Skokie center to help homeless transformed with help of community

SKOKIE, Ill. (CBS) -- It was a little over a year ago that CBS News Chicago visited the Niles Township respite center in north suburban Skokie , a day center for people who are struggling with homelessness.

It was a great place, but sorely in need of an update, new appliances, flooring, and more. But since the first visit, so much has happened, and the folks at the center said CBS News Chicago's story got the ball rolling.

When CBS News Chicago first met Township Supervisor Bonnie Kahn Ognisanti last year, she gave out some hard facts about homelessness.

"You don't have choices," Ognisanti said. "Where you're going to sleep, what you're going to eat, how you're going to be treated, where you can rest, and if you don't have these very simple things, it exacerbates everything else."

That's why she founded the Niles Township Respite Center in 2022 in the basement of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Skokie. It's a daytime space for people experiencing homelessness.

Last year, she showed the kitchen where the refrigerator wasn't cold, and the oven didn't work. Clients were making a whole chicken in a toaster oven.

That was then.

"The story that you all did … it reached some very generous people with compassionate hearts, and donations started pouring in," Ognisanti said.

They've since gotten a new oven, stovetop, and a brand new functional refrigerator and freezer.

"So we can use this kitchen," Ognisanti said.

But the center also needed work on its old bones. It came about in what was called a "domino effect of good."

Those dominos included:

Beth Doehner, with Tarkett, a flooring manufacturer that was looking for a community project to get involved with.

So she called Lisa Kaplan of Thryve, who called Michelle DeLuco from FloorsMD who got a whole team together. That led to a call to Matt Baumgartner from Executive Construction who was willing to help "bring new life to this space."

But they realized there was some asbestos in the floor.

So Baumgartner called Mike Andre from Maxxon Corp who was able to help with that problem and the project just kept blossoming.

In the lounge area, they put carpet tile. They took a wall out to make a room bigger and give clients enough space to relax and "do what they need to do." They were also planning to put in new flooring.

Ognisanti said the ceiling tiles were waterlogged and damaged. Those were all replaced.

"It gets me a little bit emotional," she said. "But the willingness to help was just beautiful."

And they all chipped in for free.

They estimate the whole project should have cost between $70,000 and $100,000.

And none of the folks who helped even live in the community.

"It doesn't matter where you live or where you are," Kaplan said. "But, if you put the people together, the magic can happen."

The Niles Township Respite Center has also continued to grow. It's added several mental health services, a housing specialist and a certified yoga specialist to help clients with their emotional and physical needs.

"This has always been a community effort and it only exists because we live in a community that wants to see this work done," Ognisanti said. "But now, I know that community's even larger than I thought it could ever be."