A Not-So-Unusual Day at Taller de Jose

Most people don't really understand what accompaniment really is, which makes since because it is a service pretty unique to Taller de Jose. In order to illustrate the concept, I am re-posting an entry I put in my old blog last October about an accompaniment I had with a client:
"Yesterday I went with a client to apply for guardianship of adults who happen to be twins. This involved going to the Daley Center (where a large number of Cook County's civil courthouses are housed) and riding 19 elevators.
the breakdown:
-arrive, ride from floor 1 to floor 12 to Adult Guardianship Pro Se Help Desk. wait 45 minutes for law student to arrive
-go to 18 to courtroom 1803 for fee waiver. wait 45-60 minutes while court is in session
-return to 12 and finish paperwork, attempt to file but wait! you only have one fee waiver for the two people! it does not matter that they are twins...
-go back to floor 18 and ask the clerk in 1803 if the judge can sign a new order--now don't be silly, you must fill out two new applications for fee waivers, and they don't have them on this floor
-return to floor 12
-return to 1803 to submit forms. clerk is upset that they didn't take the forms downstairs and doesn't know if the judge will sign the form again
-return to 12th floor with proper forms. file the forms. They send you to 1812 to get a court date
-return to 1812. the clerk is frazzled but manages to give you the same date/time for both twins. she sends you to get a seal for the sheriff's summons
-return to 12th floor. the cute, friendly male law student has been replaced by a middle aged lawyer who is switching from another type of law so she has less experience in this matter than the law student. You need to make copies but the copy machine behind her costs $0.25 per page while in the law library it costs $0.10 per page. Client says no thank you, I will pay. Go to the lady at the far end of the room for a seal of the court. she sends you to see the sheriff so you can give them the summons to serve.
-go to the seventh floor. the cashier at the sheriff office is confused and you don't have enough copies, but it gets taken care of and you are free to go.
-return to lobby and leave.

Now wait, you may be wondering how my math adds up to 19 elevator rides. Well, you see, the Daley Center has 30 floors and they are all very busy, so not every elevator goes to every floor. You can take an elevator from the 12th floor to the 17th floor, but to get from the 12th floor to the 18th floor, you must first go to the 7th floor (or the lobby but it is usually faster to switch on the 7th floor) and switch elevators. So each of the four times my client and I were sent to the 18th floor from the 12th, that took four elevator rides round trip. 

I googled elevator fatalities, and there are one in 12 million. think how close I came in one day..."

At Taller de Jose, they don't joke around when they say they physically accompany people to places. And when they do, they don't just drop people off in court and say "Good Luck". I spent six hours on elevators that day, and this story isn't even rare--just something all the companeras do every day at Taller de Jose. 

I would like to thank all the well wishes as I have begun my marathon training--which is going pretty well! I would also like to thank those who have donated so far--I'm up to $200! 

Thank you all for accompanying me on my journey!

Why am I Running for Team Taller?

Hello Everyone!

As you know, I am running the Chicago Marathon this fall. I have wanted to run a marathon for several years now but registration is so early, this is the first year I have felt that I knew where I would be come marathon time. I am  excited to finally be fulfilling my dream, but I wanted it to be more than just a personal journey, I wanted my race to count. That is why I am choosing to run for Taller de José. As you may know, last August I started my year of service with Amate House and my service site was Taller de José. I was fortunate to be hired on this summer until I started school late September. Not only was working at Taller de José a life changing experience, I truly believe in the mission of the organization and the power of its accomplishments in the community.

Taller de José is a sponsored ministry of the Congregation of St. Joseph—a group of nuns who enter a community and ask what the community needs and how they can help meet those needs. In the Little Village community of Chicago, predominantly populated by Mexican immigrants, they saw a need for helping connect people to services. You see, there are a lot of services in the neighborhood and throughout the city, but brand-new immigrants might not know where they are, how to get there, or how to sign their kids up due to language barriers. They may have court dates to file for child support or an order of protection or even immigration interviews but need someone who speaks the language to feel more comfortable going to these daunting buildings. This is where Taller de José and the mission of accompaniment comes in. Taller de José does not replicate the services of other agencies, it bridges the gaps between them. Compañeras (companions) at Taller de José make calls for people, take them on the train to court and sit with them to explain what is going on. If clients cannot afford to pay for their train ride downtown, Taller de José will cover that for them---that adds up pretty quickly. In fact, each accompaniment costs $9 ($2.25 each ride and with both the compañeras and client going both ways…).

The word has gotten out about Taller and they are constantly busy. When I left in September I thought we were swamped, but they have only gotten more and more clients—which means more and more accompaniments. Most of the compañera staff is made of volunteers so every dollar really counts toward serving clients. I have decided to accompany Taller in my journey for the marathon, would you consider accompanying me to the finish line by making a donation to Taller de José? Every little bit is appreciated!

I hope to use this blog as a way to update everyone on my journey and to share more about my choice to run for Taller de José. Feel free to subscribe and you will get emails each time I post so you don’t have to keep checking. Thank you for accompanying me on my journey!