by Heather Truex, Kaio Community Member I turn onto Halsted Street and immediately sidestep a chunky puddle of someone’s stomach contents. Half a block down, as we pass two men talking, one of them leans out to caution, “Careful of…
by Ellen Aldridge, former Kaio Community Member A wood-burning stove, cozy blankets, snow that is actually white instead of greyish-brown, and my favorite thing in the world: SILENCE. This was the experience I was blessed with last year as the…
by Mary Mayberry, Kaio Community Member “You know how you guys always pray for me before I leave? I am really looking forward to that prayer today. I need it!” Franklin said when he arrived at the Ministry Center. “We…
by Al Tauber, Stories from the Streets Co-Director On a recent night, I was watching my phone tick away precious minutes as my Amtrak train crawled into Union Station. With seven minutes to catch my Metra train, I shot out…
by Mary Mayberry, Kaio Community Member I was working in the Ministry Center when I saw Franklin sitting by himself, writing on a piece of paper. Grabbing a cup of coffee, I sat down nearby and peeked at the paper.…
by Heather Truex, Kaio Community Member I love being part of Emmaus, but what we do is hard. We’re only a handful of weeks in, but this new year has had a rough start. A couple of the men have…
by Mary Mayberry, Kaio Community Member Sometimes working with Emmaus can get heavy. We often hear heartbreaking stories from our men. We spend time with guys who are on the streets, doing what they can to survive in desperate circumstances.…
by Carolyn Green, long-suffering wife of Emmaus founder :-) Prior to moving to Ohio over seven years ago, my family and I lived in a condo that shared the parking lot with the building that housed Emmaus Ministries. One summer…
by Joel Brown, Kaio Community Member Back in October, I was doing Outreach with Sean and Sill on the South Side. We sat on our usual park bench with a bag of candy, pretzels, and granola bars, enjoying the fall…
by Doug Van Ramshorst, Former Outreach Director This piece was originally written for a March 2014 Emmaus publication. There are so many things that you can only experience on Outreach. One night I saw a guy juggling fire to the…