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Hands to Help Ministries Raises $2,500 in Annual Appeal

By Heather Cherone | October 16, 2014 5:31am
 The Hands to Help Ministries raised $2,500 as part of its annual appeal.
The Hands to Help Ministries raised $2,500 as part of its annual appeal.
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Getty Images/tianxiaozhang

PORTAGE PARK — To some, $2,500 might not seem like much money.

But Hands to Help Ministries, which works to provide a safety net for homeless people on the Far Northwest Side and around Six Corners, is working to make that money go a long way after meeting the goal for its annual fundraising appeal.

"It is a small amount, but it helps a lot," said the Rev. Kara Wagner Scherer, a ministry board member and pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church. "It means a good deal to us to have met our goal."

Hands to Help started eight years ago, when homelessness was a much bigger problem in Portage Park and Jefferson Park, Wagner Scherer said.

The ministry, which is based out of St. John's, helps people who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness to find and keep housing. That could be as simple as helping folks who are struggling to make their rent payment or keep their lights on, Wagner Scherer said.

The group, which has one part-time outreach worker, also tackles more complicated situations, like the issues in 2013 that landed Karl Shook, who is confined to a wheelchair, on the streets near Six Corners at Irving Park Road and Cicero and Milwaukee avenues. 

With the ministry's help, Shook found an apartment in Uptown and wrote a book he self-published on Amazon.

In addition to a $15,000 grant from the FDC Foundation, which was founded in 2008 by members of the Cluck family, who lived in Irving Park, the Six Corners Association covers part of the cost of the ministry's outreach worker.

The ministry holds two other major fundraisers annually, a trivia night in the spring and Christmas caroling event in December.

"Every little bit helps," Wagner Scherer said.

For more information, call 773-599-9370 or email info@handstohelpministries.org.

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