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The Port Ministries
By Deacon Alfred Coleman Port Ministries is a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 and began as a one-room soup kitchen serving 30 meals a day. It has grown into a multi-site comprehensive support ministry for the poor, the homeless, the families and the children. Its mission is to provide full-hearted service to the poor and throwaways of society through a listening heart and presence and through meeting basic human needs of food, clothing, shelter and other vital needs. The Port also offers opportunities for ministry to serve the poor. The Port Ministries’ staff and volunteers are committed to a continuing and expanding presence in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Community needs are constantly being assessed and Port Ministries is responsive to the changing needs and to filling service gaps in the neighborhood. The ministry works hand in hand with other agencies in the area to provide needed services without duplicating programs. The Port Now is currently in transition as the original soup kitchen from which Port Ministry served daily meals for nineteen years has been closed and the building is being sold. The City of Chicago has designated the corner as a tax increment financing area and hopes to redevelop the property within the next year. Therefore, last year the mobile soup kitchen was expanded from a summer program feeding the children of the neighborhood to feed adults as well on a year-round basis; in 2003, 125 people were served each evening from the bread truck and 350 children and youth were served daily during non-school months. The board and staff have determined the need to personalize outreach in order to truly touch the lives of the poor persons served by Port Ministries; therefore, the feeding ministry is focusing its energy on opening a Restaurant for the Poor and has launched a Keep the Pot Full Project in order to secure funds to bring this dream to reality. Feeding the poor and homeless in a restaurant setting has many advantages over a soup kitchen format. Most importantly, this setting replaces a charity, hand out program with an empowerment program and will provide a true listening presence to guests rather than merely reaching across a counter for a bowl of soup; the barrier between server and guest will be removed. The restaurant will feature one listener at each table of 4 or 5 guests; the low guest to volunteer ratio will allow for development of a more personal as well as a more respectful and dignified relationship with those served. In addition, this new format will provide case management and referral for mental health or addiction issues, job skill enhancement programs and housing advocacy. 150 persons will participate in the case management/referral program yearly. Proceeds from “Keep the Pot Full” will support continuing operations of the Restaurant as well as fund start up costs. Monthly pledges are being sought for equipment purchases, program development, volunteer recruitment, food and restaurant supplies. For those who are unable to commit to a monthly donation, we are asking them to fill a two-quart pot with pocket change and return the money collected to our offices each month. The Port’s Bread Truck (a mobile soup kitchen) provide a nutritious meal to the poor and children of the neighborhood on week ends and during summer months when the school hot lunch program has ended. We serve approximately 350 lunches per day in the local parks beginning the day after the schools close; these lunches consist of a sandwich, juice or milk, a piece of fruit and a dessert. Individuals, corporations, schools and churches donate all food products The MantleThe Mantle is a nonresidential family center for children and families in the back of the Yard neighborhood. Our goal is to enrich the lives of parents and children though child development, education, and enrichment programs in an environment of unity, peace, respect, and love which allows the spiritual dignity and potential of each child to be realized. The services of the Mantle include:
The Free Clinic In 1999, a Port volunteer and retired nurse opened the Port Free Clinic, which was then housed in the men’s overnight shelter. When the shelter was closed and the buildings were listed for sale, the clinic expanded and relocated to its own facility on Ashland Avenue. Twenty-eight volunteer doctors and nurses provide free medical services to residents of Theresa House, Mantle families and area residents. The clinic is currently open three days per week and will expand to five days per week by 2004 as volunteers are recruited. By partnering with the City of Chicago Department of Human Services and Public Health offices, as well as other neighborhood social service providers, the clinic has provided treatment and intervention services to the homeless and has been a site for children’s school physicals and immunizations. In addition, the clinic refers patients to such services as Family Care, a free family health insurance program for working poor who are ineligible for the traditional Medicaid. Educational programs are offered on such topics as: well-baby care, lead poisoning, asthma, hypertension and nutrition. Since moving to its permanent location last December, the clinic is serving an average of 10 patients per day; the patient count is highest at the beginning of the school year and during the cold, winter months. Beginning this fall, the clinic manager will begun publicizing our services at all local schools, churches and youth services providers in the neighborhood.
Tony’s Gym Is asafe recreational haven for children and neighborhood youths at-risk to gang and street violence. The gym is open Monday through Friday 3PM until 7PM and alternate Saturdays from noon until 4 PM to participants in any of the outreach activities of PM and all youth at risk in the neighborhood. Port Ministries was founded in 1985 to address the basic needs of the poor and homeless, especially those of the children. Many of the neighborhood children live in poverty with violence, gang activity and addiction in their families. These societal problems have been repeated for generations so that children suffer from poor parenting and have little hope for the future. Other children are new immigrants to the United States and are having difficulty assimilating and accessing needed programs; their parents are non-English speaking and often undocumented which further isolates them. The most critical youth Tony’s Gym serves are those who are currently homeless and living in our family shelter. The parents of these children are addressing their own addictions, family violence and other root causes of their homelessness; these concerns and the stress of living in a shelter as well as the pressure to secure permanent housing and sufficient income limits the parents’ ability to care for and mentor their own children. Theresa House Theresa House is able to serve 512 homeless people (136 Households), about two-thirds of whom were children. Compelled by the urgent need to provide transitional housing for an increasing number of Chicago’s homeless families with children, Port Ministries opened Theresa House, a 65-bed family transitional shelter in February 1997. It provides 24-hour shelter 365 days a year to homeless families, including two-parent families and those with teenage boys, a population that most area shelters are not prepared to serve. Our target population remains homeless families who are referred to us by the Chicago Department of Human Services. Keeping these families intact, meeting their basic human need for shelter, and preparing them for and transitioning them to more permanent housing. Families are housed for up to 120 days; after which they are assisted to move on to second stage housing, CHA housing, or independent rental housing. Homeless families served at the facility are faced with enormous personal problems: drug and or alcohol addiction; lack of education; emotional, psychological, mental problems. The children also receive in-house educational, developmental and recreational services. These include tutoring, mentoring, arts and crafts, family outings and field trips, and recreation offered through our own facilities. Theresa House services include:
The Port ministries serve the poor, the hungry, struggling families and children in the Back of the Yards area of Chicago. These neighborhoods are among the most impoverished and disadvantaged areas of Chicago with a high unemployment and crime rate, gang problems, addiction and homelessness. Children’s Memorial Hospital ranked them as among the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city for children 17 and under. Death and hospitalization rates from preventable injuries in the south side communities we serve were among the highest in Chicago, about four times the city average. Gang violence is a constant threat. In January 27, 2004, Relly Malan, a 19 year old member of Tony’s Gym, died due to multiple gun shot injuries. On another instant, three youths were killed when the mother who was on drugs burned down their house. Project Activity Population
The Port needs your prayer and time and donations, so please take some time today to help serve the poor in Chicago. To volunteer or donate contact
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