FEATURE STORY — Sept./Oct. 2006

Night Light

Long after other social service agencies close, The Night Ministry keeps a light on for Chicago’s neediest. And it’s all because of Tom Behrens

During his 30-year service with The Night Ministry, Tom Behrens has helped thousands of Chicagoans “with needs at night” through programs such as the Youth Shelter Network and Health Outreach Bus. He was recognized last May with the 2006 Lincoln Laureate award.

By Rachel Parker

Tom Behrens, MSW ’72, ’67 UIUC, was at a crossroads. After working as a mortgage banker for three years, earning a master’s in social work and graduating from seminary school, he felt he had three options: remain a banker, find a position in social work or become a minister.

Then, The Night Ministry came along. Founded by 18 Chicago-area churches, the non-for-profit organization was seeking a street minister to provide outreach services to underserved youth and adults in Chicago. Here was a job that blended Behrens’ interests and expertise. He eagerly applied, thinking he had a good shot at the job.

But his initial application was rejected. “The Night Ministry was not interested in me!” Behrens exclaims in a half-bewildered, half-joking voice, as if even today—three decades later—he still can’t believe it. And rightly so. Over the past 30 years, Behrens, who today serves as The Night Ministry’s president, has managed the launch and expansion of all its programs, including the Youth Shelter Network, a system of community agencies that target at-risk and homeless youth; Youth Housing Programs, such as the new shelter in Chicago’s Wicker Park; and the Health Outreach Bus, which provides health care and hospitality to needy youth and adults in Chicago.

When Behrens joined The Night Ministry in 1976, his role was less defined. “Help those with needs at night” in the upscale Lakeview community, the founders instructed. So each evening, from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., Behrens visited Lakeview neighborhood bars and developed relationships with their patrons. For Behrens, a self-described “shy person,” this was no easy task, especially when wearing a clerical tab-collar shirt made him a target for ridicule. Once word spread that he was a night minister and trustworthy, though, some began turning to him for advice on dealing with problems ranging from depression to drug abuse.

It wasn’t until Behrens discovered Joe’s Juice Bar in 1982 that he realized The Night Ministry needed to shift its focus. A late night, all-ages hangout, the juice bar was popular among homeless teenagers—many of whom were solicited for sex, Behrens later learned. “We need your help,” a homeless teen told Behrens one evening, and weeks later Behrens realized the weight of that plea: One of the juice bar’s regulars, a homeless 13-year-old named Danny Bridges, was found murdered and dismembered in Lakeview.

“That had a big effect on me,” says Behrens, who alerted The Night Ministry’s board and began developing some of the homeless youth programs offered today. He also joined the Governor’s Task Force

on Homeless Youth, helped raise $900,000 in new funding and advocated on the state level to increase emergency homeless youth shelters.

But sometimes, Behrens says, it’s the little things The Night Ministry does that make the greatest difference. “The Night Ministry is the ministry of being present with folks,” he says. “Sometimes, that’s all it is.”

Photography by Lloyd DeGrane