Why Thresholds: Roxanne Martino
“There’s no zip code that doesn’t have mental illness. It doesn’t matter where you were headed — once it hits, you’re not going there at the pace you were before. And your family is deeply impacted, too.”
I was in my mid-30s, and I knew I wanted to help people experiencing homelessness. I just didn’t know how. Handing someone food or money didn’t feel enough. I wanted something more lasting. I just hadn’t found it yet.
Then a fellow Thresholds board member named Roger Brown asked me to help at a charity event. I brought some friends. We worked the event. Afterwards he stopped by my office and said he’d like to take me to lunch as a thank you.
The lunch was a Thresholds board meeting.
They opened with what they called a mission moment: one family’s story, and how Thresholds had changed the trajectory of their lives. I sat there and learned that roughly one-third of the people experiencing homelessness in Chicago are living with severe mental illness. I had no idea. And I learned what it actually costs, both financially and humanly, to watch someone cycle through arrest after arrest, lose their medication, get released into an unfamiliar neighborhood, and start all over again. And then I learned how Thresholds earns that same person’s trust, gets them services, and helps them find stable ground.
I was sold. Thirty-five years ago, over lunch.
I’ve spent every year since trying to bring as many people as I can into this work. Friends from that very first volunteer event are still involved today. They come in from Florida for the Gala. My neighbors are now major donors. My high school and college friends show up every year. Thresholds is just that special.
Roxanne has given thirty-five years. If her story moved you, consider giving what you can. Every dollar goes directly toward Thresholds’ mission: to help people living with mental health and substance use conditions build lives of stability, dignity, and purpose — through housing, meaningful work, and the kind of steadfast human support that shows up and never stops showing up. Make a gift today at thresholds.org/donate.