DuPage PADS and St. Barnabas

St. Barnabas has a long tradition of service to PADS, which provides services to persons experiencing homelessness. We staff an overnight facility that gives temporary shelter, and we provide home-cooked meals for the guests. This is an opportunity for the kind of hands-on ministry St. Barnabas likes best. Because of COVID-19, this ministry has been temporarily suspended, but St. Barnabas continues to support PADS with significant financial donations. As soon as PADS resumes its regular services, St. Barnabas will be front and center to volunteer.

The history: Twenty-five years ago the churches of DuPage County joined with a new organization, DuPage PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter), to find a way to end homelessness in their communities.   

Recognizing that everyone needs nourishing food and a place to spend the night, we offered our church as an overnight PADS facility beginning in 2014. Over the past few years, we have had several successful concerts at St. Barnabas to benefit PADS.

Volunteers from St. Barnabas haved serve our PADS guests at our church and at surrounding churches: setting up on Sunday, shopping, doing laundry, cooking wonderful meals, cleaning up, and serving during the PADS overnights. Others gave financially to cover the costs and donated underwear, toothbrushes, and other items. All pray for our ministry. We worked together with four other congregations and two outside agencies. Individual people from outside our congregation also assisted and some of our guests volunteered their services.