Heart to Heart News & Events

This October, we celebrate the work of Heart to Heart, a ministry grown at St. Gertrude that serves some of the most vulnerable residents in Edgewater and Rogers Park—senior citizens. The outreach program works both to connect those in need with programs they may be eligible for, and to provide practical help.

Volunteers drive seniors to Mass, doctors’ appointments, the grocery store, run errands, pick up prescriptions or check in with a phone call. With the help of dedicated volunteers, we have been able to help hundreds of seniors live quality, dignified, and independent lives in their own home.

Equally as important as tending to basic needs is the human connection that Heart to Heart provides. Social services at St. Gertrude is about showing love and care through a listening ear, a smile, a kind word, or a helping hand. It is about putting faith into action by loving our neighbors and tending to their needs.

Please consider supporting our work by volunteering or making a donation to Heart to Heart in church, at the Rectory, or online here. Donations made with a check make payable to St. Gertrude Parish with Heart to Heart written in the memo line. Thank you for supporting our work!

If you have any questions, I can be reached at psullivan@stgertrudechicago.org or 773.973.5464.

~ Patricia Sullivan

My name is Patricia Sullivan, and I received a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies in May 2022, from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. My business background includes database and office management experience in a mid-sized patent and trademark law firm.

Working as a volunteer this past year at the Archdiocese of Chicago Kolbe House Jail Ministry has allowed me to do in jail service, as well as accompanying men released after incarceration. I am an active participant in other organizations like the Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition, the Catholic Mobilizing Network, and Restore Justice Illinois.

I joined St. Gertrude during COVID and felt privileged to be a companion on the RCIA journey this past year, as well as a participant in the Peace and Justice Ministry. I look forward to the new challenge of guiding St. Gertrude’s long-standing Heart to Heart Ministry, servicing the Edgewater/Rogers Park communities. For me, growing in faith is a lifelong process moving us to continual and constant development, advancing in spirituality, coming up against social justice issues, and taking action towards improving conditions in our society.

In 1986, social worker Mary Ann Collins and a few other women from St Gertrude parish realized that their older Edgewater neighbors needed broader community assistance with grocery shopping and getting to/from medical appointments and procedures. Thus, the Heart to Heart Seniors Ministry was born.

The mission of Heart to Heart is to provide screened and caring volunteers who assist older adults throughout the Edgewater/Rogers Park neighborhoods so that they can remain independent and connected to our community for as long as possible. This contact with our staff and volunteers also reduces feelings of isolation and loneliness which so many of our seniors are experiencing. Additional volunteer services can now include visiting seniors, making well-being telephone calls to them, and sending greeting cards celebrating important events in their lives. When needed, we also make referrals to supportive services and/or public agencies on behalf of seniors who need them.

All Heart to Heart staff members and volunteers have completed VIRTUS training, a program created by the Catholic Church and monitored by staff of our Archdiocese to protect vulnerable populations such as Seniors. Additionally, our volunteers and staff must also complete ongoing monthly VIRTUS trainings to maintain compliance with this program. Each volunteer and staff member has received all COVID-19 vaccinations currently available.

Our volunteers thus enrich their own lives by sharing their abilities and talents to make a real difference in the lives of the seniors they serve.

April Showers bring… lifted spirits!   

Miss B’s UIC-Hospital physical therapist referred her to the Heart to Heart Lending Closet for a rollator. Delighted to get a sturdy walker with a seat, Miss B patiently waited in the Ministry Center parlor for her PACE bus ride home to the west side.  As we watched the rain, she mentioned her years working at Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Elderly, including when Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s mother Maria lived there. “I got the call when the Cardinal’s mother arrived – the staff wanted me to be there to welcome and care for her!” Miss B reminisced.  

Her welcoming demeanor was confirmed not 10 minutes later, when Jacqueline rang the bell, desperate to borrow a Lending Closet wheelchair. Jacqueline’s teen son, a varsity CPS high school basketball player in the Chatham neighborhood, had been injured in a game. He needed a wheelchair to attend school for the next six weeks and CPS suggested the Lending Closet. Miss B assured the worried mom that her son would do just fine and promised prayers of healing. 

As the rains softened and Miss B and Jacqueline each headed home, I imagined Maria Bernardin and her son Joseph smiling down on such chance meetings that lift all our spirits!  

~ Laurie Hasbrook, Lending Closet Manager

Did you know that there is a special and valued ministry that needs participants, particularly our homebound and physically-restricted parishioners? There are no meetings or dues required, yet the members have a valued connection to parish life by enriching others and themselves through their own dedicated, daily prayer time!   

It works like this—we provide our committed participants with a prayer book and a monthly guide sheet reflecting some of the prayer requests taken from St. Gertrude Church’s Prayer Wall. Our prayer angels become an unseen blessing for so many! We welcome anyone’s interest in this caring ministry. Call Pat Sullivan at 773.973.5464 for more information.