Day of service in New Trier
By Kimberly Fornek kfornek@pioneerlocal.com January 16, 2012 4:58PM
Claire Nusekabel and Julia Mati, both 14 year olds from Wilmette, work on squares for the Linus Project during The Volunteer Center and the Kindness Connection's service day at New Trier's West Campus cafeteria in Northfield. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Medi
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Updated: February 20, 2012 8:48AM
The New Trier Township High School cafeteria in Northfield was filled with busy hands at work Monday and decorated with banners of inspirational messages. The words were those of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. The hands were those of adults and children from Winnetka, Wilmette, and other towns, who had come to practice what King preached.
Gerald Smith never stopped tying knots in the fringe of a large piece of fleece with a football design, as his wife Stephanie explained they came to volunteer in recognition of King’s legacy.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” King said.
“I can think of no better way to serve others than to help the homeless,” Stephanie Smith said. The Wilmette couple were making two “no sew” fleece blankets, which will be donated to the Night Ministry, which provides housing and services to homeless individuals and runaways.
“We will give the blankets out from our Health Reach bus,” said David Weasley, a Night Ministry representative who attended the annual Martin Luther King Day of Service event. “It’s a mobile clinic that goes to six different neighborhoods in Chicago. Some of them will also go to our youth shelters.”
Stephanie Smith purposely had brought fleece in patterns that would appeal to boys, one with footballs, the other a blue and green tie-dyed design.
“I think most people tend to bring pretty material in pastel colors,” Smith said. “I’m an equal opportunist.”
Denise McClanahan of Glencoe thought the same way. She brought fleece for two blankets, one with pink polka dots, and the other, which her two sons and their friend were making, was blue with a sports theme.
The fleece blankets were just one of several projects the community was invited to make for others: magnets for assisted living and retirement homes; placemats for patients at Hines Veterans Hospital, birthday treat bags for Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly. Even the scraps of fleece were twisted and tied into toys for dogs and cats at Orphans of the Storm, an animal shelter in Riverwoods.
Stephanie Smith had participated in a similar Martin Luther King Day of Service in 2007, when her daughter was a freshman at New Trier. That daughter now is away at college, but Smith sent her an email reminding her “make sure you do something for others today in honor of Dr. King.”
This year’s event was jointly organized by the Kindness Connection and the Volunteer Center. The Volunteer Center links residents of New Trier Township and the northeastern Chicago metropolitan area with non-profit social service agencies needing volunteers. The Kindness Connections helps organize volunteer opportunities for children in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Barb Tubekis, executive director of the Volunteer Center, estimated between 300 and 400 volunteers participated from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 16 at New Trier Township High School’s Northfield Campus. ”It’s the first time we did it with Kindness Connection,” Tubekis said. “It’s a great marriage.”
Blake Bowen, 10, was drawing a cow and a moon on a muslin square that would be combined with other hand-decorated squares into a quilt.
“I helped make dog toys. I drew a placemat for the veterans who are paralyzed,” Blake said, naming the gifts he had completed so far.
Jenny Smith of Wilmette heard about the volunteer day at her church, Christ Church in Winnetka and brought her daughter, her daughter’s friend and her son.
“If you’re going to get a day off for something like this (Martin Luther King Day), then you should be doing something” that relates to King’s life, Smith said. It still allows time to relax, and study for exams, she said, indicating her son Keenan, a freshman at New Trier, who has first semester exams this week.
For more information about the Volunteer Center or the Kindness Connection, look at the websites, VolunteerCenterHelps.org or thekindnessconnection.org, or call (847) 441-7665 or (847) 807-9340.
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