Friday, July 30, 2010

Sisterhouse: When it rains, it pours…

By Bonnie Johnson

Like many homes in the Chicagoland area, Friday night’s rains left our basement underwater at SISTERHOUSE.  This is an ordinary occurrence at any house in the Midwest, but the response was indeed extraordinary.  The ladies in our facility promptly responded: cleaning out basement, removing all damaged items, and sanitizing the space.  We’ve indeed been blessed, because these basement floods are very uncommon and infrequent.  More so, we’ve been blessed with some amazing women. 

Our residents, especially the women in Phase I and II of our program, work closely with job coaches, tutors, training instructors, and various agencies in town when they begin their job search.  The response to a simple household crisis proves that we have a group of highly employable and hard-working women who took no time to complain amidst the heavy lifting and unsettling conditions.  The community building, team-work, and common effort was a great introduction to the spirit of SISTERHOUSE and it serves as a reassurance that the life skills they learn here will no doubt carry them to great places as they move up through our phases and on to become independent and productive members of the greater Chicago community.

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