Rain or shine, a Chicago woman goes to the same street corner to feed her neighbors

By Jim Williams

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — She’s a powerhouse who built a ministry and changed the narrative on a Chicago street corner that was once famous for trouble.

Week after week, Sandie Norman heads to the West Side’s Austin community, bringing food, prayer and hope, and as CBS 2 learned, she’s committed come rain or shine.

Reporter: “It says a lot about your dedication that even in the cold and in the rain, you’re out here.”

Norman: “I don’t care if it’s below zero, OK? We’re here.”

No matter the weather, the Sandie Norman Ministry sets up at Madison Street and Central Avenue every Friday for prayer, fellowship, and good, hot, homemade food.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome!” she said to visitors on a recent Friday.

Norman began the street hospitality during the pandemic when churches were closed, but her need to serve was stronger than ever.

“I just said, OK I’m going to go out,” Norman said. “And I’m gonna take the kingdom to the street, just to where no one else wants to go.”

The ministry has had a big impact in Austin, a neighborhood long plagued with violent crime. In the immediate area of Madison and Central, the ministry has had a big impact.

“What you see now, it was not like this,” she said. “It was a lot of drug trafficking, just a lot of the activity, police cars.”

City data show crime was indeed down on the corner since Norman set up the ministry, but it’s about more than numbers. Norman’s ministry and the officers in the neighborhood said really care about each other.

“We have officers there that put their lives on the line. They are out here with us,” she said. “And so we wanted to do it for the community. We wanted to be able to bless the officers.”

Andre Parham, until last August, was the district’s Chicago police commander.

“This corner, when I first came to the district, was one of the biggest challenges that we had,” Parham said.

He added, “Having Sandie Norman and her ministry come here …and work with the community and reach out to people that it’s difficult for the police department to reach out [to] made a true, true difference in this particular area.”

Reporter: “You have a partnership here.”

Parham: “Yes I do. 100%”

So how does law enforcement engender that partnership?

“It’s simply this: giving the community a voice, but bringing the community in, and making them part of the solution,” said Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling.

CBS 2 spoke with Snelling, who called Norman a force for good.

“When we have people like that, who are invested in their communities, don’t wait to be told, and they want to be part of the solution, we can make great things happen,” he said.

So, where does Norman’s need to serve her community come from?

“I grew up in areas where there was a lot of violence,” Norman said. “So I made a decision that I wasn’t just going to just talk about the problem, but that I wanted to be one that goes back and be changed.”

So she has enlisted the support of people who live in Austin, and others who live miles away. They all believe their presence on a Chicago street corner, and a warm hand, can change a community.

“Yes, and we love what we do,” Norman said. “We don’t get paid. We don’t have any political ties. We do this because we love God and because we love people.”

When she first started out, Norman worked two jobs to pay for the food to donate to her neighbors. Even now, her ministry doesn’t get grants or funding.

Norman said it all comes from people just putting their resources together to make the world a bit better.

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