How DuPage PADS Is Caring For The Homeless Amid Coronavirus

DUPAGE COUNTY, IL — When DuPage PADS CEO Carol Simler started working with the local shelter organization more than 23 years ago, she says she had a saying that went, "It's no longer 'I, me, or mine,' it's 'we, us and ours'." Simler tells Patch that with the outpouring of community support that has come with the newcoronavirus shutdown, she'd like to amend that statement to "it's we, us, ours and everyone."

How DuPage PADS Is Helping the Homeless

Simler told Patch the entire model of DuPage PADS had to transform itself once the coronavirus crisis hit. Keeping residents in a congregate setting would no longer be safe, Simler said, so overnight shelters were shuttered and the majority of residents were moved into a hotel in DuPage County on March 21.

Simler said, “Our shelters could not be offered in the way that they did due to the highly transmissible nature of the virus."

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Simler said DuPage PADS currently has 100 hotel rooms that serve 130 people, including five families and 15 children. According to Simler, homeless residents of DuPage County who are not staying in hotel rooms are getting assistance too.

Some were diverted to other locations, while others received help with more permanent housing, Simler told Patch.

At press time, Simler said there have been no 911 calls from the hotels rooms and there have been no positive coronavirus cases or symptoms. She added that DuPage PADS has managed to keep their staff employed by shifting overnight staff to the Client Services Center to handle donations.

The former shelter space is serving as a Client Services Center, where employees receive and ship off donations to residents in need. Simler emphasized that the need for donations is even more dire than ever due to the coronavirus shutdown.

DuPage PADS Emergency Response Relief Fund

To that end, DuPage PADS has launched an Emergency Response Relief Fund to help deal with the unexpected costs of helping the county's coronavirus. Simler said members of the community have stepped up in a big way by donating to the fund.

“This is an expensive effort right now,” Simler told Patch, adding that DuPage County is a "very generous community." To date, the fund has raised more than $211,000 in donations from people and organizations throughout DuPage County.

“I see the $10 donations and I see the thousands of dollars donations,” Simler said. She added, "People want to help."

You can click the link to donate to the DuPage PADS Emergency Response Relief Fund.

Help from Some Friends

According to Simler, people across the community have also been stepping up to help in the form of mask donations and food donations to help the county's homeless population. Simler said, "People really do want to help and they want to make lives better.”

Simler told Patch many people have made and donated masks to DuPage PADS. They've also teamed up with local restaurants throughout the county to make deliveries of pizza and other meals to residents at the hotels.

Meanwhile, it's another challenge to keep residents entertained. DuPage PADS has passed out playing cards and spearheaded projects to keep homeless community members active, including a virtual singing group and an initiative to make signs thanking volunteers, Simler said.

Looking at the Long-term

“[Coronavirus] has really highlighted homelessness as a public health issue," Simler told Patch, adding that the work that DuPage PADS has been doing will continue throughout and after the coronavirus crisis.

Simler sad DuPage PADS has been helping homeless residents find a job and navigate the IDES website to apply for unemployment benefits during the shutdown.

She added that the coronavirus shutdown has "[g]iven us an opportunity to work more intensely with our folks. It has a profound impact on how we will engage in the future.”

The crisis has also shone a light on "The importance of having your own place and what that means for all of us," Simler said, "Our homes are where memories are made and where we can celebrate and relax. Our folks don’t have that.”

To that end, DuPage PADS even partnered up with a local hospital to help get at least one woman into hotel housing after a recent hospital stay.

As Simler said, "When someone believes in you everything can change and we see that everyday with the people that we serve."

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