On behalf of Cornerstone, we thank you for making this Holiday Season truly outstanding for all our shelter guests. We want to thank everyone who purchased gifts for the children, parents, and single adults at CCO. We’re deeply grateful to everyone who gave financially. Special thanks to the tireless elves in Santa’s workshop who wrapped Christmas gifts. A beautiful Christmas at CCO has been possible through your care and support!
Read MoreNews
Letter From the Executive Director
Dear Friends:
Greetings from Cornerstone Community Outreach (CCO)! We find ourselves at the end of another adventurous year and we are so grateful you have been a part of it! We have had continued success in housing our shelter participants, thanks to some new housing initiatives offered by the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services and All Chicago. Two stories come to mind – first, a senior Vietnam vet who has been homeless for over 40 years now holds keys to his own apartment! Even at CCO, he remained homeless for several years, but thanks to our faithful and persistent staff, he stabilized enough to receive permanent housing. A woman lived on a park bench for months. She wouldn’t even come inside to our women’s program. CCO staff repeatedly engaged her in conversation, eventually earning her trust. From there, small steps followed by bigger movement and finally an apartment of her own! On top of that, staff worked to help her reunite with her daughters whom she had not seen in a few years, who had been looking for her!
Read MoreGiving Tuesday is Here!
It’s Giving Tuesday! Join CCO for a day of giving! Giving Tuesday follows Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. It’s a global event that’s intended to highlight ways to get involved and give to charitable organizations. Please join us in supporting CCO’s mission to “address homelessness, provide shelter, accept people, and help them find a home.”
Here are a few ways you can give…
Read MoreWe are Thankful for You!
Happy Thanksgiving from the staff and shelter guests at Cornerstone Community Outreach! Today we are thankful for you, our CCO supporters. If you have given financially to the important programs and services at Cornerstone, we thank you! If you have volunteered your time and energy to CCO, we thank you! If you have donated new or gently used items to CCO, we thank you! We can’t do this work without you.
Read More85 Homeless to Housed & 84,381 Meals!
Please join us in celebrating the 85 households who successfully moved from homelessness to housing so far this year! Families of all sizes, as well as single adults, have continued to find the shelter, support, and care that leads to housing success. Just one person stepping out of homelessness and into their own apartment is a cause for celebration. However, we want to truly rejoice with all the families and single adults who now have a place to call home!
Read MoreChristmas is Coming
The Holiday Season is just around the corner!
Many of you have put Cornerstone shelter guests at the top of your gift list in the past, and we hope you will do so again this year.
Read MoreAn Advent Calendar that Benefits CCO!
Ever since Cornerstone Community Outreach opened its doors over three decades ago, we have always sought to be a light in the Uptown neighborhood showing care and respect to those that are in need, whether that be a place to stay, a warm cup of coffee, or fare for public transportation to go to doctor appointments, housing appointments or important meetings.
Read MoreVeterans Deserve Better
In 2017, Uptown and Cornerstone sadly lost one of their regulars; a veteran of both the war in Vietnam and the mean streets of Chicago. Through all his trauma and tragedy, I will always remember Dan as a peaceful soul who loved to read novels and chill out with a couple of his buddies. Even though it came to him, Dan was someone who make every effort to steer clear of the drama. No matter what was going on, I always loved to bump into him and have a good chat with my older buddy!
Read MoreCCO Halloween Party Photo Album!
See some photos from CCO Halloween parties!
Read More500 Consecutive Days: An Exceptional Run for Shelter!
Most people would never consider running 500 days straight through snow, heat, rain, and a global pandemic but Tim Necas is not most people. Tim’s desire to break a former running streak of 35 days in a row gradually turned into a personal mission to run 500 consecutive days. He did it while raising funds for those experiencing homelessness at CCO.
Read More