Walkers raise money for homeless center

Saturday’s sunny skies and temperatures above freezing were ideal for a morning winter walk to benefit the Wayside Center, a daytime center for the homeless in Elgin.

About 60 walkers took part in the “Walk-A-Mile In My Shoes” event to benefit the center, walking 1.5 miles from the Evangelical Covenant Church to the center, located at 1732 Berkley Ave. next to the Elgin PADS shelter.

“It was a beautiful day, we’re really blessed to have had a heat wave compared to the days before,” said Nancy Borst, of Sleepy Hollow, who walked with her husband, Steve Borst, their 16-year-old son, Mitchell, and their son’s friend, Seth Coleman.

Walkers were mostly members of Christ Community Church, which has campuses in Aurora and St. Charles, Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington and Harvest Bible Chapel, which has multiple suburban campuses.

Altogether, about 125 people took part in the third annual event, which also featured a raffle and silent auction, said Wayside Center Director Phil Wood. Minimum bids for auction items ranged from $5 for an alarm clock to $500 for a baseball autographed by Cubs great Ron Santo.

Walkers were encouraged to raise money from family and friends to benefit the center, which provides counseling and case management, in addition to lockers, laundry facilities, work clothes and computer access for its guests.

Wood said he expected the Walk-A-Mile event to raise about $7,500, including up to $4,000 from the raffle. The center has an annual budget of $180,000.

During the current economic recession, the center, which serves about 40 people a day, has had an increase of families and older women, Wood said. “We’ve seen more women in their 50s and 60s who raised families and now are trying to re-enter the work force,” he said.