County, DuPage Foundation raise almost $400K to help shelter homeless this winter

DuPage County and the DuPage Foundation will direct nearly $400,000 to DuPagePads to help the Wheaton-based nonprofit shelter those experiencing homelessness through the winter.

County board members agreed in December to allocate $200,000 from the county’s affordable housing fund to support DuPagePads after President and CEO April Redzic highlighted the demand for shelter.

The nonprofit’s board dedicated $150,000 — tripling the budgeted amount — to provide additional winter emergency shelter for people on a waitlist for rooms at an interim housing center DuPagePads operates in a former Downers Grove hotel. But that sum still wasn’t going to be enough.

“Pads requested $353,000 to shelter 70 people for 104 days until the weather is reliably warmer,” County Board Chair Deborah Conroy said. “Building on our community approach, I asked our friends at the DuPage Foundation if they could make an appeal to their donors to see if there was interest in helping shelter, secure shelter, for these folks.”

The response, Conroy said, was “tremendous.”

The foundation marshaled $190,000 from its emergency fund, donors, fund holders and network of area funding partners, officials announced this week.

“This is a true public-private response to a community concern,” said Conroy, who on Tuesday joined DuPage Foundation President and CEO Mike Sitrick in a ceremonial check presentation combining the foundation’s efforts and the county’s allocation.

“No one should be left out in the cold in the winter,” Sitrick said. “Ensuring that children, families and individuals who are struggling have a warm bed at night, to access the help they need, is crucial not only for the trajectory of their lives, but for the long-term health of our county.”

Within just one week, the foundation had the $190,000 committed between its emergency fund and about 25 funding partners, Sitrick said.

“One of our board members also reached out to her network, which resulted not only in significant funding support, but warm blankets and coats, which we donated directly to Pads,” he added.

Redzic said it was “pretty mind-blowing to hear how quickly folks moved into action when we shared our worry that people were going to freeze to death.”

“I will tell you we’ve reached 52 people so far and got them into a safe place to stay,” Redzic said.

County board member Paula Deacon Garcia, who chairs the panel’s finance committee, originally brought the issue forward. A formal vote is expected at the board’s Jan. 28 meeting.

“I’m just grateful to all of you for seeing the need like I did. The unhoused … (are) near and dear to, I think, all of our hearts here. We don’t want to see anyone suffer in DuPage County,” Deacon Garcia said.

It’s not the first time the county has rallied behind DuPagePads.

County board members awarded $5 million to help the organization acquire the hotel property that became the interim housing center. The county used $2 million in American Rescue Plan money, plus $3 million from the Community Development Block Grant fund.

DuPagePads prioritizes rooms in the center for parents with children and people fleeing domestic violence.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250116/news/county-dupage-foundation-raise-almost-400k-to-help-shelter-homeless-this-winter/