St. Anselm's Outreach to Children Continues

Although St. Anselm's School had to close its doors in 1994, our ministry of serving the development of the youth in the neighborhood has continued. The school's closure was a sad and painful experience for the members of St. Anselm's Church, given the long and proud history of service the school had in the community. However, immediately following the school closure, the parish redefined its mission in the community and found new and creative ways of reaching out to both children and adults in the neighborhood.

Jim Fisher Development Center

St. Anselm's continued to provide safe space for children in the after-school hours and during the summer. In the spring of 1999, these efforts were brought together as the Jim Fisher Development Center (JFDC), named after Brother Jim Fisher who had been serving for three years at St. Anselm's when he met his untimely death in 1998. A member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), which has staffed St. Anselm's with Brothers and priests since 1932, Bro. Jim had a special relationship with the youth, acting as mentor, advisor, spiritual counselor and friend. The Center provides a holistic appreciation of life to young people through reading, arts and culture, including classes in computers, sewing, arts & crafts, cooking, music, painting, creative writing, poetry, acting, African drumming, "Hooked on Books" and more. JFDC provides after-school care to some 75 children during the school year, and its four to six week summer program offers full days of learning and fun to nearly 150 children each summer. The Mission Statement of the Center states that it is "the doorway for children to discover a path of self-fulfillment, to create happy and healthy social relationships and develop tolerance and compassion for others. JFDC provides a holistic appreciation of life to young people through reading, arts and culture, mentoring and volunteerism. The Center will enrich the talents and life skills of the children and their care-givers while in a safe and joy-filled environment."

Chicago International Charter School

From 1995 to 2002, the Jane Addams Hull House leased the school building to provide social services, especially job readiness training for welfare-to-work programs. Since July of 2002, St. Anselm's school building once again became an elementary school site when the Chicago International Charter School (CICS) began leasing the building for its Washington Park campus. As a charter school, CICS provides an alternate to the public schools because they are free to develop their own educational philosophy, build their own curriculum, and hire their own staff. CICS remains accountable to the public, and is committed to provide a healthy, vibrant, innovative education to all its students. It has been heartening to see children once again filling the classrooms of St. Anselm's School building!

Church Youth Activities

Several of the church's own youth activities have grown in recent years as well. The Dance Team performs at special events and during worship services, giving beautiful interpretations of song, scripture, or inspirational messages to draw the congregation into praise. The Drill Team steps to biblical themes. Our "Saturday School" offers religious education for the younger ones, while the teens meet on Sundays for their Christian formation.

Convent Becomes Ministry Center

With the school building now occupied by the Charter School, the other ministries have moved largely to the Convent building where the Sisters who used to staff and administer St. Anselm's School lived. In addition to the youth outreach described above, various other ministries are now situated in the convent building. St. Anselm's HOPE Project is an outreach to needy adults in the neighborhood, offering a weekly meal with time for discussing problems, sharing job openings, computer training, free HIV testing, and many other self-help opportunities. Narcotics Anonymous and Alcohol Anonymous groups meet there throughout the week as well. Various other meetings and activities go on there as well. During the holidays, we distribute gifts, food boxes, and hot dinners to several hundred people. Our Prison Ministry reaches out to those incarcerated and their families, especially through the Angel Tree program which gathers and distributes Christmas gifts for some 200 local children of those incarcerated.

Renovating the Convent

With the heavy use the former convent now gets as our Ministry Center, we need to make some serious repairs and renovations. We have wired one room as the computer lab, adding new electrical lines to supply 15 workstations and an internet connection. We have installed a new roof and done some masonry work, which added up to over $50,000. Following the roof repairs, plaster and paint work will be needed to fix water damage from the leaky roof. The basement floor has needed some substantial repairs. We believe that the outreach to young people that now is based in the convent continues the long tradition of St. Anselm's concern for the children of the Washington Park community. St. Anselm's annual fund-raiser will help us get the convent building into shape. We gladly receive donations from Alumni to help us continue to reach out to our children.

Stay in Touch

If you are a St. Anselm School graduate, please stay in touch and let us know any news of you and your family. Ask to receive our alumni newsletter. Or if you're trying to get in touch with a classmate, e-mail us and we'll see if have the person in our records. Stay connected!