Request for Heart to Heart Lending Closet Donations

Do you have a busy schedule, but your faith is calling you to action? Join the Heart to Heart Telephone Visit Ministry. Phone visits are a huge benefit for homebound individuals. Winter is around the corner making it difficult for the sick and elderly to get around. It just takes one check in call a week to visit with your assigned Heart to Heart member.

Contact Pat Sullivan at 773.973.5464 or email at psullivan@stgertrudechicago.org.

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

Save the Date—Educational Program Planned for Sunday, October 16 

Maureen Burns, a community health worker from the HAP Foundation, will be presenting “Support and Care when Living with a Serious Illness” after the 10:30 am Mass in the Ministry Center on Sunday, October 16. This presentation will help us understand the differences between palliative care and hospice care, and how to access them.

Additional details will be shared in upcoming bulletins.

Volunteer Recognition Luncheon on Saturday, October 29  

Heart to Heart will be hosting a recognition luncheon for all its volunteers on Saturday, October 29 at noon in the Ministry Center. Our volunteers deserve a huge appreciation for serving Heart to Heart members in the Edgewater and Rogers Park areas. There will be a raffle for first and second prizes. 

Volunteers should RSVP by contacting Pat Sullivan at psullivan@stgertrudechicago.org or 773.973.5464.

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.

Heart to Heart is a ministry grown at St. Gertrude that serves some of our most vulnerable residents in Edgewater—our senior citizens. Staffed by director Patricia Sullivan, the outreach program’s mission is to help seniors who need minimal assistance to enable them to remain independent in their home. Heart to Heart completes assessments and connects our seniors in need to community services and agencies that can assist them with financial and home care functions. 

In addition, the Heart to Heart program offer a limited range of services, however, this is limited due to COVID. With the help of these dedicated staff and volunteers, we've been able to help hundreds of older persons live quality, dignified, independent lives in their own home. 

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

If you are a senior in need or care for an older person that may need Heart to Heart’s services, please call the Heart to Heart office at 773.973.5464 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 am-2:30 pm. Call 773.973.5464 to speak to the Heart-to-Heart team during regular office hours, OR to leave a voicemail message when the office is closed. Voicemail is checked regularly.

Additionally, Heart to Heart offers a medical lending closet. Available items include standard walkers, rollators, crutches, wheelchairs, shower chairs, tub transfer benches, and portable commodes. Please call Heart-to-Heart at 773.973.5464 to schedule an appointment, or to drop off donations.  

Please consider supporting our work by volunteering or making a donation to Heart to Heart in church, at the Rectory, or online here: https://www.givecentral.org/location/8/event/606. Donations made with a check should be made payable to St. Gertrude Parish with Heart to Heart written in the memo line. Thank you for supporting our work! 

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.

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 773.973.5464 for more information.