Labre Homeless Outreach: Loyola students serving their neighbors

Every Thursday night Loyola students gather at the Water Tower Campus, even as the sun sets earlier and the weather get harsher, to serve their Chicagoan neighbors experiencing homelessness downtown. 

These students are part of Labre, a nationwide student-led homeless outreach program. At Loyola, Labre is run as a Campus Ministry outreach program rooted in Jesuit values like cura personalis, uplifting the dignity of all people and being people for and with others, according to second-year biochemistry major Michael Moch — one of Labre’s student leaders.

Moch has been serving with Labre since his first-year and said he has been changed by the service and connections he’s been able to experience through the program. Moch emphasized that the program’s goal isn’t to fix homelessness, but rather to serve their neighbors and to create change on a scale feasible for students.

“We’re providing a temporary fix to a much larger issue,” Moch said. “We’re looking out for those who are the most vulnerable.”

Currently, the program has 15 student leaders and is assisted by multiple Loyola faculty, although Rev. Emily Heitzman, the Water Tower Campus minister for faith and justice, spends the most time with the group from 4:30-8 p.m Thursday nights.

The student volunteers spend close to an hour packaging up donated essentials, food items and sometimes special supplies like toys or Halloween goody bags to hand out. Then they split into four groups of four to five and head on separate routes. 

The volunteers hand out the supplies— not just with the goal of giving to those in need, but also to serve their neighbors with intention, to build relationships through conversation and consistency, Moch said. 

Moch emphasized the importance of serving the individuals on route with intention and specificity to uplift their dignity. 

“We have a really big emphasis on meeting people where they’re at,” Moch said. 

This can look like offering a variety of options to people, giving them choice and agency is what they take, or sitting down to be on eye level with those they interact with, according to Moch. 

Moch and other student leaders take on the organization of each Thursday evening’s missions, managing routes, plan adjustments, preparation, cleanup and ensuring the night runs smoothly on all other fronts. 

The program hinges on student volunteers, according to Moch. Each week, around 18 Rambler volunteers sign up through LUCommunity to assist with the preparation and contact work on routes. The student leaders take the same route each week, accompanied by a variety of their peer volunteers, both first-timers and returners.  

After students prepare food, fill coolers, pack clothing bags and receive their route assignments and training — in etiquette and basic Spanish — they leave Baumhart Hall and head to their specified routes. 

The current four routes are called Great Beyond, Roosevelt, Michigan and State/Lake.

Students spend about an hour downtown, offering the resources they have and connecting with the people experiencing homelessness Labre is designed to serve. 

On the Nov. 5 mission, volunteers faced cold and rainy weather, but still left Baumhart and headed for their routes with smiles on their faces. They approached each person on the route with warmth and genuine care — a stark contrast from the weather conditions and many passers by.

Second-year human resources management major Phia Church is a student volunteer serving with Labre. Church said the consistency on routes which allows volunteers to know the individuals, follow up and connect with them relationally is what makes the Labre experience unique. 

Beyond the relationships volunteers form, Labre also serves as an outlet for students to focus on the ways they can create change in an overwhelmingly unjust world, Church said. 

“It feels so insane to live in this world sometimes and to read the news and see all of the insanity happening,” she said. “You can feel really out of control.” 

Church said the in-person, tangible experience of Labre has helped her connect more personally with the homeless community and the issues they face, while also providing her with a direct way to make an impact. 

“With Labre, it’s more focused on what we can do, right now, and focusing on the smaller communities,” Church said.

One of the ways Labre volunteers honor the dignity of the homeless community is by responding to their specific needs however possible, according to second-year health sciences major Sebastian Ruano, who serves as a student leader. 

Ruano recalled an encounter he shared serving a family with a younger boy. The young child saw them hand out a ball earlier on the route and wanted one of his own. They didn’t have another on hand, so Ruano and another volunteer went to buy a ball for the boy.  

When they returned with the ball, the boy was not there, but his mother’s gratitude for their small act of kindness moved Ruano.

“His mother lit up, and she got really teary-eyed and started thanking us, telling us God blessed her,” Ruano said. “I think that is a true testament to what we do.”

Deeply personal experiences are part of the Labre mission, demonstrating how service with the organization challenges assumptions many students have about the homeless community by highlighting the unique, human experiences behind the label, Ruano said.

There are countless harmful misconceptions about the homeless community which overlook the systems and circumstances that lead people to experience it, according to Church.

“You can’t judge someone based on how they present. Really anyone can be affected by [homelessness]”.

Many Chicagoans view the homeless community as dangerous, lazy or somehow responsible for their circumstances, but according to Church, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The problems the homeless community are facing have become increasingly visible as homeless encampments across the city have been subject to “sweeps,” where city employees are meant to conduct cleanings where they pick up trash, but often go farther by destroying tents and belonging or taking mobility aids like wheelchairs, according to Labre’s guest speaker for Nov 5, Rev. Steph Coleman. 

Coleman serves as the pastor at Mayfair Presbyterian Church and Ravenswood Presbyterian Church. She has been working alongside organizations in her community in the midst of these sweeps to protect the homeless population’s encampments and sense of security.

The city is facing debates over how to handle these encampments and whether the cleanings are an appropriate way to address them. These conversations have highlighted the importance of what Church already emphasized for Labre volunteers — building connections with people experiencing homelessness instead of simply looking at their situation as a problem to be solved.

“What I believe is we’re all neighbors,” Moch said. “We all live in Chicago.”

Labre’s mission isn’t solving these individuals experiencing homelessness’ problems and the stigmas surrounding homelessness singlehandedly, Moch said, but rather serving them in small ways  to help in whatever ways the volunteers can. 

Kenny is an individual currently experiencing homelessness who Labre volunteers regularly encounter on the State/Lake route. Kenny’s mother attended Loyola for theater, and he said he feels a special connection with the group. 

“It’s been a true blessing for me,” Kenny said. “You guys come at the certain times that I really needed you.”