At first glance, the news would appear to be positive.
The occupancy rate at Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora is down to 60% this summer, which is significantly below the 75% that’s typical during summer months.
Officials there attribute that news to this unusual economy that’s putting the squeeze on so many people because of inflationary prices, but also boasts an unemployment rate around 4%.
Which means businesses are desperate for workers, so much so they are hiring those with alcohol or drug problems or with criminal records who, in the past, would have been rejected.
“Employers are afraid to lose people because it’s hard to replace them,” said Wayside Operations Manager Tom Davidson. “So they hang on to people and are far more lenient.”
Turns out it’s a half-empty/half-full situation.
While it’s great these people have jobs and can survive, it’s also keeping them from getting the help they need to address the issues that have landed them in vulnerable positions.
“If they don’t have that support system in place,” Davidson noted, “they go flooding back into the marketplace with all different levels of brokenness.”
Less men at the mission, of course, also means fewer hands on deck to help with its popular car detail business or work in the warehouse processing donations that go into Wayside’s resale shops, two programs that together make up about 23% of Wayside’s budget.
But what’s also been down are the number of volunteers.
Similar to the 30% drop at Hesed House, Wayside Cross, too, has seen a significant decrease. Whether that’s because people are still worried about the virus or because they got out of the habit or because they are choosing to spend their free time further from home, the point is that the lack of volunteers for these nonprofits that rely so heavily on them is putting more burden on staffs – and in Wayside’s situation, on the men living in the mission – who are “doing double duty” to keep up, said Davidson.
While there have been some Fox Valley groups volunteering this summer – a church from Geneva is coming this weekend to spruce up the garden at Wayside’s Lifespring Center in Aurora – “it’s mostly been a dry season for us locally,” he added.
That’s why Wayside is especially grateful for an influx of young out-of-state volunteers, which Davidson describes as “a Godsend.”
This week alone, 72 teens between the ages of 14 and 18 from Texas have been working at Wayside Cross and Lifespring, including 60 kids from Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, Texas, which has been coming to Aurora the past five years, and another dozen from Well Church, here for the first time, from Aledo, Texas.
Both teams are organized through Lead 222, a Wheaton-based group that’s focused on leadership development and creating youth-serving experiences.
Among some of the chores these teens are tackling include meal preparation and cleaning and sorting items in the warehouse, which has been inundated with donations. They’ve also been laying mulch or stone and doing other landscaping projects, while some of the girls babysit at Lifespring so the moms can attend classes.
“Anything that needs to be done, these kids are doing,” said Davidson.
This week’s group of young volunteers is the third to come through Aurora from other states, including Nebraska and Ohio, the latter of which has been sending out a team every few weeks.
“I’m not even sure how they hear about us,” admitted Davidson. “All I know is that when a door closes, a window seems to open.”
And those windows, it should be noted, are now a lot cleaner.
Wayside Executive Director James Lukose says staff and residents alike have enjoyed the energy and the excitement these young people have brought to the mission.
“It’s hard to keep up with them,” he said, noting that, rather than look down on the men who are at the mission, these kids “are happy to be here to serve them.”
And it’s that “habit of service,” Lukose insisted, “that will help them throughout their lives.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
