Public Action to Deliver Shelter – PADS

Ministry Coordinators:  Ted and Kathy Hobein

Our Ministry

St. Daniel the Prophet parish works in partnership with Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS), to provide food and shelter for the homeless. Our parish volunteers provide dinner, a bag lunch and breakfast for about 45 guests at a temporary overnight shelter site. We also provide staff to serve meals and monitor the site from 6 pm to 7 am. We do this the first Wednesday of each month September to May.

Our partner in this ministry is DuPage PADS, a nonprofit organization committed to end and prevent homelessness in DuPage County. They provide temporary, transitional and permanent supportive housing for people without homes. With the assistance of a well organized group of over one hundred churches throughout DuPage County who provide sites, staff, and meals, DuPage PADS provides shelter for the homeless every night from September through May and many nights in the summer. There are usually three shelter sites each night accommodating approximately 110-125 guests. St. Daniel is a part of this group of churches and works as the support church for the site at Peace Lutheran Church on Butterfield road in Lombard. Over the years we have been blessed with numerous dedicated volunteers for this mission.

View Birthday celebrations for children at PADS.

PADS Site, Dates, Times

Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteers are needed to:

• Provide meals
• Serve meals
• Monitor the site during a shift from 6 pm - 7 am.
  We particularly need monitors for
  11 pm - 3 am and 3 am - 7 am shifts.

High School juniors and seniors may volunteer to work at the site, but need a signed permission form. Volunteers may turn in the permission form at the site during the evening hours. However, volunteers working after 10 pm or during the morning will need to turn in the form at the DuPage PADS office at 705 West Liberty in Wheaton the day before working.

As a reminder, all the PADS monitors at the homeless site are required by the Joliet Diocese to attend a Protecting Gods Children Program (PGC). If you have done this in the past, your record should be on file with the diocese and you do not have to attend again. Thank you to those who attended the PGC program at St. Daniel's Nov. 17. For a list of upcoming PGC programs being offered at parishes in our area, please go to: dioceseofjoliet.org, click on Protecting Children and then click on Virtus Program at Diocese of Joliet.

Volunteer Now - online to indicate your interest to help when we are short on help, especially for an overnight shift. Sign up for specific jobs in person; sign up sheets are in the Narthex after masses on the two weekends before the first Wednesday each month.

Volunteer Meetings

There are no specific meetings for this ministry, but volunteers are welcome to attend the monthly CORE meetings for ministry coordinators, ministry volunteers, and interested parishioners on the first Monday evening of each month.  See CORE Meetings.

Volunteer Statement

"Most of us are familiar with the beatitudes. They are a great road map for how we as Christians should live our lives. PADS, in a small way, provides a means to live a few of those beatitudes."

"We have been involved in this ministry because we feel like it is important to offer this opportunity to serve the homeless to as many parishioners as possible."  Ted and Kathy Hobein

To learn more about the current activities and further information about DuPage PADS, the organization we partner with, go to their website: www.dupagepads.org.