At some point in time, society decided that it was okay to look down upon those who have nothing. Many people view our homeless population to be a menace but at the same time, many people don’t see our homeless as well. For Phil Wardlow, the curtain was pulled back for him on the topic of homelessness when he decided to volunteer along with a friend in 2014. It started with the idea to give back to his community by volunteering to be a chaperone at the Grundy Area PADS congregate shelter. In 2015, Phil was asked to be the Sunday night coordinator at the Peace Lutheran Church location where he got the opportunity to interface with the guest who come to stay. Through the interactions with the guest, Phil learned so much and came to realize how easy it is for a person to find themselves in this situation.
As Phil’s passion to help this homeless population grew, in 2016 Phil became a board member for Grundy PADS. At the time, PADS didn’t have additional programs to further assist shelter guests. It had bothered Phil that PADS would wish their guests at the congregate shelter well and be left to their own devices when the shelter would close during warm weather. When approached by members of the Continuum of Care about ‘Rapid Rehousing’ in 2017, Phil applied for a HUD grant. With the encouragement of the Grundy PADS board members and many supporters of his community, Grundy Area PADS places its first clients in apartments in 2018. Since then with case management and support to achieve self-sufficiency, Grundy Area PADS has assisted more than 50 individuals with a success rate estimated at 60%.
In this 21st century and with all its technological power to show different perspectives, CALL TO ACTION for homelessness is an opportune time for us humans to change how we treat and think about those who might not fit into our society. It’s time to get out of our old ways, it’s time to show compassion, get homelessness out from the shadows, and give the dignity of being recognized. Phil lived in his community for 40 years and never actually saw someone dealing with homelessness until he volunteered. Phil, now the Vice President of Grundy Area PADS states ‘there is a valuable lesson that we can learn from their experiences and he is proud to be a part of this call to action and looks forward to helping support as many people in his community.