I don't think anyone expects a homeless shelter to be a place of luxury. But it shouldn't be a…read morefraudulent organization making money from grants and taxpayer subsidies. By most accounts, Franciscan Outreach is the later and with the quasi Christian name, it is especially vial. Homeless shelters should aim to house, feed and protect residents. In the most basic sense, F.O. does this. I'm not sure how safe it is with the number of deaths that occurred in the shelter, nor the fact that 'special' people were allowed to bring in weapons, drugs and things they like to call contraband. I can only assume the city of Chicago began to get more involved because the number of 'special' people did decrease significantly making the shelter safer AFTER a news article was published criticizing the shelter. The facility is filthy. There is no kitchen so food is brought in from another location and food safety and hygiene issues are significant. Franciscan Outreach seems to go out of its way to ensure the food served is served IN the food danger zone- rarely cold or hot enough to ensure safety. While many shelters offer some sort of mattress, F.O. does not. In fact, getting a sheet or blanket is not assured either. Then there are the sheets that they insist were washed but have other people's hair and bodily fluids all over them. While the staff complain that residents aren't showering, weeks can go by without the shelter having any towels for residents to use. Staff do not like to be asked questions about anything. Please don't bother them with a question about if there is a towel, or a clean sheet or to enquire about housing placement. They hate their jobs and the residents they serve and it shows. Staff also tend to be very racist with Latino staff preferring to work with Latino people, black staff play favoritism to a few black residents and white people are generally treated like garbage and even have the privilege of hearing things like, 'You don't belong here', 'You just here to save some money', etc. Staff share private information about residents (i.e. health status, drug use, previous incarceration details) and staff demeanor is more appropriate for a prison than a shelter. Even when residents can manage themselves (e.g. lining up) the staff will become upset, shouting and yelling at the residents and wasting great amounts of time and energy trying to exert their authority with seemingly little progress. Yet when some residents are pushing in and cutting people, staff likewise ignore these actions (Perhaps the staff are dyslexic?). Staff also threaten to write people up and remove them, but after waking entire floors of residents (well over 100 people can sleep in an open factory floor setting), they rarely remove the person they were threatening. It's basic 101 skill to understand not to over promise anything- including a threat. As with most charity/social services programs, the real value is in paying people salaries to push papers back and forth with a vaguely disapproving smile and condescending tone. If this is the goal, Franciscan Outreach is an exemplar the world should try to emulate. If the goal is to actually help people, F.O. has a lot of learning to do.

Franciscan Outreach (Marquard Center) in Wicker Park was the original volunteer location I found…read moreprior to finding House of Mary and Joseph in East Garfield Park. As I write this review, I have already volunteered just short of a handful of times at House of Mary and Joseph, however I did anticipate grabbing a volunteer spot at Marquard Center, which I finally got. So far, I have met some great people at both Franciscan Outreach locations: volunteer, staff and clients, which makes volunteering at both locations even more sweeter because everyone is easy to work with. We are always thanked as a volunteer by both full-time volunteers and clients for helping. My goal is to volunteer at Franciscan Outreach (House of Mary and Joseph) on an average of once or twice a week during my off days, which is doable when I'm on break for the semester. Since I cannot help every homeless person that I encounter; volunteering at Franciscan Outreach is the least I can do because there are so many homeless scattered throughout Chicago. Marquard Center had a totally different set-up compared to House of Mary and Joseph, which at House of Mary and Joseph we put together the food plates then handed them out to the homeless individuals as they walked in, plus they had the luxury of picking through the fruits, bread, snacks and drinks at a table. But at Marquard Center, we put together the food plates then volunteers took the food out to the individuals as they sat at their seats. Marquard Center is set up more like a restaurant versus House of Mary and Joseph being set up like a school cafeteria, but I hope you get the gist. I plan to take note of when I applied for Marquard Center volunteer slot, so that I can return on a regular basis along with House of Mary and Joseph, which at House of Mary and Joseph it is lot easier to get a spot due to not many volunteers. In closing, I will end this review with a quote by Jan Schakowsky - "There is a lot that happens around the world we cannot control. We cannot stop earthquakes, we cannot prevent droughts, and we cannot prevent all conflict, but when we know where the hungry, the homeless and the sick exist, then we can help." Thomas Gouard