Chicago Bears score touchdown with veterans

Winning an NFL title does not look promising for the Chicago Bears this season. Yet in the eyes of local military veterans, the Bears are already the champs though the season is a long way from over.

What has led to such optimism in the Bears fortunes is the enthusiasm over a tremendous display of charity. The Chicago Bears Foundation has chosen Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans (MSHV) to receive a $100,000 grant as part of the Bears celebration of their 100th season.

The Wheaton-based nonprofit organization will officially receive the grant before the start of the Bears-Lions game at Soldier Field on Sunday, November 10. The Bears Foundation has recognized the service programs provided by MSHV and nine other non-profit organizations as Bears Community All-Pros, each receiving part of $1 million for charities. Among the other winners are Easterseals Dupage and Fox Valley and GiGi’s Playhouse.

The Bears Foundation recognized the Midwest Shelter’s vision of ensuring that no veteran is left behind. Shelter board member Illiana Ebbole and her husband Jim, are Bears season ticket holders. After Ebbole read about the grant and how non-profits will benefit, she approached MSHV Executive Director, Christine Lewis about applying for the Bears Foundation grant. In describing the Midwest Shelter, the Bears Foundation would learn that last year alone, more than 600 veterans and their families received help in the Freedom Commissary and other shelter services. The Shelter’s history goes back by at least 12 years, according to co-founders Bob “Doc” Adams and Dirk Enger. MSHV opened its doors in 2007.

“We had seen on the streets of Chicago and in the suburbs, veterans with signs ‘we’ll work for food. I’m a veteran, please help.’ We found that to be disgraceful. We got together and thought what we could do to help those men and women coming home from the wars around the world. Their bodies, minds and spirits shattered, their hearts broken by their experiences and we just knew,” Adams said.

Adams is a Vietnam combat veteran, medic, and licensed clinical social worker. Enger is a Gulf War combat veteran. Adams and Enger provide veterans and their families with housing and supportive services.

The Chicago Bears Foundation grant will help to fully fund the shelter’s Freedom Commissary program. Emily Kehoe, development officer of MSHV, is incredibly grateful over the generous contribution for funding the Freedom Commissary and for funding an outreach vehicle.

“We still have a lot of work to do to raise the money we need to keep our veterans housed, employed, and with basic essential needs, including paying off the building of our administration office and expanding, so we can have a bigger reach within our service area,” Kehoe said.

A sign over the supply room door reads Freedom Commissary. Veterans Fulfillment Manager John Dixon waits inside for veterans. Dixon and a couple of volunteers are helping veterans shop for supplies such as paper products, microwaves, coffee makers, pots and pans, sheets, blankets, pants, shirts, sweaters, and hats and gloves. A portion of the Bears Foundation grant money will fully fund the Commissary and help the shelter afford a vehicle for transporting supplies to veterans that can’t make it out to the Freedom Commissary.

“Other social service agencies actually come here and shop including Hines VA and Volunteers of America of Illinois,” Dixon said.

Dixon tells of a veteran turned police officer who had a few issues.

“We got him back with clothes, household supplies, and furniture. He gave me a hug and started with an ‘ugly cry’ because he was so emotional and grateful,” he said.

Doc Adams is proud of the shelter where he served as board president for ten years. “We’ve become a cutting edge organization in Illinois. We are the model for the Veterans Administration in this area and the model for the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.”

The Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans provides shelter, employment, and support services for veterans in Kane, Kendall, Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, LaSalle, and Will Counties. The website is www.helpaveteran.org. The Midwest Shelter has pages on how to support veterans through the shelter and visit the Facebook page and “support our community heroes,” Kehoe said.

If you can’t make it out to the November 10 Bears-Lions game in Chicago, perhaps you’ll participate in a game day viewing party hosted by MSHV staff, board, and volunteers. “They are going to be all over the MSHV service area in bars and restaurants and it’s a wonderful way to celebrate and learn more about Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans,” Kehoe said. Interested in a Watch Party, check the Facebook Page www.facebook.com/Servingourveterans.

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