Emergency Stabilization Goal: $30,000 by May 15 – Help stop the rain damage now!

In early March 2026, Preservation Chicago named St. Mary of the Assumption Church and School one of the city’s Most Endangered Buildings.

“St. Mary of the Assumption as it stands today”

This is the very church where a young Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope — served as an altar boy, sang in the choir, and attended school in Chicago’s Riverdale neighborhood.

For 15 years the historic midcentury-modern church at 138th and Leyden has stood vacant. A major hole in the roof from the 2023 storms lets rain pour directly onto the pews and floors where young Pope Leo once prayed. Damaged windows, water intrusion, and years of neglect have pushed this sacred place dangerously close to collapse.

The timing could not be more urgent — or more meaningful.

Walking inside after the storms and seeing rain dripping where generations of families once worshipped was heartbreaking.

Right now, we need your help to stop the damage.

Our Emergency Goal: $30,000

This first $30,000 will fund urgent stabilization work:

Every dollar raised will go directly toward saving the building before it’s too late. As we hit this milestone, we’ll update the goal and show exactly how the funds are being used.

Break-Ins & Vandalism

Despite our efforts to protect this historic site — boarding up every entrance, reinforcing doors and windows, and installing additional perimeter fencing — we are still under constant attack. Every single building, including the parking lot, continues to be targeted. Windows, doors, and gates are repeatedly breached, often within hours of being repaired.

To make matters worse, contractors are now openly trespassing through our lot, using it as a free dump site for their construction debris and trash, which they pile onto our sidewalks and driveway.

We are fighting daily just to keep our buildings secure and our property clean, but the ongoing damage and illegal dumping are overwhelming. We urgently need your help to install professional security measures, cameras, and proper barriers before this situation causes irreversible damage.

Any support right now would mean everything. Thank you for standing with us during this crisis.

All donations are tax-deductible through JBlendz Enterprises NFP Inc. (EIN 88-2382485).

We cannot let this sacred place collapse. With your support, we can honor Pope Leo XIV’s boyhood parish, protect a piece of Chicago and American Catholic history, and build real opportunity on the South Side.

Together, we turn ruins into revival — one urgent step at a time.

RESTORE • HONOR • EMPOWER

Thank you for standing with us.

— Joe Hall

Executive Director, JBlendz Enterprises NFP

Chicago, Illinois