First Homeless Shelter In 30 Years Open In Orland Park

ORLAND PARK, IL — The first homeless shelter in Orland Park in more than 30 years is now open on Tuesday nights at Hope Covenant Church. The church at 14401 West Ave. is the latest location to offer an overnight shelter to people who need it as part of the Beds Plus organization, which operates overnight homeless shelters in the south and west suburbs at different locations every night.

Hope will be the shelter site every Tuesday night, accepting people from 7 to 9 p.m. and keeping them indoors until 6 a.m. Hope Pastor Jon Fogel says that while the effort has become "a big undertaking," it is also "well within our mission and culture of who we are as a church."

The first night, Oct. 1, drew 15 to 20 people, Fogel said. That's usually on the high end for a shelter on a night with warm weather. It hit an unseasonably high into the upper 80's earlier in the day on Tuesday.

"This is a big thing for the Orland area," Fogel said. "It's the first time we've had a homeless ministry here in 30 years."

"It was a successful first night," he continued. "We had meals ready and housed everyone overnight."

The shelter is at the church itself, and as a safety precaution they are only allowing people to come in between 7 and 9 p.m., unless those in need have work hours that conflict with that timeframe. The shelter will then house them overnight and open and allow people to leave at 6 a.m. unless special conditions like work apply to individuals then too.

Fogel says he is pleased to partner with Beds Plus on this endeavor since Beds has "a specifically Christian bend."

"They do a really good job getting people who show up to a shelter housed," he said. "They can do that more quickly than anyone else I've ever worked with."

Here's more about Beds Plus and their mission:

The idea, Fogel says, is to eventually link Beds Plus up with other organizations the church works with on other social services so that on any given night a person who shows up to the shelter can get access to other resources too.

Although Hope is a small church with only about 50 members and a relatively small budget for programs, they have already done a few low-income ministries, a personal care pantry and a number of food pantries.

"Our goal is to be more holistic," Fogel said, adding his belief in the idea spread by Evangelical Christian Dave Ramsey that churches should be the community center and so good at social services that governments should not have to do much in that regard.

Homelessness In Orland Park

Homeless people have come to Hope Covenant Church on a weekly basis, the homeless population in Orland Park continues to grow and is already at a higher number than most would think, Fogel said.

"Back when the last homeless ministry operated out of Orland Park in the 1980's, homelessness had not spread to the suburbs like it has now," Fogel said. "Even now, we don't have a high accessibility to the homeless population because Orland is not a walkable community, but they are here. Most of the homeless people in Orland do have cars, even if they don't work well. Others live off the train."

Homelessness in any particular town is tracked by the person's last known address. And while Orland "does not have a huge population" of homeless people compared to other suburbs, there are several without homes whose last known address is indeed in Orland Park.

Hope's first night as a shelter brought more women and children than men, Fogel said. That's not usually the case at most shelters but Fogel believes it will be at the one Hope is hosting in Orland Park.

Volunteers Needed

The church seeks a number of volunteers to help with this effort. Call 708-873-3640 if you'd like to volunteer or have more questions.