By Tom Siebert

Midway through its eighth season of providing nutritious meals and overnight shelter to the area’s homeless community, Kendall County PADS has received an outpouring of donations that have helped its guests get through what has thus far been an unusually harsh winter.

The homeless support group has received generous gifts from churches, businesses, civic organizations, and individual citizens, according to Anne Engelhardt, executive director of Kendall County PADS.

“I am very grateful for the tremendous community support for people living with homelessness,” said Ms. Engelhardt. “We have not had to do any fundraising activities. Instead, our time and energy go into volunteering at the shelter sites.”

One longtime donor to PADS is the Fox Valley Family YMCA, where gymnastics director Karen Oelker led a fundraising effort late last year that garnered $400 from coaches and participants at the Plano facility.

Ms. Oelker said that every year she works with her team captains to come up with a way to give back to the community. In recent years, the YMCA has donated winter clothing, laundry detergent, and laundromat cards for PADS guests.

“This really made the girls think about how real this was, and we then decided this is what we would be fundraising for,” she recalled.

So they held an open gym and advertised it as a “parents’ night out,” with profits going to Kendall County PADS.

Why does the Y do this?

“I believe part of my job is to help these young ladies grow up to be caring individuals and tomorrow’s leaders,” Ms. Oelker explained. “We have plans to do this even bigger this year.”

At Parkview Christian Academy in Yorkville, the second grade class of teacher Kristen Dudding collected and donated to PADS guests dozens of toothbrushes, tubes of toothpaste, bars of soap, and other hygiene items.

Becky Grace of Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group in Yorkville also organized a PADS drive. Coldwell Banker agents and clients donated paper goods, hygiene items, pre-paid laundry cards, NCG movie passes, and gift cards for McDonald’s and Walgreens. In addition, Coldwell Banker collected nine large boxes of winter outdoor clothing (coats, hats, gloves, and scarves). And the real estate firm donated funds to the Kendall County Community Food Pantry, a PADS partner.

Some area residents found innovative ways to give to PADS. David Edelman, a 1987 graduate of Oswego High School, raised $500 from his fellow classmates at a recent reunion. And Yorkville resident April Morsch used her Facebook page, April’s Awesome Attic, to collect coats, scarves, gloves, and boots––as well as a monetary contribution––from her friends and neighbors.

Also donating to Kendall County PADS this shelter season were the American Legion Riders, Oswego; Au Sable Grove Presbyterian Church, Yorkville; Church of the Good Shepherd, Oswego; First Baptist Church, Plano; Kendall Lodge 471 A.F. & A.M., Yorkville; the Marian Fathers of St. Mary Catholic Church, Plano; Masonic Raven Lodge #303, Oswego; the Men’s Group at Trinity United Methodist Church, Yorkville; St. John’s Lutheran Church, Somonauk; the sixth grade classes at Emily G. Jones School, Plano; United Methodist Women, Yorkville; Wheaton Title and Trust; Wines for Humanity, Naperville; and the Yorkville Junior Women’s Club.

There were other donors who asked to remain anonymous, Ms. Engelhardt stated. Those who wish to donate or volunteer at a shelter site may call (630) 553-5073 or visit the website at www.kendallcountypads.org .

Each of the seven Kendall County PADS shelters remains open one overnight per week from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. through April 14. The nights and sites are as follows:

Sundays: Cross Lutheran Church, 8609 Route 47, Yorkville

Mondays: Yorkville Congregational United Church of Christ, 409 Center Parkway, Yorkville

Tuesdays: Harvest New Beginnings church, 5315 Douglas Road, Oswego

Wednesdays: Parkview Christian Academy, upper campus, 202 East Countryside Parkway, Yorkville

Thursdays: Trinity United Methodist Church, 2505 Boomer Lane, Yorkville

Fridays: Church of the Good Shepherd, 5 West Washington Street, Oswego

Saturdays: St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 53 Fernwood Road, Montgomery

PADS of Kendall County is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) group funded by donations received from grants, gifts, individuals, organizations, and businesses. Overnight guests at PADS receive a hot meal, a safe place to sleep, breakfast, and a packaged lunch to go. They also receive help with employment, social services, and housing referrals.

And as Ms. Engelhardt noted: “It’s mid-winter and the homeless are still in need of shelter, food, and care.”