Happenings at Fourth Church and Sarah's Inn

At this point I'm halfway through Domestic Violence Advocacy training at Sarah's Inn. The training is required by the state so that I can actually work with clients. Although I mostly work with the volunteers, I'll be filling in shifts on the 24-hour Crisis Line as well. The rest of the training class is made up of our newest volunteers, as well as new staff. It's been fantastic getting to know the volunteers. We're all women in this class, which is something I find vaguely disappointing -- although I can see how women might empathize more with domestic abuse victims, we only have one male volunteer within the entire organization. In our dream world (which is something I feel most non-profits have), we would have male and female volunteers working with each support group so that clients could have examples of healthy gender relations. Our groups currently have male and female leaders, but they're almost always staff.
The training is a combination of very nice friendly things and very upsetting, tragic things, which I suppose is only logical. Colleen leads the training, and she always bakes cookies for the class and is careful to answer all of our questions. However, since we're spending hours a night (and Saturday morning) to learn about domestic abuse, there are moments each training period which just leave me speechless. Possibly the most upsetting thing is that we learn about trends of domestic abuse, such as different types of abusers or times when victims are in the most danger. The simple fact that there is enough domestic abuse that we can map these trends hurts.
At Fourth Church, I'm starting to hit my stride. My class usually averages at about 20 kids a Sunday, which is a much smaller class than the attendance sheet indicates, but about as many people as I can handle. We've had a lock-in, which included some very, very spirited dancing to Bon Jovi and Survivor. Since so many of the youth live in neighborhoods or suburbs far from the church, our Sunday morning lesson is the main part of the youth group. We also have either a fellowship or service activity about every month, which is a lot of fun to plan.
The next service activity for my youth group is called the Walk in My Shoes Homeless Experience (http://ffchicago.org/experience/). An organization named Facing Forward is hosting several youth groups on Halloween to simulate what it's like to be homeless. The youth will go through several stations, going through steps like getting documentation, applying for public housing, and other processes which people go through to get permanent housing. Facing Forward is doing this event both to raise awareness and raise funds. As such, that means that I have to raise a minimum of $50 before the event on Halloween. If anybody reading this blog would like to contribute, you can donate online at http://www.active.com/donate/experience10/katiejasa.