`I want my kids to know that what they’re seeing in Naperville is not a realistic view of how things are. Here it is so upper middle class. My whole life I’ve been haunted by seeing people living on the street, and for so long I had been paralyzed as to what to do about it.”
Thus Vicky Joseph, mother of two and staunch adversary of homelessness, sums up her feeling of responsibility, not only for her children but also for the poor in her community.
This sense of obligation to the less fortunate has driven the Naperville woman in pursuit of her dream of eradicating homelessness in DuPage County, one family at a time.
Joseph’s first experience helping the disadvantaged involved “adopting” a family through a church of which she and her family were not members.
“We found out what they needed, made a big trip to Kmart and filled up the van,” she recalls. “It gave me a really good feeling. But that feeling faded fast. I realized that people needed more than a quick fix.”
Joseph reasons that transitional housing can give the homeless a new chance at life. Transitional housing provides a homeless family with a place to live rent free while they begin the often-challenging process of becoming self-sufficient. Transitional housing programs are very successful, Joseph says, but need considerable funding, usually from churches, synagogues, banks and businesses.
After learning about a transitional housing project coordinated by Catholic Charities, Joseph typed a letter to the other families in her subdivision.
“LET’S ADOPT A FAMILY!” her note began. What followed was Joseph’s plan to give a homeless family, one recommended by Catholic Charities, “a safe and secure year–time to regain their dignity and self-esteem–and time to get their lives back on track.”
This was the conception of Joseph’s organization, called Families Helping Families. Joseph’s neighbors responded with money to rent an apartment. They also donated furniture and clothing, making the subdivision “the first neighborhood to consider sponsoring a family,” Joseph says.
Though it costs $12,000 or more to sponsor a family for a year, the group’s biggest problem was not in raising money. The average family pledged $2,000, Joseph says. The money was there, but the group had trouble finding a landlord willing to agree to the arrangement.
“Many, many managers said that the person who signs the lease has to be the person living in the apartment,” Joseph says. “We would explain to them that we would be by every week and that the money was raised before the lease would be signed.”
Finally, the group gave up on Naperville and found an apartment farther away, in Glen Ellyn. Then it was time to meet the prospective family.
“It was set up that we would interview the family suggested by Catholic Charities, a woman and her two children. Then we would go out of the room to discuss whether or not we thought this would be a good match.”
After meeting the potential family, made homeless by escaping a domestic-abuse situation, the neighbors left the room and all three instantly gave the thumbs-up sign.
“It took seconds,” Joseph recalls. “We knew that this is the kind of person who should have a home and a chance. There are really only three differences between this lady and me. One is that I grew up in a happy, loving family, not a dysfunctional one. Two is my husband is around, and three, truth be known, she’s smarter than me.”
The mother and her children are thriving in their new environment. The mother is now first in her telemicroprocessing class (and the only woman in the class) at the College of DuPage, and her 4- and 6-year-olds have made new friends in day care and kindergarten in their new neighborhood.
“To see her bloom, to start to feel comfortable, is the best part of all of this,” Joseph says. “When she said to me, `I’ve never felt like this,’ that makes it all worth it.”
The mother is doing so well at her studies that Joseph and her neighbors have decided to extend her transitional time in the apartment for another year.
“She`s doing so well in school that we wanted her to be able to finish up, and 12 months wasn’t long enough,” Joseph says.
“We’ve been helped out by so many people on this. gave her a 1977 car, but unfortunately that one didn’t run very well. It’s difficult for her with school and day care to be without a car, and her child has diabetes, so she often has to go to the doctor’s as well. I contacted Joe Madden Ford in Downers Grove, and they agreed to give her a used car. Meanwhile, they lent her a 1994 car that she’s still driving.
“Our neighbors all helped furnish her apartment as well. There are lots of lovely things in people’s basements. My living room should look so nice.”
With this success story under her belt, Joseph hopes to adopt a second family this year.
“The difficult part is getting enough money to do it again,” she says. A neighbor suggested a 5K walk as a potential fundraiser.
“We decided that this might be a good idea and scheduled it for May 7, which was three months away at the time. I do suggest that this sort of planning should be done nine months ahead instead of three.
“There we were, a group of women working our tails off. It was so neat though. All the women working with us weren’t into power. It wasn’t like a men’s organization.”
Distributing brochures highlighting the sobering fact that “on any given night in DuPage County, there are 152 families living in shelters, cars or on the street,” Joseph and her group prayed for good attendance and a sunny day.
The walk was a success “beyond our wildest dreams,” she says, with attendance of 350 and raising $8,500. “That’s almost enough for another family for a year.”
Joseph’s neighbors find her efforts inspiring. “I’ve always tried to do something for people at holidays,” says Petrina Giacalone. “When Vicky said it’d be good to do something on an ongoing basis, I saw that this could really make an impact, and it has. It’s exciting to see that we are able to make this kind of difference in a person’s life.”
“Working with Vicky on this is very rewarding,” says neighbor Janice Liang. “We’re able to do a lot for a few people, which makes this very tangible. You really see progress.
“Vicky is very outgoing, very driven in a positive way. I guess I’d say she is convincing. Her dedication . . . is contagious.”
Joseph hopes other suburban groups will become interested in creating fundraising organizations similar to Families Helping Families.
“My vision is to do this throughout Naperville and DuPage County, Joseph says. “There are hundreds of people like our adopted family. I would love to see more middle- and upper-class communities adopt families. This kind of thing should be done where you live.
“I have been starting to tell groups that might not be able to sponsor a family for a whole year, what if they could provide one or two months’ rent–$765 a month is the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in DuPage. They could help provide a piece of the pie.”
Helping with their slice are Joseph’s children, who have done their share for Families Heping Families, along with other little Napervillians.
“They’ve had lemonade stands, jewelry sales, all kinds of things to help raise money,” Joseph says.
The children have also scoured their closets and toy chests to help taken their less fortunate peers.
Explaining her desire to keep fighting to give others some of the chances she had, Joseph says, “I feel responsible as a human being, and as a woman I want to help other women, and well, I guess this is a selfish reason, but I need a way to teach my children about giving.”
To contact Families Helping Families, call 708-355-1043.
