Howdy!  Namaste!  Bonjour!  Hola!  Gutentag!  Warm greetings and salutations to my brothers and sisters in CHRIST in the name of our LORD!  My name is Chanté Burrell.  I am a college student in the USA-Chicago, Illinois to be exact.  I hope that this day finds you well and in good spirits.  I need to warn all of you about to read my story that it is going to be VERY LONG!!  So if you have time and some Kleenex® then read away.  

Although my intent is not to make anyone cry while reading my story, I know that my situation will touch some of you out there and you will feel for me and just cry because you feel my pain and have been there before.  To those of you I say thank you.  I don’t really know where to begin, but I am just going to talk and I pray that you will listen.  What you are about to read is an honest account of my life, my request, and me.

 CHILDREN, LOCATION, & HOBBIES

I have no children yet, but I want a house full of them one day.  I am only 24 so I know I have a while yet to worry about that.  I love children and they are such a blessing.  I had a daughter at one time a few years ago, but I lost her.  I know that she is in HEAVEN with the FATHER looking down on me and that one day we will be together.

I am located in the USA-Chicago, Illinois on the North Side of town.  I have lived all over Chicago in the 6 years I have been here.  I have lived on the far North Side, South Side, and even the suburbs.  I like being right here in the city in the heart if the city.  Chicago is a great city.  It’s urban; it’s gritty; it’s yuppie; it’s eclectic and everything in between.  I have always liked the pull this place has had on me.

I am originally from Charlotte, North Carolina.  I came to Chicago under the false pretenses of a now former friend.  I was young and my ex-friend played into that and basically brainwashed me into thinking all of my long-time connections to N.C. were no longer valid.  I was wired money to come here 1-way on the Greyhound bus.  That was the beginning of the end.  I got a job once I got to Chicago but it was only part time.  My ex-friend was a huge drug addict.  I would always hear, “Just one more time” and “It won’t happen again” every time I was asked for a loan.  I was such a naïve and gullible little girl at the time that I fell for those lies and then some every time I heard them.  I will tell more if this story a little later on down.  Let me tell you about my hobbies.

I love to read.  I can escape the daily grind of life in the pages of a good book.  There are so many great authors and books out there.  I also write poetry.  I have a few of my pieces published online.  Reading and writing are two of my joys, but my main joy is cooking.

Put me in a kitchen and I am happy all day and night.  That’s how much I love to cook.  I learned by watching my family and friends, and making them all my culinary guinea pigs.  I love experimenting with different recipes and making stuff.  The kitchen is my refuge.  One of these days, I am going to put together a cookbook of all the stuff I have learned and share my love of food with the whole world.

 JOBS, FUTURE CAREER & DAILY ACTIVITIES

I am currently the administrative assistant for Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church, located in Chicago, Illinois.  I have been here since January 2004 and I love my job every day.  Along with my clerical duties, I am also the Church’s janitor.  I need the money, so Immanuel’s Council of Elders has been more than happy to let me do double duty.  I love working and being in the Church keeps my mind off my situation.

In terms of a future career, I want to be a Social Worker.  God had blessed me with the Spiritual Gift of service.  I want to use my gift to build up HIS kingdom here on Earth.  I love to help people and being a Social Worker will help me to be able to do that.  Working in the Church has helped me to hone my skills as well.  Social Work is my major and I have a double minor in Spanish and Sociology.  I chose these as my core areas of focus so that I can have flexibility in terms of my career.  I can be a private practice Social Worker or I can go into community planning.  Wherever GOD leads me, I will humbly follow.

On a daily basis, I wake up, thank GOD for another day, and then I start working.  For the last month, I have been going to the gym thanks to a free membership, but that ends in 2 days.  I still walk all the time.  Climbing the stairs at Church has helped me stay in shape as well.  I also volunteer at a Food Pantry that is sponsored by another Covenant Church.  I work there about twice a week.  I’ll talk more about that later as well.

 ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT YOU OR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

I have done many special things I think.  I teach Bible Study at Immanuel for the teenagers the last Sunday of each month.  I also teach the Young Adult Bible Study.  There are about 10 of us 20-somethings that rotate teaching.  I also speak Spanish.  While that in and of itself is not spectacular, I learned mostly by watching Spanish television before I could read.  My parents fostered this in me by having their bi-lingual friends talk to me in Spanish so that I would have to say all of the words that I was learning.  After I learned to read and started taking Spanish classes in school, it came easily.  I use my Spanish speaking skills at the Food Pantry all the time.  About 55% of our clientele are Latino, so having the ability to speak to the people in their language comes in handy.

 DO YOU HAVE HEATH INSURANCE

I do not have health insurance at this time.  I am the type who will go to work and to school sick.  I have to be pretty sick before I don’t go to work or to school.  I cannot afford insurance now and I know that is going to catch up with me soon.  Usually if I am sick, I go to one of the free clinics here in Chicago.  I hate going and waiting in the impossibly long lines, but I do what I have to do when I need to do it.  I want to save up to have health and life insurance in the event that I need surgery or I am hurt and need to draw against the cash value of my policy while I recuperate.  I have a weak respiratory system due to years of battling sinusitis, asthma, allergies, and chronic bronchitis.  Therefore, having insurance is a priority for me.  

 HOW BAD IS YOUR SITUATION



My situation is bad.  I am homeless now.  While I do work, I only make $8.50 per hour and all of that goes to pay for my storage unit and towards back bills.  Immanuel has been my home for the last 3 months.  I lost my apartment due to my landlady being an underhanded witch and telling me at the last minute that she was not going to renew my lease.  Since I do not have a bank account and no savings, I left my brand new apartment. 

 I have been sleeping here at Church since May.  It is so cold and lonely here at nights.  What you are reading now has been typed from the Church computer I normally work on.  I have not bathed in a week and I have no money for washing laundry.  I have well over $10,000 from back hospital bills, old credit cards, old cellular bills, and student loans.  A multitude of these charges came from the ex-friend I mentioned earlier.  

She played on my naivety and innocence.  When we met, I was only 17 and clueless about swindlers like her.  In the first 2 weeks of having a new credit card with an $850 limit, I had maxed it out by taking out cash advances.  With credit card interest rates as they are, I quickly had my account turned over to a credit bureau.  This has happened time after time with the majority of the debt coming from my ex-friend.  I constantly listened to her lies and deception about her drug use.  She would always apologize and say it would never happen again and each time I believed her.  After a while, though, I grew up and did not listen to her anymore.  We are no longer speaking and I have since moved on with my life.  The only bad thing is that I have all of this debt that I cannot pay.

Along with this debt and having no apartment of my own, I am about to start school (08-30-04) and I have no money for books or school supplies.  I take public transportation to school and need money for my transit card.  While it is still warm, I can make the three mile walk to school, but when the sub-zero weather arrives, I need a way to get to school that requires minimal time outdoors. The bus that takes me to school runs very regularly-I just need money for my transit card so I can take the bus once winter gets here. 

The Pastor here at Church is really going out on a limb by letting me sleep here at Church.  She is getting a lot of opposition from the Council of Elders as well as people from the community.  I try to be as inconspicuous as possible, but there are times where that is not possible.  I need to have a place to live so that I can focus on my studies and not about having to leave the Church, sleep in the park, and being raped or killed while I sleep.  I am walking on eggshells around the Church in terms of my staying here and I am in a precarious situation.  I just want a place that I can call my own where I won’t be putting people out by trying to be compassionate.  

I am a simple person.  All I am looking for is the money to pay off my debts, open a bank account, and have my own apartment.  I would be happy with an efficiency apartment, but I would like to have something bigger.  Over the years, so many people have opened their homes and hearts to me that I want to be able to do the same thing.  I want to be able to tell a friend of mine that they can stay with me a week or so and not have them sleeping on my floor.  I would like to be able for them to have a room and space like the one they have provided for me. 

 I am not into material things; I would just like a few nice little knick-knacks for my apartment.  I want the sense of accomplishment that comes when you have something that you can call your own for a while.  I want to be able, when I say, “I’m going home,” to actually mean it.  I am not a person who lies and having to hide my homelessness from people hurts me so much.  When people want to pick me up or drop me off, I have them meet me at the Church and I lie all the time about having someone picking me up there.  I cry myself to sleep at nights because I have to deceive people.   

Above all of these things, I need money to give to the Church.  We are a small congregation where the average annual income is barely $20,000 per year.  We are trying to raise money to make our Church handicap accessible.  There are other improvements we need to make as well such as having our concrete stairs re-paved and sealed.  We are $10,000 under budget and the repairs we need to make are going to take about $90,000.  Therefore, I am trying to do my part to help.

I was raised tithing.  My parents would often give me some of their change to put in the collection plate.  From as young as I can remember, I have always felt wonderful when GOD gets HIS share first and not what is left.  Whatever donations I receive, God is getting 10% before I even think about using the money for my cause.  I know that I am going through this situation for a reason, and I feel, that with all of the wonderful compassionate people all over the world, that a miracle is possible.  While I am looking to raise funds for myself there is another organization that needs help as well.  I mentioned the Food Pantry earlier.

The food program serves over 600 families per month from literally all over the world.  I have made a website for them that you can go to for all of the information.  The address is:
                http://compassionateheart.eyetricks.net

Please visit my site and make a donation if you are able.  Thank you for listening to me and hearing my story.  I pray that GOD places it on your heart to donate to my causes and me.  You can either click to donate via PayPal or by sending money orders to the address below.  My only request is that you send your donations in USA currency.  It will make things easier on my end when I go the bank to cash out the money orders if they are already drawn out in USA funds.  Thank you ever so much.

GOD bless and keep you all.

Please send money orders to:
C.N. Burrell
3229 W. 47th PL #45
Chicago, IL 60632-3011
USA

Member #CB3E9M5