Wayside Center's walk to benefit Elgin's homeless

Elgin's Wayside Center has an outdoor fundraiser this weekend, and director Phil Wood is actually hoping for cold and wind and snow.

Wait, what? Haven't we seen enough tundra temperatures already this season? Who needs more of this misery?

But that's exactly the point.

"It's by design, in a sense," Wood said. "A cold, snowy day would be better than beautiful weather. We're trying to get folks not only to raise funds, but also to identify with the homeless."

You can be sure there are homeless out there on these coldest of nights, Wood said. He sees more all the time. Wayside operates a daytime intervention center offering hot lunches or sack lunches, job training, spiritual help, laundry facilities, showers, lockers, a mailing address, phone number and other services.

"It's a warming center on steroids, in the sense that we're trying to provide a lot of other things as well," Wood said.

Birthed from the 81-year-old Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora, the center has been in Elgin for 15 years. This is the first time the Elgin arm has participated in "Walk a Mile in My Shoes." Last year, 300 pledge-supported walkers in Aurora raised close to $10,000.

The event starts at 9 a.m. (come at 8:30 a.m. for registration) at Elgin Evangelical Covenant Church, 1565 Larkin Ave., and continues down McLean Boulevard to the Wayside Center at 1732 Berkeley St.

Evangelical Covenant is a good starting point, Wood said, because "it's a church that really has a heart for what we're doing." He said the Rev. Jonathan Wilson teaches Bible study at Wayside every Friday and often brings along people from the congregation.

But Wood believes it's incumbent on us all to take care of the homeless.

"In today's economy there's more and more people out on the streets that are looking more like our aunts and uncles," Wood said. "The face of the homeless is changing. Because of that, we've got to be better prepared to help people who never thought they'd find themselves in this situation. We don't know how close we are to it ourselves."

For details or to register, call (847) 695-4405. And if Wood gets his way on Saturday, be sure to bundle up!

Organizing your finances: If your own economic picture needs redrawing, you might want to enroll in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, a 13-week course beginning Wednesday, Feb. 18, at First Congregational Church of Dundee.

"Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio host, primarily in the South, but he's also gaining popularity in this area," said Jim Hendricks, who's taking his second turn at facilitating the DVD-based course.

"It's a leading program to help people get out of debt and start building wealth."

Ramsey's Web site says FPU participants pay off an average $5,300 in debt and save $2,700 over the 13 weeks of the class. Hendricks said he thinks the last class he led did even better than that, at least on debt elimination.

I can tell you from my own experience in FPU, Ramsey laces the hard lessons about finances with plenty of humor and goodwill.

Classes will be from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. Wednesdays at the West Dundee church, 900 S. Eighth St. The cost is $99.50, and reservations must be made by Thursday, Feb. 12, by calling Hendricks at (847) 428-3997.

Couple's Night Out: On Saturday night you'll want to cozy up with your valentine, and a popular venue for that is the Highland Fellowship Church "Couple's Night Out."

This is the third year the Rev. Jeorge Holmes - who enjoyed a short career as a nightclub singer and Elvis impersonator before coming to faith in Christ - will serenade the audience. He will perform a few numbers with the night's keynoters, the Ain't No Nothin' jazz band from Elgin's Judson University.

Tickets are $45 per couple and include a pork tenderloin dinner with sides and tiramisu. A "romantic environment" is promised, plus a silent auction and prizes. And if you need a sitter for your kids, child care is provided free for infants through sixth graders.

Couple's Night Out will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Highland Christian Academy, 2258 W. Highland Ave., Elgin, and proceeds benefit the school. For reservations, call (847) 741-5530 by Thursday, Feb. 12.

• "In the Spirit" covers churches and synagogues in the Fox Valley area; contact cmchojnacki@yahoo.com to submit information or ideas for upcoming columns.