishes would companion the guests in shifts during the night. They would provide an evening meal, breakfast, cleanup and send a sack lunch with the guests upon departure.
This event provided Villa St. Benedict residents and staff to continue its core values of "Hospitality, Respect, Justice and Stewardship." The team effort and gracious support is truly the community of Villa St. Benedict.
For 35 years, DuPagePads has remained a beacon of hope for those with little or no support while experiencing homelessness. Now more than ever, its mission to end homelessness has become critical to the health and well-being of our community.
The mission of DuPagePads is to end homelessness in DuPage County, Illinois. Its signature year-round programs feed and shelter individuals and families who are homeless, connect them to case management and other services that can address the underlying cause of their homelessness.
DuPagePads is about the journey home.
It's about the journey from dependency to self-sufficiency. Not the shelter. Not the nights spent in a car, in a motel room or on the street.
DuPagePads is a journey that begins with an extended hand, an affirming voice, and a trusting soul that will advocate undividedly for each individual. The solution to end homelessness starts with housing.
