I learned about the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jane Addams, in my undergraduate studies in Social Work. Jane Addams, founder of Hull House, a settlement house for immigrants in 1889, was one of the great ancestors of social work in our time. Hull House Association established the Lincoln Square Head Start Daycare and After-School program housed at Berry Memorial United Methodist Church in 1995. Over the years Berry Church and Hull House Association have worked at a space sharing and leasing relationship that has provided safe space and services for 80 children and their families per year. The voices of children reciting the alphabet or singing “Feliz Navidad” as they descend the stairs to play in the gymnasium has provided the background for daily life at Berry Church The lease with Hull House has continued to provide over a third of the operating budget for our church helping us to keep the doors open to so many. That is why the sudden news that Hull House Association was ending, closing the doors and letting staff and families go came as a hard blow to all of us. We tried to see it as an opportunity of change and wondered where God was at work.

The inquiries from real estate agents and other social service organizations came very quickly. When Albany Park Community Center’s CEO, Brendan Foster, contacted me and told me that Albany Park CC was very interested in stepping in and managing the Head Start and after-school programs at Berry Church, our Administrative Leadership was excited to enter into the dialogue. Foster and all of the Staff at Albany Park CC were sincere about keeping the Lincoln Square Head Start program intact and expanding the services of Albany Park CC to include the new center at Berry. They have worked hard and fast to obtain the city and state licensing to operate with as short of an interruption in services as possible. Jason Mahoney, an attorney and good friend of Berry Church (Jess Mahoney”s husband and Jack’s Dad) had already been helping our Board of Trustees to draft an updated and revised contract with Hull House. When we contacted Jason on very short notice in need of a new contract with Albany Park Community Center, Jason took time off of his job and spent an afternoon on Friday, January 27th to hammer out an agreement that is beneficial and agreeable to both parties. A soon as an official re-opening date is confirmed, I will share that information with you.

A Big Thank-You to Jason and our Board chairperson, Doug Renkenberger, along with all of our Leadership for seeing this as a possible new ministry partnership that will continue to help Berry Church be a home and safe space for so many children, families, teachers, and staff. I am excited to enter this new partnership with a good organization like Albany Park CC that is truly our neighbor.

Thanks be to God.

Peace,
Pastor Sherrie Lowly