A Word From Paul: Our Founder
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we were able to connect with Paul Wilkes, co-founder of CHiPS. Paul shared with us some of his favorite stories about the early stages of CHiPS. This is what he had to say.
“I handed the landlord $125 in cash, which Ed Mohler and I had chipped in to pay the first month’s rent. Ed and I and our wives had been meeting with a prayer group for over a year and had talked and prayed about having a “street presence,” where we could leave the comfort of our living rooms and actually serve those in need. Well, here we were.
We used a hot plate in the St. Francis Xavier rectory basement – no more than some cans of Campbell’s supplemented with whatever vegetables the members of our little community had in their refrigerators we offered the soup and ourselves to whomever walked in. Christian Help in Park Slope – CHIPS – was born.
As I began to walk the streets of Brooklyn, I was no more than a day tripper into the world of poverty. I could stay safe in my clean, warm brownstone. Those who came to CHiPS did not have this option. There was never enough money for food and heating oil and clothes and rent. I had walked by those houses and buildings so many times on my way to the subway, never once thinking of who was within. My life continued to change and what I never imagined I would or could do, I did. I went to the Italian greengrocers down on Fifth Avenue not to buy my romaine or arugula, but to ask for their produce. Some of the first CHIPS volunteers asked if we shouldn’t have some criteria, to make sure the people were truly needy. ‘Just that they come to us, says enough. Let’s not humiliate them further. I didn’t see Christ applying a means test. We’re not going to either.’
If someone needed a stove, one miraculously appeared. Money for a bus ticket or gas bill. How it all worked, I still don’t know. I stopped asking. CHIPS was only scheduled to be open a few afternoons a week and on Saturday mornings, but I found myself turning the key in the door more and more frequently. There was no problem too great, no person outside our ‘encatchment area – CHIPS was open to any problem, any person, any time. I prayed to serve those who society has discarded, those who need love. To be a voice for those who have none.
I had no grand plan as each day unfolded, I simply wanted to listen and respond – as best I could, with the limited time, abilities, and resources that I had. It’s all I knew to do. I never had the discipline or inclination to keep a diary, but we did keep a log at CHIPS so we could follow up on our guests, as we called them. And, today as I leaf through those early pages of CHIPS history, I know that something very good was being born. We prevented the poor and handicapped from being evicted. We got jobs where none were to be found. We rescued battered wives and children from abusive husbands and fathers. We, the volunteers, and those who came through our door were different in kind, but not in essence.”
Today, all of us at CHiPS toil day and night to maintain Paul’s vision, of a safe harbor to all those who need some kind words, a hot meal, and a warm bed. Here at CHiPS, no problem is still too small or large; here at CHiPS, we make the impossible a reality.
