Outstanding VOLUNTEERS

BY MAUREEN CALLAHAN PHOTOS BY 726 VISUALS

Volunteer work can be tedious and often exhausting. Rarely is it glamorous. So, what keeps dedicated volunteers coming back? For many, it’s the satisfaction of being the last stop on a person or family’s quest for assistance. As longtime FISH food pantry volunteer June Miller puts it, “nobody grows up saying ‘I can’t wait to visit the food pantry.’” The help and encouragement provided by the agencies of assistance around town are not only essential, but at times, life-altering. The friendships formed among the volunteers working to lift strangers in need is its own reward as well.

Following are profiles of a few of these selfless helpers and the organizations they serve.

FISH PANTRY – JUNE MILLER AND LYNN HAYES

Located next to the Downers Grove Township building, just north of North High School, FISH food pantry began assisting people with food insecurity 50 years ago. Although the name is based on the Christian symbol of the fish, volunteers later came up with ‘Food Insecurity Stops Here,’ to fit the acronym.

June Miller has given the previous 20 of her 85 years to this outstanding organization. A retired P.E. teacher and coach from the high school next door, Miller finds fulfillment in knowing clients can feed their families after visiting the pantry. Over the years, she has worn any hat the organization has handed her. Her twoday-a-week shifts find her stocking pantry shelves of donated food, fielding client needs via telephone or packing bags of food to be distributed during open pantry hours. Miller has also periodically served on FISH’s Board of Directors in various roles.

Despite coming away aching from a shift of hauling boxes and heavy items, Miller would never consider leaving her post. “I don’t care where it hurts. If I can help a family eat for a few days, it’s worth it to me,” Miller stated. “People are just so relieved to get their food. Seeing them smile and knowing nobody will starve is what keeps me coming back.”

Volunteer Lynn Hayes retired from a 40 year career in sales. Looking for a productive way to spend her days, Hayes remembered an organization a friend of hers had originally helped found. Hayes became a pantry volunteer. Later, she served as the correspondence secretary to the Board of Directors. Today, she keeps a database of donors. “We offer thanks to the generous community who help us,” she said. According to Hayes, the client list has increased significantly since COVID. She passionately guards FISH’s mission-to be sure that all who show up, eat. “There’s no judgment,” said Hayes. “For some, it’s hard to admit they need help. We try to be as welcoming and open-handed as they need.”

SHARING CONNECTIONS –SUZANNE DAUM AND LISA HIGGINS

Located just west of Belmont Road at Curtiss Street is an industrial complex that houses Sharing Connections. This amazing organization helps families set up house. Clients who have qualified for services visit the large showroom to choose housewares such as dishes, bedding, lamps and décor.

For the last two years, volunteer Suzanne Daum has not only given time, but also housewares and financial assistance to this worthy organization. Daum loves meeting donors who drop things off at the door and sorting the donated items. She finds acting as a “client advocate,”-a relatively new opportunity in which volunteers work directly with the clients- to have elevated an already wonderful experience. Daum loves to interview clients about their greatest needs, then guide them around the warehouse to help locate their requested items. “The clients are so appreciative. Sometimes they hug us,” Daum relayed. Another favorite time is the beginning of December, as the toys for the annual Christmas drive are laid out throughout the warehouse. “Sharing Connections has my heart,” she said. “I’m so proud to be a part of this organization.”

Much volunteer satisfaction comes not only from the work itself, but the camaraderie that naturally seems to accompany it. Daum’s ‘co-worker’ Lisa Higgins found herself with some spare time as her children entered high school. Instead of going back to work, she decided to go where she would be appreciated. “It’s not always all about a paycheck,” she reasoned. Higgins spends her Thursday afternoons answering the door- bell for donation drop-offs, hanging clothes, sorting bedding and testing electronics. For Higgins, it’s not just about helping, though. “I love the people I volunteer with,” she said. “It’s therapeutic to chat with them while we’re sorting things. We’re friends.”

WEST SUBURBAN HUMANE SOCIETY (WSHS)CINDY JOHNSON AND SHANNON LENZ

Recently relocated to a beautiful, new, spacious building, West Suburban Humane Society assists our furry friends. Originally founded as a lost-and-found referral service, this no-kill shelter works to ensure that dogs and cats are loved and cared for, and their owners have the necessary resources.

Cindy Johnson was actually allergic to cats earlier in life. Luckily, her system was able to adapt after a week of getting used to the dander of her first adopted kitten. “It’s all been downhill since then,” she stated. Now nearly two decades into volunteering, she has also served on the Board of Directors as recording secretary. Later, she turned her passion for animals and words into grant writing to help secure funding for WSHS. Johnson also transports animals to vet visits. When she finishes the manual work involved with her shift, she lies down in the kitten room and lets them walk over her. “It’s like free therapy,” Johnson laughed.

Ten-year volunteer Shannon Lenz also finds her time at WSHS to be spent volunteering as valuable family time. She also pointed out the mental health benefits of volunteering. Lenz expressed heartfelt thanks to the organization for being there for her in a dark period of her life. WSHS became a place Lenz felt appreciated, not only by the animals, but the organization. “It’s been life-saving to get out of my head- and home- to come here,” she said. “Animals ask nothing but love and care from you,” she commented.

HOPE’S FRONT DOOR (HFD)ADRIENNE COLVERT AND KATHLEEN SHAW

With offices located at the First Congregational Church, Hope’s Front Door works to guard the well-being of families and individuals as “first-responders” to those in desperate medical or financial straits. Once volunteers identify a client’s immediate need, assistance is offered as well as a straight path to the necessary social service organization for help.

therapeutic. Raising a family of animal lovers, Lenz’s son Evan began volunteering at age 10, followed by daughter Avery. Now with the children in college, Lenz reminisced on the years

Adrienne Colvert found Hope’s Front Door after making a donation in memory of her mother. Over the past 17 years, she has watched the organization quadruple from when she started. “I always thought I would have to go overseas to help others. Then I learned how much I could do right here in Downers Grove,” Colvert said. Over the years, she has helped with keeping current phone numbers and correct hours of operations of the service organizations referred by HFD. She has helped collect and organize toiletries available for the taking, as well as gas and grocery gift cards for immediate help. Colvert has also worked to build relationships with agencies of longer-term assistance, such as FISH. “To be able to help a senior citizen who is unable to advocate for themselves for housing assistance, food delivery, etc., can be life-changing,” Colvert opined.

Kathleen Shaw has served as a health and wellness volunteer for HFD for the past 12 years. After a career in education, Shaw volunteers her time unraveling paperwork for her clients’ dental and vision appointments at Midwest University. She spends endless hours waiting on hold with pharmacies to ensure necessary prescriptions are filled. For her clients, Shaw takes on the frustrating but necessary parts of the health care system, with a smile. Recently, a client wandered in with a completely swollen jaw. Shaw helped arrange emergency oral surgery to alleviate the problem. “I get a great deal of satisfaction out of helping my clients,” she said.

The experiences relayed by our volunteers are inklings of vast categories of assistance. People often discount the power of one good deed. Aesop wrote that ‘no act of kindness, regardless of its size, is ever wasted.’ The following is a paraphrased excerpt from “The Star Thrower,” an essay by Loren Eiseley:

Early one morning, an old man walked along a seashore littered in starfish that had washed up with the tide. Down the beach, he saw a young boy dashing back and forth in the sand. As the man approached the boy, he noticed him gently tossing the starfish back into the sea.

When twhe old man asked the boy why he was doing this, the boy relayed that if he didn’t throw the starfish back into the ocean, they would die. The old man pointed out the miles of beach and number of starfish. “You can’t possibly make a difference,” he said. After listening politely, the boy tossed another one into the tide. “It made a difference to that one,” he said.

Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. Small donations, whether of time or money, can be easy to give, but their echoes are truly endless. Any measure of time, hope or compassion bestowed upon someone in need makes all the difference in the world to the one who receives it. ■

AMERICAN