COOL Ministries Information

COOL Ministries, a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, was founded by people from six Lutheran Churches in the Waukegan and 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. In January 2007, a partnership with Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ingleside, led to the addition of a satellite pantry, COOL Pantry West, which is located in the church and manned by congregational volunteers. COOL Food Pantry East is now open five days per week and on Saturday once monthly. COOL Food Pantry West is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and one Saturday monthly. Each month approximately 4000-6000 people receive food from COOL Food Pantries. COOL began the Transitional Housing Program in October of 1988. The purpose of this Family Housing Program is to provide case management to homeless families in need of life re-structuring. Along with case management, we provide a clean, safe place to live, counseling, life skills training and other support services which collectively work to enable guest families to transform their lives and make a smooth progression toward self-sufficient living and graduate from COOL enabled to live independently and fully self sufficient. COOL Transitional/Family Housing currently is made up of 10 single family homes and apartments located at scattered sites throughout Waukegan and Zion, Illinois.