Jackie spent five years without housing, staying in shelters, on trains, and temporarily with family members.

"The biggest challenge, of course, was finding someplace to sleep,” Jackie says. “And when you don’t have housing, people treat you like you are subhuman.”

“Not everybody is a criminal, is a bad person. Certain things happen in your life where it goes from being you’re working, you have a home, you’re stable until in the blink of an eye you’re on the street, you have no job.”

A friend told Jackie about The Night Ministry’s weekly outreach at the CTA Blue Line station in Forest Park. That’s where Jackie met Case Manager Stephannie Schreiber. 

“I went up to the Forest Park stop and talked to her stuff and it's been great ever since,” Jackie says. “She actually helped me get some things that I needed and then she helped me get an apartment.” 

“You just don't know how nice it is to have your own space, to have a key to where you can go and people don't ask you to leave.” 

Jackie says the assistance she got from The Night Ministry and Stephanie recognized his dignity and humanity. 

“She made me feel seen. She made me feel like a person talking to her. Working with her was a different experience for me because I actually felt like she cared.” 

Alone and unhoused in Chicago, Alexis would sleep on trains and buses, in her storage unit, and even in the basement of her workplace overnight. 

“I would ask my manager, ‘Is it OK if I just sleep down here for a couple of hours before I have to get back on the trains and sit there for another three hours?’” 

“I was pretty much devastated and thinking, ‘I'm not going to make it,” she says. “But I didn't want to be the person that was stuck in the mindset of ‘I can't get out.’”

Early one morning, while riding the CTA Red Line, Alexis was approached by an individual who had stayed at The Crib, The Night Ministry’s overnight shelter for young adults. 

“He told me, ‘This is where I got the help I needed. And I’m hoping they can help you the same way they helped me.’” 

Alexis found safe shelter and a caring environment at The Crib, along with support to obtain her own housing, where she is today.  

“I've never felt so blessed and grateful. I can finally unlock the door, breathe in some peaceful fresh air and know I got this.” Alexis says. 

“I was doing what I needed to do to get myself together, and The Night Ministry was there to help me get to where I needed to be, which is where I’m at now—in my own place, doing well, decent job. And I couldn’t be more grateful for The Night Ministry.”