The Mission of Midnight Run
Acting on our responsibilities as Christians
and persons of good will, the mission of Midnight
Run is to focus the compassion of Marquette students upon the needs of the poor and marginalized in
our own community. Using voluntary direct service
as its primary tool, Midnight Run volunteers strive
Marquette University
Midnight Run
Campus Ministry, AMU 236
to serve selflessly, build relationships, and walk in
solidarity with those who are hungry, homeless, or
P.O. Box 1881
suffer the consequences of society’s unjust struc-
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
tures, honoring the dignity and worth of all.
Gerry Fischer
Through the regular reflected experience of Midnight
E-mail: [email protected]
414-288-3687
“Whatsoever you do for the least,
you do for me”
Run volunteers, we strive not just to create men and
women of service, but rather, we endeavor to develop
agents of positive social change.
Spotlight on Noon Run
Noon Run is the original Midnight
Run meal site. It is the site that has
drawn students and neighbors together for the past 20 years.
Although Noon Run currently takes
place in a little area outside of ―Lot
T‖ located on 19th Street (just south
of Wisconsin Ave.), the original location of Noon Run was just outside
the Milwaukee Public Library. Students rightly thought that this would
be an ideal spot to serve the homeless who sought refuge from the
weather and lonely days at the public
library. Unfortunately, the library site
was a little too popular and Midnight
Run began to receive complaints from
library staff and patrons of excessive
litter and loitering.
It was at that time when Midnight
Run decided to take on the responsibility for the impact of the program
and thought it was time to put Noon
Run on campus. This way Noon Run
could break down the artificial
Noon Run at the Milwaukee
Public Library (about 1990)
barriers that tend to separate the
campus from our neighbors. The
new Noon Run site was on campus,
but only barely. Noon Run began
serving their sandwiches, soup, bever-
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
CAMPUS MINISTRY
MIDNIGHT RUN
TEAM
Mandi Davis
V O L U M E
Nicki Steinmetz
Andrew Miller
2 ,
I S S U E
1
MIDNIGHT RUN
FALL 2009
What’s in a name? “Midnight Run”
Conor Berigan
Stephanie Guertin
Molly Henry
Luke Hornof
Jenny Mays
Andrew Miller
Megan Murphy
Tom Nass
Sullivan Oakley
Sheila Otto
Glenn Oviatt
Lauren Postier
Danika Rahn
Tim Rank
John Ross
Brian Sara
Rachel Smith
Bridget St. Peter
Nicki Steinmetz
Sarah Vogt
Lizzie Weasler
Amanda Wolff
Michael ZIegler
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
age, and dessert in a small parking lot
under the Marquette Interchange
south of East Hall (now called Straz
Tower) in the early 1990’s. Since that
time, Noon Run bounced around a
few other sites (always near an edge
of campus) until it landed in its current location on 19th Street in about
2002.
No matter where Noon Run is
served, hundreds and hundreds of
guests and student volunteers have
received far more than a simple meal.
The many stories shared and company kept has created –at least for
moments– a bond and relationship
that reveals the reign of God braking
into our world.
Midnight Runnings
Boarded-Up
Home
Campaign
2
Housing Trust
Fund News
2
Midnight Run
wants you to
buy lunch
2
Volunteer Reflection
3
Spotlight on
Noon Run
4
We have had the name
―Midnight Run since the beginning of the program 20 years
ago but it never really has done
a great job of explaining who we
are or what we do. There are
several theories about how
Midnight Run got its name but
no one has ever been able to
provide a definitive history of
the name.
One theory is that in 1988, the
year that Midnight Run started
there was a movie also called
―Midnight Run‖ and that students thought that would be a
cool name because one of the
movies stars was also a graduate
of Marquette. The other theory,
which seems more viable to me,
is that in the early days of the
program, students would gather
leftover food collected after
Bradley Center events and drive
around the downtown area to
distribute it to those on the
streets. While it wasn’t exactly
midnight it was a run of sorts,
albeit in a van.
The name certainly did stick and
it has served us well for
our 20 years but it has also
caused confusion and misunderstanding for the same amount of
time!
Every year we have to explain
that Midnight Run is not a run
and it doesn’t happen at midnight! The only problem is that
we do hold a run, ―Miles for
Meals‖, as our annual fundraiser.
We also cannot say that we
never do anything at midnight
because we occasionally sell hot
dogs at midnight at our fundraister, ―Meals@Midnight‖.
More important than our name
is our reputation on campus.
Students recognize that Midnight
Run is one of the best examples
of genuine and grounded service
on campus. It is a group of students who reach out to people
to extend a neighborly hand and
in the end recognize that both
are the better for it.
“Miles for Meals” NEEDS YOU!
One of the daunting tasks of
being on the Midnight Run Coordinating Team is that they not
only coordinate all the 160 volunteers for the 10 service sites of
Midnight Run, they also need to
fundraise its annual budget of
$6000 each year. For the past 9
years the ―Miles for Meals‖ has
been our largest fundraiser, yielding approximately 1/2 of our
budget each year.
This is a fun event which begins
with DJ music, a student reflection and words of inspiration
from Fr. Naus. The ―Run‖ is 5K,
Midnight Run’s “Miles for Meals”
October 2, check-in at 4:30p.m.
West Town Square
(west of AMU)
Register in Campus Ministry
which translates to roughly 3 laps
around what is known on campus
-Continued on page 3
PAGE
2
Over 20%
of
Milwaukee
renters
spend 50%
of their
income on
housing.
Milwaukee Housing Trust Fund News
The need for affordable
housing in Milwaukee is at
critical levels. It is estimated
that Milwaukee needs 28,000
units of affordable housing just
to meet the current need for
the lowest income residents of
the city. Over 20% of
Milwaukee renters spend the
unsustainable amount of 50%
of their income on housing.
The Milwaukee Housing Trust
Fund was established in 2006
to provide the funds needed to
make new and renovation
affordable housing projects
more feasible for developers.
Since its inception, the HTF
has received funding requests
for over $4.8 million annually.
With $400,00 allocated annually from the city, the HTF
does not have the funds to
provide even 1/4 of these requests.
Given the current financial
crisis the need for more affordable housing is obvious,
but its effects on the available
revenues for the city budget
will continue to worsen.
The HTF Coalition did receive positive news on a potential funding source to contribute to this fund. In the last
session, the Wisconsin legisla-
ture voted for legislation that
would enable cities to extend
their TIFs (Tax Incremental
Financing) for an additional
year with that funding to be
dedicated for affordable housing. This is another tool in the
HTF’s toolbox for obtaining
sufficient funding but this too is
limited in a poor financial climate.
Midnight Run has been a
supporter of the HTF for more
than 3 years. Look for HTF
updates in future Midnight
Runnings.
Midnight Run supports Common Ground Action
September 18th and
November 7th
11PM—?
One of the most noticeable
features of the current economic downturn of this past
year is the rising number of
boarded up homes in the city
of Milwaukee. Many , if not
most of these boarded up
homes are the result of the
rash of foreclosures we have
experienced here and across
the country in these tough
economic times
Vacant homes like these are a
cancer to neighborhoods and
cause many problems for their
neighbors and the neighborhoods. Vacant homes are
often destroyed by squatters
or drug dealers who use them
as drug houses. If not restored
for residency in a prompt manner, many homes will become
too dilapidated and will need
to be torn down. As you
could imagine, the quality of
life in the neighborhood goes
down as does the value of the
surrounding properties.
How can this go on with so
many people struggling to find
affordable and decent housing?
What is being done about this
critical issue?
Southeast Wisconsin Common Ground, a community
organizing group, is taking on
this issue by putting pressure
on the three banks who own a
high number of these homes.
Deutche Bank, US Bank, and
Wells Fargo hold the lion share
— See Board-Ups on page 3
Learning the Lingo: “What’s a “TIF”?
MIDNIGHT
RUNNINGS
MIDNIGHT
Tax incremental financing, or
TIF, is a tool that can be used
to expand an area’s tax base
and create jobs. It is targeted
toward urban areas that have
become blighted, or need
rehabilitation in areas which
are experiencing declining
value. Essentially, a TIF is a
loan that the city takes out
against the future value of a
specified area to make these
improvements. ―Incremental‖
RUNNINGS
is the new increased value
after the improvements, with
the tax on this new value going
to repay this loan instead of
going to the city’s tax base.
TIFs remain in place until the
loan is repaid, up to 27 years.
Because of recent legislation in
Wisconsin, TIFs can be extended for an additional year
with income generated designated for affordable housing.
In most cases, this money would go
into a municipal Housing Trust Fund
if there is one in the community.
This new dedicated income source
has the potential to provide adequate
funds for a viable HTF, but since it is
tied to the economy this potential
may take time to be realized.
Check the Dept. of Revenue’s
website for more info on TIF’s in the
state:
www.dor.state.wi.us/equ/09tifrep.pdf
(See also HTF News above)
VOLUME
2,
ISSUE
1
PAGE
Board-Ups (continued from page 2)
of these homes and have done little
do make these homes viable for
new residents in a timely way.
On Saturday, September 26th,
150 volunteers will travel around
the city taking digital photos of
these boarded-up homes for the
Southeast Wisconsin Common
Ground action campaign. The Midnight Run Coordinating Team and
members of Marquette for Common Ground will be participating
with members from all across the
metro area.
A digital photo will be taken of
each boarded-up home with a sign
in front of it which says, ―This
home is owned by (Name of the
bank) .‖ volunteers will also talk
with neighbors to hear how these
eye-sore houses have affected
them.
All these photos and stories will
be compiled into presentations
which will be delivered to the
CEOs or board members of these
three banks. It is also important to
know that each of these banks received substantial ―TARP‖ bailout
funds.
This campaign is not trying to
persecute these banks but it is calling on these financial giants to be
responsible in the disposition of
these properties that are currently
in their possession. It is asked that
these homes not be sold to
―flippers‖ or large property landlords but rather to residential
homeowners who will maintain
these homes and add to the stability
(and tax base) of these neighborhoods.
Midnight Run is proud to join in
this effort. The lack of affordable
housing in Milwaukee is at crisis
levels and these vacant foreclosed
homes can only add to this crisis.
Many of the former owners of
these foreclosed homes are now
finding themselves struggling just to
stay off the streets with no one to
bail them out!
“Midnight Run
teaches us how
Volunteer Reflection
-By Beth Mueller
When my friend asked me go to
Noon Run one Friday afternoon
during my freshman year, I had no
idea what sort of blessings would
flow from this decision to serve
soup and sandwiches at 19th and
Wisconsin.
By being a part of Midnight Run,
service transforms from merely a
block of time in the week to a
lifestyle centered on building
relationships with the community.
Midnight Run teaches us how to
trust our neighbors so that we can
rely on each other for emotional
support and advocacy when injustice occurs. Each time I go to my
service site, I am reminded that my
neighbors, my friends, suffer the
consequences of hunger and
homelessness.
to trust our
neighbors…”
VOLUNTEER NEWS!
We had an amazing response to this fall’s service sign
-ups with all 160 volunteer
spots filled in just 2 hours!
Because we do have occasional drops, feel free to stop
by Campus Ministry or e-mail
[email protected]
to check for any openings.
“Miles for Meals” (continued from page 1)
as ―the Marquette Mile‖ (the extended block containing most of
the academic buildings). The event
ends where we began with more
music and a raffle of great prizes!
The Midnight Run coordinating
team has set a challenging goal of
$4,000 for this event. A minimum
donation of $15 is asked of each
participant and includes a Midnight
Run T-Shirt. Please
help us make our goal!
2009 ―Miles for Meals‖ T-Shirt
3