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Chicago Pastor Maintains Rooftop Vigil For A Good Cause
by Frederick H. LoweIt was Sunday, January 29, and Corey Brooks, pastor of the New Beginnings Church of Chicago, was across the street from it, camped out on the roof of an abandoned motel, where he had lived in a tent for 68 days by then.
It did not prevent Pastor Brooks from delivering his sermon over Skype on his laptop to the congregation inside the warm church.
“I need every single member to be fully engaged,” Brooks said as ushers prepared to pass around the offering plate. “I hope there is a $162,000 check there [in the offering plate] to get me off the roof.”
He did not get his wish that day, but donors have made a lot of small contributions of cash and checks.
“We have received donations from all over the country,” Brooks said. “It's encouraging that people have been so nice and so generous, especially in these tough economic times.”
The donations, however, have left him short of his goal of raising $450,000 to tear down the 2½-story, abandoned motel on South King Drive. The building is boarded up, and thieves have stolen all of the pipes and fixtures.
| Pastor Brooks' tent on top of an abandoned motel. |
The former motel is owned by businessman Venood Patel, Family Bank and Trust and National Republic Bank. The banks are owed a $1.5 million mortgage on the building, Brooks said.
“I have no idea how they are working this out with him [Patel],” Brooks said.
Once he raises the money, Pastor Brooks will tear down the block-long building to construct a community-economic development center to establish a small-business incubator. He also wants to open a restaurant, FedEx and Kinko's offices and a professional counseling service to treat individuals traumatized by gun violence.
Pastor Brooks took a High-Lift to the building's roof on November 22, 2011, after being inspired by Chapter 2 of Habakkuk in the Bible. One verse that most-influenced him says, ”I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”
| (Photo by Frederick H. Lowe, II) |
Initially, he planned to live on the roof 22 days, but now he is not sure how long it will take to reach his goal. As of Thursday morning, he will have lived on the roof 72 days.
“I want to come down today because I have a lot of work to do, but I have decided to make the best of the situation,” he said. “I write. I study, and I am working on the master plan for next phase.”
Being on the roof and looking down on South King Drive does have its advantages.
“It helps keep me away from all of the distractions,” said Brooks, who celebrated his 43rd birthday January 9. Church staff brought him cake, but other than that, it was another workday.
Fortunately, this has been a mild winter by Chicago standards. On Tuesday, it was 56 degrees.
“It has been bearable,” he said. “I am grateful for the weather. The tent absorbs the sun's rays, making it warm.”
Readers can donate funds to Project Helping Others Obtain Destiny through the website athttp://www.projecthood.org
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"240 Homicide Victims (between January 2008 –January 2012) More young people are killed in Chicago than any other American city. Since 2008, more than 530 youth have been killed in Chicago with nearly 80 percent of the homicides occurring in 22 African-American or Latino community areas on the city’s South, Southwest and West sides. After 10 funerals in one year, I couldn't take it anymore… After gang members, in broad daylight, began to shoot at the attendees of the funeral of 15-year-old gun victim Carlton Archer, right in front of the church as they were entering the building, I knew something had to be done! In order to bring awareness to the gun violence issue in our community, I chose to live in a tent on the rooftop of an abandoned motel right across the street from my church. It’s wintertime in Chicago, I’m fasting on water only for 21 days, needing to raise $450K to purchase and demolish the motel so we could build a $15M community and economic development center to give these kids something to do, the story has gone national… 90 plus days later I was still on the roof until a $100K donation from Tyler Perry helped us reach our goal and complete phase 1 after a total of 94 days. With phase 2 in full effect, Project HOOD seeks to foster collaboration between the private sector, public sector and faith-based organizations in order to combat the 4 primary ills of urban America: Social dysfunctions, Educational deprivation, Economic deficiencies and Spiritual dehydration. Project HOOD is committed to bringing awareness to the violence issue in Chicago and across America! Additionally, Project HOOD hopes to become the model for other communities to learn from and leverage our efforts. Ultimately, we hope to offset the violence and give parents the much needed support necessary to make our communities a safe place to raise their families and not a killing field to bury their children. Spending 94 days atop a motel roof in the dead of a Chicago winter was only Phase 1… Phase 2 requires another level of sacrifice and I’m hitting the pavement to make it happen – “LITERALLY,” by walking across America to raise additional awareness about the gun violence epidemic all over America and to raise the $15 million to fund the Project HOOD Community and Economic Development Center in Woodlawn. The walk starts June 5, 2012, from Times Square in NY, New York and ending at the Staples Center in LA, California. I believe there are still caring people in this world and if enough of them know about the violence issues, the teenagers that are being killed and the lack of resources available to help, they will give to make a difference! Corey Brooks"
Sadly you can see the faces of Chicago's youth that have been killed. Read there story's:
Click here to see Chicago's Murder victims
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