Monthly meetings are held in the Fireside Room of Trinity Community Church, UCC at 7022 Riverside Drive (26th Street at Riverside Drive), Berwyn, Illinois. For more information, contact Adrian Mary Charniak through the church office at 708-484-1818.
Other events (clothes drive, Christmas gatherings, etc.) are scheduled throughout the year. Check the church calendar in our monthly newsletter for more information.

History of the Grandparents and Others Ministry
          Imagine the retirement years, a time to anticipate a new way of life. The family that once filled your time with various schedules, work, and balancing school activities is replaced with new adventures. Those children that were once the focus of your life now have families of their own. Then one day retirement is changed forever...maybe it is a phone call, maybe a knock at your door, which may be the result of domestic abuse, substance abuse, the death of a parent/s, HIV/AIDS, neglect, incarceration, a call to serve in the military, or because some parents just walk away from their child/ren. Life immediately changes and the next generation is in need of your care. Through the grieving of your own child's loss, you now must pick up the pieces and begin to raise the next generation. This is a story of how one congregation has partnered with one of its members, Adrian Mary Charniak, an active member since March 1981, to create a new ministry that provides a safe space and is socially active on state and national levels fighting for the rights of grandparents raising grandchildren.
    In 2009, Trinity formally recognized and established a new ministry, the Gift of Hope, Grandparents & Others Raising America's Children. The Gift of Hope ministry takes its name from "Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network," a life-saving organization. The ministry's name honors Adrian’s son, Raymond Nosal, the father of her grandchild, Joey, after "Gift of Hope" assisted the Charniak family in fulfilling Raymond's last wishes by providing life-saving organs and tissue transplants to others.
     Building on the gifts God has provided our church through its members, Trinity is empowering its members, social agencies and ecumenical partners to work on issues of grandparents rights. Grandparents attempting to raise their grandchildren face tremendous struggles and are oppressed by various societal structures. Legal obstacles are common for grandparents lacking legal custody rights:  visitation rights are often not acknowledged, school/medical records are often denied, and legal representation is difficult to obtain and afford. Many grandparents raising grandchildren live on fixed incomes, and some are close to the poverty level. Second mortgages are often taken to pay for attorney fees to obtain legal rights for visitation, guardianship, etc. Grandparents also struggle financially, attempting to provide additional food, clothing, and housing for added family members. Medical and dental health care and other out of pocket expenses are burdensome when faced with no legal rights, a fact that still remains an obstacle for many grandparents who are raising grandchildren. A grandparent receives $117/mo. for the first grandchild, $107/mo. for the second, and $10 less for each additional child, as compared to $500-$800 monthly financial support offered to foster parents. The system discriminates and is non-supportive and takes advantage of good-hearted grandparents who choose to raise their grandchildren.
     There is a stigma associated with how our society treats older adults, and often social structures do not recognize grandparents as being capable of caring for grandchildren. Official agencies, including abuse hotline responders, often ignore grandparents who report child abuse.  Judges often will not listen, judging in favor of a biological parent who has a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse; and social workers are over burdened by caseloads and often fall short in providing necessary scrutiny and guidance.  Many grandparents are told to "shut up" as they face untrue, negative accusations inaccurately reported by formal investigation agencies; and may need to relocate due to "no children welcome" housing requirements of many senior communities.
     The Gift of Hope ministry attempts to empower grandparents through Christian fellowship to liberate oppressive social structures when facing the legal and custody issues associated with raising their grandchildren; providing emotional, physical and spiritual support needed to face the overwhelming demands of raising grandchildren and the generational differences; striving to break the isolation older adults experience the second time around with raising grandchildren; sharing the newest educational information on parenting skills; working with social systems and school districts to end oppressive practices against grandparents; working with federal/state lawmakers to broaden grandparent rights; explaining medical rights; interfacing with new technology; helping to obtain clothing and other needs for the children; raising funds to assist with gas and electric bills as well as public transportation needs; providing holiday meals and sourcing area food pantries; locating affordable apartments; and offering home furnishings (dressers, beds, etc). We strive to help grandparents imagine a new possibility knowing that “God is still speaking.”