If, like me, you work in the central business district of a major city, you probably cannot escape it. On the way from the CTA train station to the office, a four-block walk, it seems that I pass the homeless on every street corner. One part of me would like to do something for them. Another part knows from experience that some may be very difficult to help. And a third part says that I don’t have the resources to help them all anyway. It is hard to know what to do, so most of us try to tune it out.

But don’t you wonder? How did they all get here? What do they do when the temperature in Chicago plunges to subzero levels? When the winter wind howls and the snow piles up, where do they all go? How long have they been on the streets? Were some of them once young? Are they perhaps younger than they appear?

These are not easy questions, but there are some answers because some people devote their time to finding out—and to helping. In Chicago, one such group is The Night Ministry. These folks have done their homework, but more importantly, they serve. Using vans for the youth and buses for adults, they provide food and toiletries at selected locations around the city, serving without judgment, knowing there are many reasons why youths in particular can become homeless. They also provide social workers for on-site counseling.

Consider the possibilities:

• The youth is gay and the family has kicked him or her out;
• They have developed a mental illness that leads to irrational behavior;
• The home is the site of endless abuse, either physical or substance (alcohol or drugs), or both, so the streets actually seem preferable;
• The family itself has become homeless due to loss of job or other factors.

Once youths begin life in a shelter, another set of consequences begins to take root. This past Sunday, I watched as the youth of Augustana Lutheran Church, in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side, discussed before a small audience of adults what those might be:

• You might not get homework done before the lights are out, making success in school problematic.
• You might feel your homelessness is a family secret that embarrasses you.
• You lack a safe place to go after school, unlike other kids.
• You are often hungry, relying on others for food. “It hurts to be hungry,” one said.
• You become anxious because of the uncertainty surrounding their circumstances.
• The inability to cook forces reliance on less healthy, cheaper processed foods.
• You face increased breakdowns in mental health, particularly as the city and state have continued to close mental health facilities.
• You have no place to wash your clothing.
• You become tired all the time.
• You may attempt suicide.

Our grandson, Angel, helps fill zip-lock bags with toiletries for The Night Ministry at Augustana Lutheran Church.

According to The Night Ministry, approximately 25,000 youths in Illinois become homeless over the course of a year; approximately 45 percent of those have chronic homeless experiences. They end up needing help with transportation, going back to school, getting food on a regular basis, even with getting IDs. In short, much of what the rest of us take for granted becomes challenging for them.

I could go on, but you can learn much more from The Night Ministry website, or that of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, or you can read “Wherever I Can Lay My Head: Homeless Youth on Homelessness” at the Center for Impact Research.  What I can tell you is that, if you have a few dollars to spare and want to use them to help stop the waste of human potential that youth homelessness represents, The Night Ministry can use your support. They do the work that most of the rest of us lack either the time or the inclination to do, and they do it very well.

Jim Schwab