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News


510 S. Farwell St., Eau Claire WI 54701 • 715.835.3734 Map to the Cathedral


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News

Chippewa Valley Street Ministry Journal
November 12, 2024

The number of people we're serving continues to rise: one day we served 80 of our brothers and sisters, that's an unfortunate new high for the street ministry.  While we don't serve this number of people every night, we're serving between 65-70 visitors. This is very concerning with the colder weather coming as everyone's safety needs increase.  We are always accepting gloves - the larger the better — and other winter gear. Please take a look at our needs list for additional information.
 
Our volunteers were on hand to assist a woman up 
and across the street after she fell. 
 
We're helping several single, young women who are unhoused. The commonality between them is that they are all at high risk for some sort of violence. There are three, in particular, that appear to be at higher risk as they are alone and appear to be inexperienced and naive out there. One of them looks very young and has, so far, been difficult to garner much information from. Women, in general, are at high risk for violence especially when they are not staying at the shelter at night.  We've provided contact information if they need safety or help. They, along with many others, are ill-prepared for their journey on the street. We encourage awareness, alertness, and avoidance when possible. 
 
A woman came to us and asked if we could help locate her son. She knew that he had been taken into custody and was likely incarcerated in Minnesota, but she did not know where and she simply wanted to know where he was.  It took some time when we were off the street to do some checking on the internet, but we did locate him. The next time we were out, we provided the contact information and she immediately borrowed a phone and called the number given. The conversation was private but she had tears rolling down her cheeks, so it seems safe to assume that the news was not positive.  As a mom, my heartstrings were tugged as I understood the need to know where her child is. I later thought that, as we all pass by our friends who appear to be sitting idly in a park or walking around town, we have no idea of the struggles each person is facing beyond just being safe and surviving. I am glad that this woman's son is relatively safe and that she now knows where he is, and I'm grateful for the reminder that we need to consider each person out there as an individual with their own struggles and concerns.  
 
We learned that one of the men that we've served for a very long time has been sent to prison.  We've acknowledged in this and in other journals that we support and understand that when laws are broken, appropriate consequences should be taken.  Still, it saddens me/us to know that this person will likely never be able to overcome his record and find housing or work when he is released, at least not by traditional means. Prison is not necessarily going to "fix" the mental illness and homelessness that this person experiences. It will, for the time being, provide a relatively safe, dry environment for him to survive in until he returns to the community and is likely homeless again. He has a restitution of $4,000+ and if housing was difficult to obtain before, it will be next to impossible now. In the last 12 months, he has at least 12 camping tickets; if he is not able to stay in the shelter, can't afford a motel, does not have a vehicle to stay in or a friend that would let him stay with them, where should he go? He is not going to prison for the camping offenses but there are other offenses that are likely connected to the homelessness that contributed to the violation of probation: if he had a place to go, these incidents perhaps would not have occurred. 
 
As always, thank you for your support. We say it regularly, but it is true: we truly could not do this without you. 
 
Blessings to all,
CVSM staff
 
 
 
Thank you for your interest and your donations to 
Chippewa Valley Street Ministry, we are
grateful for your generosity!
We accept new and gently used items that are clean 
and in good condition. 
Thank you for your support!
 
Hoodies - all sizes, especially XL and larger
Sweatpants - all sizes, especially L and larger
Gloves & mittens - the bigger, the better
Winter socks
Boxer briefs - all sizes
Winter hats/stocking caps
Handwarmers
Monetary donations
 
Please note the following information for donations:
 
Checks and/or gift cards can be mailed to:
 
CVSM
PO Box 52
Eau Claire, WI 54702

Stain Glass by David Strang

As a former member of CCC, and deeply immersed in church activities there for about twenty year when I lived in Eau Claire, I always enjoy catching up with events in the Diocese via the "Eau Claire Herald." 

I have lived for the past 18+ years in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania in the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, and work in near by Wilkes - Barre, Pennsylvania. 

As a medievalist, much interested in church stained glass, I always enjoyed the windows at CCC, though my favorite was always the tour-de-force great near Nativity window. A color photo of the Nativity window used to be available via CCC in a Christmas card version. I don't know if they still sell them. 

In any case, I was thrilled to see the cover of the April, 2004 "The Herald," which just arrived in my mailbox

Dean Brandt was still in charge of the Cathedral when I was first living in Eau Claire, and he had supervised some of the window installation. About one-third of the windows had not been installed at the end of World War II, and I recall his telling on several occasions that the original maker of most of the CCC windows, including the Resurrection and Nativity windows, had been destroyed/gone out of business during the War. It was thus necessary for CCC to locate another English stained glass firm to finish them off. Thus, I think if you check the bases of the windows, you'll find two different firms listed. There used to be a little guidebook edited by Dean Brandt with the particulars. 

The second firm used considerably brighter colors than the first firm, and armed with this information it's fairly easy to pick out the windows of the original firm from the second firm. 

What's also interesting is that the style chosen for the CCC Windows is very like ubiquitous, but finely made "Munich Glass" windows produced by several firms in Bavaria for Roman Catholic Churches. 

Competing with this rather Romantic window style was the push, beginning in England, but exemplified by American firms such as Charles Connick and Willet [Boston and Philadelphia, respectively], for reproducing the medieval styles and color schemes out of such memorable collections as at Chartres, Canterbury, and York. 

If you're ever in Saint Paul, check out the ravishingly beautiful Saint John the Evangelist Episcopal parish [Portland and Kent, and just off Summit Avenue] where there are Connick style medieval windows in portions of the church and windows that would be at home at CCC in other portions. 

  1. "Tracing Our Roots": Reflections on the Historic Diocese of Eau Claire
  2. Stewardship Sunday
  3. Obituary ~ Mark Nelson
  4. Obituary ~ Willard Burce