“’I can’t come down,’ not until I get the word from God to leave my post up here.”
After 100 days of camping on the roof of a replica of the new community center his church is helping to build on Chicago’s south side, Corey Brooks found himself echoing the words of Nehemiah who worked to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.
Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Chicago, an IBSA member church, is raising funds on behalf of Project H.O.O.D. to fight violence in the community and build a Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center. Starting Nov. 22., through sun, rain, snow, widely fluctuating temperatures, and continued street violence, Brooks has watched from the rooftop while joined by clergy, politicians, CEOs, community members, and heads of various non-profits all seeking to find ways they can help.
February 28 was to be his final day on the roof, however he shared on the projecthood.org website his “timing as often is the case, was not God’s timing.”
While fundraising has been going well, Brooks reported the $35 million goal has not yet been met. Brooks said that over the last few weeks he “sensed God was telling me to stay up on the roof until the fundraising for the project was complete.”
The initial plan was to break ground for the new center this spring. “Lord willing,” said Brooks, “we will raise the funds and reach that goal.”
Life on the O block
New Beginnings Church is located on the city’s south side, where a young gang member named O.D. Perry was killed. Other gang members began calling the block “O” in his memory. Brooks said church members decided to bring something positive from the violence. “We liked the O,” he said, “and changed it to Opportunity Block.”
He often reminded those who joined him on the roof, “Our community is not our zip code. It’s our human race.
“What affects people on the O block affects us all.”
One of his guests on the roof, Robert Scheer, CEO of the non-profit Comfort Cases, spoke of growing up in the “foster care system and on the streets” and how it must be hard for foster kids to “beat the system.” Comfort Cases distributes backpacks filled with a new pair of pajamas, a blanket, and a stuffed animal to foster kids. Scheer said the charity has provided 165,000 cases to all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.K.
Scheer also shared sobering statistics regarding what many must overcome: “91% of gang members have been touched by or have been in foster care…. And over 87% of prison inmates come from foster care.”
Brooks expressed frustration in late January when an eight-year-old girl was shot and killed, asking, “Is there any hope for Chicago?”
Brooks said, “We must continue to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters and show them that different path, give them the hope that they need.”
He concluded, “So yes, there is hope in Chicago, and it starts with all of us.”