A dream of Wheaton helping the homeless

I have a dream of opening a homeless campus in downtown Wheaton at the old Wheaton Central site. We have started The Better Angels of our Nature Foundation to purchase, finance, zone and develop the 22 acres. The foundation will serve as the permanent steward of this great new facility.

To educate myself, and our army of compassion soldiers, we are networking with homeless shelters throughout Chicagoland. We spent a recent weekend photographing and journaling the human face and voice of homelessness. It was one of the finest days I have ever spent on earth.

We have been guided to the city of Wheaton as the epicenter of our mission for the exact same reason many of you feel it is the wrong choice. The Wheaton I know is beautiful, not for the city and parks but for its people. I have seen firsthand the love Wheaton residents have for their children, friends and neighbors. I know in their hearts, they yearn to make a positive difference in people’s lives, to be the change they wish to see in our world.

I get it. I see the mountain. Our mission will be difficult. We have to remove the monetary equation from the dialogues and present a persuasive argument for the heavenly equation in this debate.

We will be an attraction to the world, a compassionate community championing the plight of the abused and homeless in our world. Kind and grateful people will no longer beg for their living, but will have a dignified and honest means of earning and deserving their modest sustenance.

Cannot ordinary everyday people come together for a common purpose and achieve the extra ordinary? In the final analysis, are we or are we not our brothers’ keepers?

Tom Cherrington

Wheaton