After 25 years, Lazarus House's mission continues to expand to meet needs of community

After opening its doors in June 1997 as an emergency shelter, Lazarus House in St. Charles now works to meet the needs of its clients in many ways, from helping them access legal services to making sure they are getting the medical care they need.

“We've continued to grow with what the needs of the community are,” Lazarus House Executive Director Julie Purcell said. “We just continue to expand and try to serve as many people as we can. We went from providing just emergency services to adding a transitional living program. We also have a food-only program. There are food insecure people in the community. They can come and get food at our door.”

It also has an outreach program that provides such things as one-time rent, mortgage and utility assistance and ongoing rental subsidies to qualifying households. The program is funded through state and federal funds.

“Now, more than ever these services are essential,” St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek said in congratulating Lazarus House on its 25th anniversary. “I am very proud of the work they do to change the lives of people and offer individuals a place of hope.”

Lazarus House will celebrate its 25th anniversary during an open house celebration from 4 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 27 at its facility at 214 Walnut St. in downtown St. Charles. The event will feature tours of the facility as well as music and food.

“The 25th-anniversary celebration that we're doing is really just a way to celebrate the 25 years and to thank the community,” Purcell said. “We're going to be offering tours so we would love for people to come and see what they've helped us create.”

Lazarus House serves men, women and children connected to the schools of Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and western rural Kane County who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Lazarus House is the only emergency shelter serving central Kane County that is open around the clock, 365 days a year.

Lazarus House started in the former Salvation Army facility in Valley View but has been housed in what was St. Charles Free Methodist Church's building at 214 Walnut St. in downtown St. Charles since 1998. In 2018, Lazarus House purchased the building.

According to the Illinois Department of Human Services, on any given night in Illinois, an estimated 10,431 people are living in shelters and transitional housing programs, in parks and abandoned buildings and in cars and barns. The average stay in Lazarus House's emergency shelter is about two months.

“But people recently have been staying with us longer,” Purcell said. “It is a six-month program. We use the time to figure out the best place for them. It might be they need to move into a permanent supportive housing program or they might need a little extra time until we get them into a transitional living program. Some people come here and they just need enough time to save up to get back into an apartment. We have a difficult time finding apartments for our guests that they can afford. They may have lived in St. Charles their whole life or Geneva or Batavia and they can't afford to live here anymore.”

Lazarus House continues to face challenges caused by the pandemic. That includes having to put a limit on the number of people that can stay each night in the emergency shelter.

“Typically we say our capacity is approximately 78 people,” Purcell said. “But with the pandemic conditions and with the beds having to be six feet apart, we can only serve 48 people in the shelter.”

However, she said Lazarus House has not had to turn anybody away because of those restrictions.

“But we are quite full right now,” Purcell said. “We only have one or two beds open in each area. We have a transitional living center here too and so we're also minimizing how many people we put in a room together because those rooms are tiny. They are like dorm rooms.”

Lazarus House's transitional housing program is designed for individuals and families who have stayed at the shelter and are ready to begin living on their own. The program offers dormitory-style bedrooms, including rooms designed for families to stay together.

The nonprofit organization continues to look for new ways to help its clients.

“We're dipping our toe into the waters of creating a shared housing opportunity because there's not a lot of affordable housing in this area for renters anymore,” Purcell said. “We have a building that we're going to renovate and create some shared housing opportunity.”

The building is next to the shelter. Lazarus House received a Civic Image Award from the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce last year for its recent project to remodel a section of its emergency shelter to include a commercial kitchen, congregate bathroom for both men and women to use and a children's powder room for use at night. The flooring in the shelter was also replaced.

To help meet the needs of its clients, Lazarus House partners with other agencies such as the Tri City Health Partnership, which operates a free medical and dental clinic in downtown St. Charles just a few blocks from Lazarus House.

“When a guest comes into our shelter, if they have a need for medical and dental, that's something that we try to get them,” Purcell said. “They may have insurance through their job or they may have Medicaid. We just try to make sure that we get them connected with a medical or dental facility.”

Lazarus House also relies heavily on its volunteers.

“We have an amazing volunteer that is a financial planner,” Purcell said. “He comes in and works with our guests. And then we have a lawyer that comes in and volunteers his time to help people navigate through what they have going on. And then Tri City Family Services comes in and does parenting classes and wellness classes with our guests, and St. Charles Bank and Trust does a money smart class with our guests.”

Purcell emphasized that Lazarus House wouldn't be able to do what it does without the help of fellow Kane County residents.

“We use the tagline, 'Neighbors helping Neighbors,' she said. “And it's very true. We wouldn't be able to do everything we do without all of the people in this community stepping up and supporting their neighbors that are seeking services with us.”