I write as someone who has volunteered for PADS many times over ther past several years. I am sorry that this one well-meaning family had a negative experience. My experience has been that the religious congregations involved do a very intense and well-thought-out program. I belong to a small congregation, an Episcopal church, Church of the Holy Nativity in Clarendon Hills. We do not have the physical facility to have the overnight visits so we cooperate with larger churches, such as Redeemer Lutheran in Hinsdale. I will estimate that at least 30 people, or more, from our small congregation (130-150?) sign up ahead of time to buy food for the upcoming event, some cook, others come in the evening to set up the sleeping facilities, others stay overnight to monito the location and another group appears about 5 - 6AM to make breakfast, pass out the bag lunches then clean up the downstairs rooms so the church has a clean basement when they come in the next day. Oh, and another group takes all the linens from the overnight, 30 to 60 sets of linens, and takes them to the laundry, then returns it all clean. It is a major enterprise every weekend when a church/synagogue/mosque participates. Sorry for the Fogler R. family that they meant well but did not understand the system. Of course, every organization has its issues and failures, but PADS consistently does a wonderful and largely unsung job of helping the homeless. read more
