Our History
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COOL Ministries is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that was founded by people from six Lutheran churches in the Waukegan/North Chicago area in 1982 and incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 1983. The first program was the COOL Food Pantry, opening its doors in January 1983.
The pantry provides food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with specialty foods for cardiac and diabetic diets. We offer ethnic foods and foods for those with allergies. Since the pandemic began, visitation to the COOL Food Pantry has nearly doubled. In 2024 the pantries served 72,359 individuals with food enough for 868,308 balanced meals. Although the pandemic is over, COOL services are still in high demand. In 2024 nearly one million pounds of food was served! Our pantry is supported by the entire Lake County community, including churches, individuals, corporate and foundation grants, and many others. COOL began the Transitional Housing Program in October of 1988. The purpose of this Family Housing Program is to provide housing and case management to homeless families in need of life restructuring. Along with case management, COOL provides a clean, safe place to live, counseling, life skills training, and other support services that collectively work to enable guest families to transform their lives and make a smooth progression toward self-sufficient living. COOL provides rent- and utility-paid housing for up to 12 months while families work to save enough money for a home down payment or first and last month's rent upon leaving the program. Guest families must be motivated to follow their individual goals plan in order to reach success in every category of their lives. Families must maintain a job, save money, receive counseling, attend money management classes, and acquire better domestic skills and parenting skills. Following the policies and guidelines is mandatory and enables families to achieve successful problem-solving skills, such as attaining dependable transportation and adequate childcare, allowing them to progress more quickly and achieve goals more rapidly. |
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