Long road awaits PADS riders
By Patrick Thomas
Source: The Beverly Review
A group of local cyclists are preparing to travel a long way for a cause close to their hearts, and they are looking for a few good riders.
Supporters of the Southwest Chicago PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) plan to ride their bikes all the way from the Mississippi River to Marquette Park in an effort to raise funds for the PADS facility at 3121 W. 71st St. The 175-mile trip from Clinton, Iowa, will take two days over the weekend of June 26-27, organizers said.
“I just think it’s a wonderful idea. I don’t know how they’ll do it from the Mississippi, but it’s a great idea,” said Ellen Kilmurry, executive director of Southwest Chicago PADS.
Kilmurry won’t be cycling, but she plans on taking a ride by car to greet the cyclists in Illinois at a point along the route. She helped arrange the ride when PADS volunteers Pat Cummings and brothersin- law Ken Gray and Alan Holdsworth proposed similar ideas.
“I felt a calling to participate and helping those less fortunate by providing meals and wanted to see where it goes. It’s pretty rewarding helping this way and now even more so, by combining my passion for riding to raise funds for the group,” said Holdsworth, a recently retired actuary from Evergreen Park who volunteers every second Saturday of the month at PADS with Gray and other volunteers from Beverly Covenant and St. Barnabas churches. “We were kicking around doing something like this, and we happened to stop by the shelter one day and mentioned it to [Ellen Kilmurry]. She mentioned Patrick Cummings, and he had a specific idea about riding from the Mississippi.”
Riding for PADS is nothing new for Cummings, an attorney from Beverly and past president of Southwest Chicago PADS who serves on the organization’s board of directors. A few years ago he rode his bike downstate to Champaign to visit his kids at college and raised $15,000 for PADS in the process.
Cummings said there is an obligation to serve the less fortunate at the PADS shelter, whether that obligation is serving meals or riding a bike across the state to promote awareness.
“The homeless person and the corporate president are the same in God’s eyes,” Cummings said. “There is such a need. Every single time you go to help out, you become enriched. You are wiser for the experience, and you feel like you have been given a gift. You serve people who have nothing, and you see their gratitude. It reinforces how incredibly fortunate we are for those of us who have good homes and healthy kids. PADS can use every volunteer that comes to the door.”
At the moment, more than 800 volunteers from about 40 church groups and organizations, many from the Beverly/ Morgan Park area, dedicate their time and services to PADS. During the last fiscal year, according to Kilmurry, Southwest Chicago PADS served 2,100 individuals, an increase of 18 percent from the last year and a large sum considering the facility is limited to serving 35 individuals at a time. PADS not only provides meals, but it also keeps three full-time case managers on hand to offer a wide range of services, including employment searches, job training and housing needs. The facility also offers showers, a change of clothes, a toiletry kit and medical attention from volunteer doctors and nurses.
“We do as much as we can by linking other agencies. We’re all short money, but we all want to do the work,” Kilmurry said.
Organizers said they hope that each rider can raise at least $500 individually so the group can raise $25,000 for the shelter, which faces an uphill battle during a recession when donations are hard to come by. Kilmurry said the funds will help cover salary, operating and utility costs to keep the doors open at the only PADS shelter located within the city limits.
“A $100 donation last year is now $25 and $50,” Kilmurry said. “In-kind contributions have decreased. Most of our donors now say they are not going to buy a new coat and give us an old one. It seems like the ripple effect comes down to the poorest of the poor, and that’s who we serve.”
Gray, a copier repairman and church custodian, got involved with PADS following a controversy to open a PADS shelter at St. Barnabas a few years ago. The Beverly community was split over the idea of housing a PADS facility there because of security concerns. Gray, ironically, was on the side opposing the PADS site. Then fellow Beverly Covenant Church member, Cheryl Christ, convinced him to join her at a PADS shelter in the south suburbs, aiding Hurricane Katrina refugees five years ago. It forever changed his outlook on the program.
“When I went over there for the first time, I ended up being separated from our group, and I stayed on at a men’s dormitory working late. She called my bluff and called me out. Volunteering trumped my fears.”
Beverly Covenant members began teaming up with St. Barnabas to serve breakfasts in the summers and dinners in cold months. The decision to volunteer there has changed Gray so much that he is willing to dip his bike tires in the Mississippi River on June 26 and the following evening in the lagoon at Marquette Park.
“There, but for the grace of God, go I,” Gray said. “The difference between me and the person in need at PADS is minuscule. [Volunteering at PADS] keeps me grounded. I count my blessings and share what I have and help folks the best I can. It feels right.”
To donate, sign up to ride, or for more information, contact Alan Holdsworth at (708) 499- 1956.