Wednesday Journal 011718

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W E D N E S D A Y

JOURNAL

MLK Day at West Sub Page 18

of Oak Park and River Forest

January 17, 2018 Vol. 36, No. 22 ONE DOLLAR

@oakpark @wednesdayjournal

At OPRF, but tested by the streets Two students, once homeless, are fearful of life after Anne’s House closes By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

They are close friends — both 17-year-old girls, both juniors at Oak Park and River Forest High School, both of their lives nearly wrecked by homelessness, sexual abuse, drugs and broken homes in downstate Illinois that they both fled last year before finding a refuge called Anne’s House in Chicago. Now, with the sudden news that Anne’s House will be closing by Jan. 31, both girls are scrambling to find alternative means of shelter, because they’re afraid of what might happen if, once again, they’re left to fend for themselves. Anne’s House is part of the Salvation Army’s PROMISE program, which supports women and girls who have been affected by prostitution and sex trafficking. The people at Anne’s House provided the girls with a place to live, social workers who the two teenagers said had become like surrogate mothers, medical insurance and a high school to attend. The girls said that Anne’s House would have also helped enroll them in college and pay some of the tuition. The girls and at least one employee at Anne’s House said that the news about the center’s closing came abruptly and had to do with the loss of funding. Anthony Clark, who teaches both girls at See ANNE’S HOUSE on page 16

ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer

THREE-HANDED: Rashad Glover, founder of Global Glover Technologies, with his 3-D printed prosthetic arm prototype.

A hand up … and out

OPRF grad wants to teach kids how to build 3-D arms By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter

Rashad Glover, an Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate, is an industrial designer by profession. His passion, though, is making arms on a 3-D printer

for disabled people who most need them. “We pretty much find people who need arms in the ‘urban’ environment, 3-D scan them, then 3-D print custom prosthetics for recipients at no cost to them,” Glover said in a recent interview. It costs between $300 and $500 to buy the materials to produce each arm, which can take more than a month to make and features a range of bells and whistles like flashlights and cellphone holders. The

cost of labor is incalculable, measured mainly in love. Glover, 35, said his South Side church, New Deliverance, provides him with space and funds to make the prosthetics through a program they’ve been developing for nearly two years. He just delivered the first prosthetic he’s completed through the program to a recipient in See GLOVER on page 14

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