2022 Christmas Photo Album

The 2022 Holiday Season brought joy and cheer to the families and individuals sheltered at CCO. Each child received a stocking filled with toys, treats, and a new pair of pajamas. They each wore their new pj’s to the CCO Christmas Party, where they got to meet Santa, receive gifts, and celebrate the holidays with their family. The Christmas Party featured CCO Board President Chris Spicer as Santa Claus, loads of sweet and savory treats, and a hot chocolate station. The crowd went wild when Santa arrived with his bags of gifts!

The celebrated season would not be possible without volunteers who made the party exceptional. Thanks to all who worked as elves in Santa’s Workshop, sorting, wrapping, and decorating Christmas presents for the big day. Christmas at Cornerstone would not be possible without your generous donation of toys for children and gifts for teens and adults. Many thanks!

We hope you enjoy the 2022 photo album. Enjoy the smiling faces found in it!

Photo Credit: Nathan Cameron

CCO Family Portraits with Santa

CCO Christmas Party Album…

You can support families at CCO by making a financial donation today!

CCO Staff & Christmas Volunteers…

2023 Charitable Resolutions & Team CCO

Are you looking for a 2023 charitable fitness resolution? Only 9 Team CCO guaranteed entry slots remain for the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (BACM)! Secure your spot today and become part of a dedicated team committed to providing shelter, meals, and wrap-around services for families and single adults experiencing homelessness!

Running for a charity is a great way to support a work you care about. It opens the doors for friends and family to throw their support behind you for a good cause.” Click here to learn more about Ted Jindrich and his commitment to charitable fitness and CCO. A long-time Team CCO runner, and board member, Ted has participated in 14 marathons since 2015 and has raised thousands of dollars for CCO shelter guests.

Most of us haven’t run one marathon. That’s ok! Team CCO welcomes walkers, joggers, and seasoned runners to participate. Your charitable fitness and fundraising goals will make a difference in the day-to-day lives of families and individuals experiencing homelessness. People like Sandra found critical help at CCO. Click here to read about Sandra’s Path to Peace. Last year, funds raised through Team CCO provided nearly 2,000 nights of shelter and over 6,000 meals!

Are you ready to join the team? Click here to visit the BACM Charity Team page. Once there, click the “Participate with this charity” button. Also, be sure to complete the Team CCO Participant Waiver form. See the image below for instructions.

Running the Chicago Marathon isn’t for everyone. We understand that. Perhaps you’d like to support CCO by donating new or gently-used items or making a financial donation. Whatever you choose, we are deeply grateful that you have partnered with CCO to provide shelter to vulnerable Chicagoans. Thank you!

Letter from the Executive Director

Dear CCO Supporter,

Merry Christmas from all of us at Cornerstone Community Outreach! I am so grateful that you have partnered with us in the past. CCO’s shelter guests need your support more than ever. Safe shelter remains a critical need. At Cornerstone, families and single adults experiencing homelessness receive holistic care and wrap-around services as they journey toward permanent housing.

I would like to ask you to continue to be a financial partner with Cornerstone Community Outreach. Our objective is to disrupt the cycle of poverty by providing safe shelter while exploring long-term housing solutions for our clients. While at Cornerstone, our residents experience a higher quality of life through professional, compassionate care that helps them on the road to permanent housing.

I hope you’ll take a moment and read Sandra’s story. Her path to peace has been a long one. Sandra and her 11-year-old daughter arrived at Cornerstone in a courageous move to escape the cycle of abuse in her life. She described the time before arriving at Cornerstone as the “lowest point in my life.” Thankfully, while with us, she found the support, care, and renewal that she needed. Today, she’s housed and employed using her lived experience to help other families who are homeless. I’m grateful that Sandra dared to escape her harmful past and found a new start at Cornerstone!
Click here to read about Sandra’s Path to Peace.

CCO is one of Chicago’s largest homeless shelters committed to providing immediate safe shelter and pathways to permanent housing for families and individuals from all walks of life. We welcome over 325 households each year in collaboration with the City of Chicago and a team of nonprofit partners. CCO prioritizes inclusivity, accepting clients from difficult circumstances by supporting many household structures, including intact families, single adults, LGBTQ+ families, and more. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure everyone has access to safe housing, nutritious food, and, most importantly, dignity, no matter their plight.

I would like to invite you to be part of more success stories like Sandra’s by financially supporting our vital work with a 100% tax-deductible donation. Have a wonderful holiday season! Best wishes in the coming year from all of us at CCO!

Andrew Winter

Executive Director

Cornerstone Community Outreach (EIN 36-3670992) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Denise, from Isolation to Hope

“In my storage unit, I was too cold to rest. I wanted a place to lay my head down and sleep. I would wrap up in ten blankets, trying to get warm.”

– Denise

Denise seems to have an endless abundance of joy. She’s a very petite woman in her late 50s with bright eyes and a wide, welcoming smile. She exudes positivity and wields an upbeat personality. Denise had a solid and consistent work history. For 30 years, she worked at a major Chicago company. In 1979, she began a part-time position in the mailroom. During her years on the job, she got promoted twelve times, working her way up to full-time Engineering Clerk. After taking early retirement and giving funds to her son to pay for his college education, Denise felt she needed to return to work to make ends meet. She found a job as a secretary for a moving company. After a few years, that company relocated to Florida. Denise found herself unemployed and alone. Too young for social security but old enough to experience age discrimination when looking for work, she knew she needed help.

Finding a job proved difficult. Denise eventually lost her apartment. She had an outdoor storage space that measured 10 feet by 10 feet in a lot on the south side of Chicago. It held all the items from the apartment she lost, and with nowhere else to live, Denise moved into it. Without any heat and only a few flashlights for light, Denise prayed, read her Bible, and cried a river in that storage unit. Keeping clean was a real challenge. When she tried to wash up in a public restroom, she endured looks and comments from people who seemed to fear or despise her. Her former life was utterly lost.

Denise stayed in her storage unit for three long years and throughout notoriously harsh Chicago winters. She often rode the public transit system to escape the cold. “I was tired of riding the buses to stay warm, but no one ever robbed me. An angel must have been sitting beside me.” Throughout those years, Denise hid these circumstances from her son, who lived out of state.

Hard-working, sweet, and struggling to survive, Denise had been forced so far out on the margins of society that she couldn’t find her way back. This past January, Denise arrived at Cornerstone. After three years of living alone, one would think that Denise would find sharing a shelter space with 74 other women at Naomi Shelter nearly impossible. Not so! Denise soon began to encourage women younger than herself, giving wisdom and helping to defuse tense situations.

While at Cornerstone, Denise felt that God told her, “I’m giving you the rope, but it’s up to you to grab ahold and pull yourself up.” She did just that. With the help of her case manager, Denise completed security guard training, earned her PERC (Permanent Employment Registration Card), and got a full-time job as a security officer. When speaking about Naomi Shelter staff, Denise said, “They supported me. The case managers got to know me and took time with me. I felt they respected me.”

For the last eight months, Denise has worked full-time as a security officer for a domestic violence shelter that serves women with children. She enjoys her work immensely. The day Denise moved into her apartment, she shouted, “Lord, You have been good to me!” She then sat down and cried tears of gratitude.

Denise’s story is about age discrimination, isolation, and hope. Although she had a solid work history and experience, Denise struggled to find a job which caused her long stretch of homelessness. She sees her arrival at Cornerstone as a turning point in her life. Once she had shelter and support, she climbed out of the situation she was stuck in. We have been blessed by her stay and applaud the employer that saw what we see in Denise – a resilient, enthusiastic, hard-working woman who simply needed a job.

  • Denise Hardy, as told to Beth Nicholls, originally published on November 25, 2015

I hope you enjoyed reading how Denise moved from isolation in her storage unit to hope and opportunity at Cornerstone and beyond. CCO needs your support to continue the critical work of welcoming anyone experiencing homelessness. Please consider donating today. Your gift could transform lives and bring hope to those who need it most. Click here to visit our Donate Page.
Thank you!

  • Beth Nicholls, Cornerstone Community Outreach

Sandra’s Path to Peace

“The path to peace is a lifelong journey. Sometimes you’re on a paved road. 

Sometimes you’re walking on a gravel or dirt road.

 It’s still your journey. It’s not just for a bit of time. It’s for a lifetime.”

Sandra

“My daughter Isabella was only 11 years old when we had the most surreal conversation of her young life. It was a Saturday morning in June of 2021. Secretly, we discussed the abuse we faced daily. We were no longer going to be told we were worthless and substandard. We decided it was time to leave my husband and California behind. Together, we looked at a map of the United States and chose Chicago.

From that moment forward, we quietly and methodically carried out our escape plan. Isabella and I came back from the laundromat with fresh, clean clothes. We folded and placed them carefully into Isabella’s dresser we had emptied earlier. To anyone looking on, it appeared that we were doing regular household chores. Internally, we were fighting a storm of fear mixed with absolute determination as we prepared to go. It was all done in stealth mode, very fast, very ‘hush-hush.’ When my husband left Monday morning, we took the clothes, identification, and precious photos out of Isabella’s dresser and put them into our suitcase. Lisa, Isabella’s beloved teddy bear, came along with us. We were moving halfway across the country, leaving the certainty of pain in California. The uncertainty of the unknown lay ahead. Inwardly, we felt a gentle gust of hope roll over us as the bus carried us away.


I was only seven years old when my mother died. She passed away two days after my youngest sister was born. It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck our family. In a flash, everything changed. I had grown up with abuse from my stepdad. When my mom died, my two older siblings and I were shuffled back and forth between our three aunties’ houses. My three younger siblings, which included my baby sister, were put with their biological grandmother, my stepdad’s mom. She was a violent woman and thought my younger siblings should never see us. We only lived five houses away from each other in a small Mississippi town, but we were a world apart. Sometimes my little brother would sneak over to see us. She would come flying down the road beating him and dragging him all the way home. He just wanted to see us. These memories of fractured relationships have stayed with me. They influenced the decisions that have formed my future. 

Scarcity also played a role in my life. My upbringing was impoverished. Everyone I knew was struggling to get by. I’m not ashamed of my background. I believe it’s what made me want to go into social work. I felt driven to be part of the solution and help others. I worked hard in school and went on to college. I graduated from Mississippi Valley State University with a degree in Social Work. Through college, I learned to set goals and achieve them. My friendships became like family. I began to grow a strong support network and understand its importance. As I worked toward my degree, I could feel the variability and chaos of home replaced by a set routine with some sense of order. I understood that my life experiences could help and benefit others. Little did I know that in the future, the splintered pain of the past would grow into a vast support network for myself, Isabella, and other families with similar experiences.


The Greyhound arrived at the Chicago Station. Isabella and I were free from our life in California. Tired and apprehensive, I held onto the hope that in Chicago, we would find a home where we wouldn’t endure endless criticism and torment. I found a rooming house-type situation on the Southside of Chicago. It was just a bed. No meals. No help. We had to walk several miles to a dollar store to buy food. We had arrived in a food desert. It was tough. I knew we needed to get out of there and find a place that offered us some assistance and practical support. From my phone, I Googled “Homeless Shelter for Families.” Cornerstone popped up, so we got on a train and headed to the north side. Hannah Shelter had space for us! The kitchen had put a few plates of food aside. That night we dined on spaghetti, coleslaw, and chicken. We came hungry, the food was good, and we were glad to have it.

I was 35 when we arrived at Hannah Shelter. Most parents living there were in their early 20s and had younger children. The younger moms came to me for advice. I worked in social services in Los Angeles. I was glad to offer help, encouragement, and resources that could get us on our feet. We were in it together. It felt good to use my education and work experience to help others. 

While living at Cornerstone, I was allowed to train as a Life Coach. The training empowered me to start my own life coaching business, Path2Peace. Subsequently, Chicago Hopes asked me to facilitate parent support groups for the moms at Hannah Shelter. Chicago Hopes (CH) is a non-profit that provides academic support, mentorship, and services to parents and children experiencing homelessness. CH offers these essential services inside Hannah Shelter, so it is accessible for shelter guests. One day, I was meeting with the Family Engagement staff person,  I told her, “Your job is so cool. I would love to have your job.” Then she left! Chicago Hopes offered me the job. That’s how I became the Family Engagement Administrator! They only interviewed me as a formality. The job was always mine. I continue to do parent workshops, but I love my new position. It was another opportunity to uplift young moms recovering from homelessness, poverty, and abuse.

Isabella and I spent this Thanksgiving with my baby sister and my other siblings. My baby sister and I have been talking a lot. We hadn’t had a relationship until last year. Now, we’re making up for lost time! We weren’t able to be sisters before but we’re grown now. We don’t need someone to tell us whether we can talk to each other. Nobody is going to whoop us for behaving like sisters. And that’s what we are. 

Like our first meal at Cornerstone, our first meal in our new home was spaghetti. I felt gratitude and immense pride as we set up our new place. I knew it would be a home filled with love and safety, a true home. After a year in our basement apartment, we were able to move up to another unit in the same building. We cleaned out the old space and gave thanks. It cared for us that year that we lived there. That year of new beginnings and new relationships on our path to ever-growing peace and connection. 

I recalled the field trip we took to the zoo just a few days before moving from the shelter into our apartment. I felt free at the zoo with the moms and kids from Hannah Shelter. It was a warm summer day, and the sky poured. We all began screaming, laughing, and running in the rain. It seemed like everyone felt a surge of joy and peace at that moment. No matter what we had all been through, we were together. We supported each other through the hard times and the good times, too. I felt like the deluge ended all the pain and mistreatment. It was the end of homelessness and the end of being abused for Isabella and me. It was a perfect way to end it all.”


“She was bent but not broken.

She fainted but did not fail

and rose to the challenge to overcome each obstacle thrown her way.” 

– Shirena Houston, Hannah Shelter Program Manager, when asked to comment about Sandra


“I want to thank my Program Director and Case Manager,

Shirena Houston,

and the Cornerstone Community Outreach staff

for your love and support during one of the lowest moments of my life.”

– Sandra


This true story was written from conversations between Sandra and Beth Nicholls. 

Names have been changed. 

2021 Annual Report – Your Amazing Impact!

Click the images below to read the 2021 CCO Annual Report. In it, you’ll find exciting information about the good things happening every day at CCO. The graphic above shows that 104 households (192 individuals) moved out of CCO into their own homes in 2021! Now that’s cause for celebrating!

Please consider making a financial donation that would improve the lives of people experiencing homelessness. A $25 donation covers the cost of one person for 24 hours at one of CCO’s shelters. Your donation will provide safe shelter, nutritious meals, and wrap-around services to a person in need. Click here to support CCO’s mission to address homelessness, provide shelter, accept people, and help them find a home.


30 New Beds – Respite from Uncertainty

People can have a respite from the fear and uncertainty of sleeping in their car, on the train, or outside. They can have a shower, meals, and a bed. More than that, they can have a renewed spirit and a renewed sense of hope.
– Eve Haycock, Naomi Women’s Shelter Supervisor

Thirty additional beds have been added to Cornerstone’s Naomi Women Shelter for Women. These crucial beds, staff, and services will help bridge the gap between vulnerable women experiencing homelessness and safe, supportive shelter.

In 2021, 30% of women arriving at Naomi Women’s Shelter had lived on the street the night before. Eve Haycock, Naomi Women’s Shelter Supervisor, states that several women had been living for months in their cars while working part-time, minimum wage jobs. Without a secure place to sleep, eat, and recover from work, they were stuck in part-time positions, which lengthened and compounded their experience with homelessness. Fortunately, having safe shelter and wrap-around services has allowed many women to gain full-time employment, which increases the likelihood of getting stable housing.

Eve had also noticed that this group of new arrivals were often unwell, and some needed immediate medical care. One new shelter guest had been on the streets and suffering from cancer. Case managers and on-site Heartland Alliance Health medical professionals swiftly connected her with the Rush Hospital Oncology Department. Heartland Alliance Health has been a valuable partner in the effort to improve the health of CCO’s medically fragile shelter guests.

Thirty additional beds mean that 30 more women will have a raised quality of life, access to essential services, and a place to build relationships. In short, they will be allowed to live instead of simply surviving.

The night before I came to CCO, I slept out on a park bench.” Take a moment and read Carla’s story from the CCO Archive.

We hope you will join Cornerstone in meeting the needs of vulnerable women. Please consider making a donation that allows CCO to establish a computer lab, purchase a new copier, and other essential and programmatic necessities. Or consider donating to help pay for shelter beds and supportive services.

Your financial gift improves lives in a very real way. Click here to visit CCO’s donation page.

Congratulations Carla!

From the CCO Archive: Carla’s story was originally published in September of 2013.

“The night before I came to CCO, I slept out on a park bench. I said I would never stay in a shelter. And what did God do? He put me right in a shelter and blessed me there.

 I thought people in a shelter had to sleep on the floor. I was afraid that people would steal my stuff and that it would be dirty. I thought I would have to leave in the early morning and stay out all day. Naomi House has been totally different. I have a case manager, three meals a day, I didn’t have to sleep on the floor or leave during the day. It isn’t dirty. I’ve improved mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally.”

“Recently, I got a housing call and I was told, ‘It’s a go! Start packing!’ I have a place and I’m so excited about my little apartment! It’s perfect for me. And it makes me think about how good God is!”

-Carla, as told to Beth Nicholls

It would be difficult to talk to Carla and miss her determination and gratitude. After months of hard work, Carla turned the key to her own apartment. She looks back on her experience at the Naomi Shelter for Women as a stepping stone to stable housing. It has been a joy to work alongside her! Congratulations Carla!


Carla came to Naomi Shelter for Women from a park bench. Many shelter guests are welcomed into CCO after sleeping in doorways, vehicles, city buses, trains, and other places not intended for human habitation. In 2021, 30% of shelter guests entering the Naomi Men or Women’s Shelter Programs were “sleeping rough” the night before. Sleeping outside diminishes the physical and mental health of people experiencing homelessness. It makes them vulnerable to sleep deprivation, hunger, and violence.

Please stand with Cornerstone by helping to provide safe shelter space and permanent housing for Chicagoans experiencing poverty and homelessness. Your donation will ensure that beds, meals, and wrap-around services that available to someone sleeping on the street tonight. Click here to donate today!

ED Sandy Ramsey Announces Retirement

“Dear CCO Staff, Shelter Guests, Volunteers, and Supporters,

To say that I have enjoyed working at CCO would be such an understatement.  It has been a thrill, an adventure, and a great ride.  I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.  Working at CCO with wonderful families and single people has made me a better person and I am thankful for each and every story I have been privileged to be a part of.  

The CCO staff has worked tirelessly alongside me and I am grateful to them for their faithfulness to our important work.  I could not have done this for over 30 years without them.

My successor as Executive Director will be Andrew Winter, who has been working alongside me for many years as Chief Financial Officer and has already been leading the way for the last couple of years.  He has exhibited great capability and compassion, and I know he is up to the task.

I will miss CCO, the staff, and all our residents more than I can express.  It is bittersweet to be retiring, but I am also excited about this new chapter in my life. Thank you for your support after all these years.”

  • Sandy Ramsey

CCO staff, shelter guests, volunteers, and supporters wish Sandy all the best as she embarks on the next phase of her life. She will be truly missed. Stay tuned for an upcoming tribute to Sandy and her many incredible years at CCO.

Seeds of Hope – CCO’s Rooftop Garden

Gardening feeds my soul, and I’m so happy to share it with others.”
-Laura Thiessen, CCO Gardener

Long-time CCO volunteer Laura Thiessen had dreams of establishing a healing, fertile space that would benefit CCO shelter guests. In 2021, Laura’s vision of creating a tranquil, productive garden for shelter guests on the Hannah Shelter rooftop became a reality.

“I love to use gardening as a tool to connect with people. It’s an honor to bring gardening and green space to CCO’s shelter guests. Several women from the Naomi Shelter and myself planted calendula flowers this week. Even amidst the sleeping, winter-browned garden, the Naomi ladies were soaking in the sunshine and enjoying the outdoors. One Naomi guest had planted carrots in her garden bucket last year. We had so much fun digging them up, sharing them, and laughing at the different sizes. I believe that human interactions and garden spaces like this one can revive the soul, unite, and empower us. We can enjoy the outdoors, grow what herbs and produce we can, right where we are, and fellowship together. It’s a joy to see the happiness the garden brings to all ages. It awakens the wonder of nature and gives us a platform to grow seeds of hope!”

Along with delicious produce, vibrant and fun programs have grown from the rooftop garden project. Women at the Naomi Shelter have enjoyed learning how to make Herbs N Me Hand Cream with Laura. The hand cream is made from calendula flowers and other natural materials from the CCO Rooftop Garden.

Tuesday Tea is CCO’s weekly garden party (weather permitting). The casual gathering takes place in the CCO Garden on the Hannah Shelter roof. Women and children from the Hannah Shelter are welcome to join the Naomi Women, many of whom have planted and nurtured the garden. Delicious tea is brewed from the herbs found in the raised beds. Everyone joins in watering plants and picking produce that is ready to eat. Tuesday Tea is a time to celebrate the success of the rooftop garden project and enjoy the people and plants that occupy the space. The children join in on the gardening fun or play on the rooftop playground nearby.

“Grace,” a Naomi Women’s shelter guest, grew a tiny watermelon and enjoyed sharing it with everyone at Tuesday Tea. After taking a bite, she danced around the picnic table and sang, “I’m a farmer!” Grace danced for the sheer joy of nurturing and growing fruit that she could share with others. Recently, Grace moved from the Naomi Women’s program into her apartment, and she’s coming back to volunteer her time and energy into the garden.

Laura and the garden ladies have hopes for a produce booth at a local Chicago Farmers Market. Last year, the garden produced cucumbers, watermelon, butternut squash, sweet peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, sunflowers, kale, lettuce, broccoli, basil, dill, fennel, calendula, lilacs, cosmos, and wildflowers. Laura is looking to the future and, with the help of CCO shelter guests, planting the seeds she carefully saved from last year. She hopes they will produce a beautiful and life-giving space that brings hope and recovery to those sheltered at CCO.

The garden and all its vibrant outcroppings would not be possible without the generous support of Gethsemane Gardens and Hearthstone Terrace, two local businesses that know the value of the natural world in healing and uniting people. Thank you! And thank you, Laura, for creating a space that teaches, restores, and revives!

Please consider donating to CCO today! Your gift will ensure safe shelter and supportive services for families and single adults experiencing homelessness. Click here to visit our Donation Page. Thank you!