Oh the Places We Go

One of the special things about running the Chicago Marathon (as opposed to another city) is that the route passes by so many places I know well, in many cases because I accompany clients there frequently. Seeing those along the route are helpful reminders of why I am running and help give extra meaning to some of the tougher miles. So here's a little virtual trip through the marathon route, via the places we accompany clients most often:

Mile 2.5
We pass one block away from the Daley Center, which accounts for almost 30% of our accompaniments. We visit here with clients most often to attend court dates for such varied situations as: small claims court, evictions, name changes, domestic relations (child support, custody, divorce), guardianship, and traffic court. Other times, though, we assist a client in obtaining birth or marriage certificates, or in filing court documents, often with the guidance of one of several help desks (several legal aid agencies provide the much-needed service of providing legal aid to prepare low-income individuals to represent themselves in court. They're so needed, in fact, that we often arrive as early as 7:30am to sign in even though they don't open until 9:00).

Mile 3.5

On our way north on LaSalle street, we pass by the main offices of CatholicCharities, an organization where we refer a large portion of our clients (and they refer quite a few to us as well). Clients who we refer to Catholic Charities receive services including counseling, financial assistance, clothing, food, housing, senior services, Head Start preschool, and legal assistance (both immigration-related and other). 

 Mile 15
Around mile 15 (the point at which you start thinking, hmmm... I should have just run a half marathon, I'd be done by now!) we run through the medical district, passing Stroger Cook County Hospital, Rush University Hospital, and UIC Hospital, all locations where we accompany clients who have doctor's appointments or procedures. We recently formed a partnership with a community clinic in Little Village to help ensure clients make the connection to Stroger when they're referred to see a specialist, so we've seen a big increase in medical accompaniments in the past year. (If you didn't see my post about my formerly blind client from last year, that's a great example of some of my experiences in the med district).

Mile 23.5
The route takes us to the corner of 35th and Michigan, the Police Headquarters for Chicago, where we accompany clients who need to obtain copies of police reports or request the 918-B Certification, all documents they need for the U-Visa application (a visa available to victims of violent crimes).

And the list could go on and on-- the marathon goes through 29 Chicago neighborhoods, and we've accompanied clients to even more than that. In addition to being motivated by seeing these locations along the route, last year I also had a band around my arm with a list of people to whom I was dedicating each mile. This year, if you would like to donate in honor or in memory of someone-- perhaps someone who has accompanied you in your own life-- I would be honored to dedicate a mile of the marathon to them. Taller will also send a special card to that person or their loved ones and add their name to a special plaque in our office. If you would like to donate in honor or memory of someone, just let me know when you make your donation!