The fabric of our lives.                  
 
No - not cotton.  For Lincoln Park Village, the fabric that is our security blanket, our safety net, and our connection to each other is the giving and receiving of help, interest, concern, and companionship.  The fabric of our lives is our volunteer culture.
 
For most of us, giving help is second nature.  Without thinking, instinctively, we put out our hand to help another. But asking for help is quite another matter.  We are taught to be self-sufficient, to stand on our own. We value independence above almost everything. One Village member says: "I am an only child.  I have no children, and I am my husband's caregiver. I have always figured it out myself.   It never occurs to me to ask for help."
 
The beauty of the Village's volunteer culture is this:  It assumes that, over time, we will all be in a position to both need a little help and at other times to be able to provide a little help.  It's a mutual, non-judgmental, balanced equation. Here's how it works in real life:
 
-     A few months ago, Wally Shah attended a Village event at which he learned some of the fine points of Chinese cooking from Irv Miller.  Now, Irv has had a leaky faucet repaired thanks to Wally's know-how and possession of just the right tool. 
 
-     Baila Miller is advancing her Photoshop skills with guidance from volunteers Hollis Hines and Nancy Biederman.  Nancy is an accomplished photographer and responsible for many of the pictures that so often enhance this newsletter.
 
-     Laurel Baer needed a new fax/copier/printer for her home office - but didn't know how to choose the right one.  Nick Hysell took her shopping, carried it home, and installed it for her.  Laurel balances the equation by helping with the newsletter and other Village communications.
 
-      Miriam Roberts had her mattress turned by a volunteer who isn't even a member, but with the DePaul Alumni Association. And Miriam is part of the team that worked so hard vetting our outside service providers.  Members, non-members, providers - all part of the volunteer culture of Lincoln Park Village.
 
Not all of our members are in a position to volunteer.  For them, the equation is balanced by providing an opportunity for someone to experience the fulfillment of helping. Such is the case for a volunteer who escorts a member to Village events. The volunteer has enjoyed drawing the member out, listening to stories about the member's very interesting younger days, and experiencing her deep appreciation for the help and companionship.
 
The volunteer culture of Lincoln Park Village is new to some.  But we hope it will become as natural as breathing and the impulse to ask for help will be as uninhibited as the impulse to give help. 
 
And finally, for those who have thought -- "I don't need the Village yet" -- you are only accounting for half of the equation.  Become a member and become part of the fabric of our lives - giving, receiving, participating, belonging.    

 
You've made the decision to join Lincoln Park Village.  The next step is to make sure that your impulse to ask for help is as uninhibited as your impulse to give help. Here's what the Village has provided for just three of its 180 members.  Call us. Get into the "asking" habit. 
 

"I never thought I'd be calling the Village

in an emergency like this.  Who does?"
Member Joann Ricci was running late for a meeting. She slipped and fell on an El platform stairs, heard a pop, got up, and hobbled on to the meeting.  When she got home that afternoon, Joann knew she'd done damage. 
 
She and her partner Myron Rogers discussed what to do.  Go to the emergency room?  But why not call the Village, which is what Joann decided to do. Long story short, the Village immediately referred her to a vetted podiatrist right in the neighborhood.  X-rays confirmed a clean fracture in the left foot; the doctor put her in a walking boot, and she was home with her foot up by dinner-time.

Myron with Joann, sporting her walking stick and boot,

in front of their home on Maud Avenue.               Photo: Jane Curry

"I made one quick phone call and had a great option.  It worked out so conveniently and well.  I didn't spend hours waiting in an ER.  And I really saved a great deal of money-we figure at least $1,500 at this point."  Joann, who also serves on the Village board, adds this:
 
"It's been an eye-opening experience for me.  I have a view into what more might lay ahead, but it's O.K., because I have the Village.  The gift of help is amazing to receive."

 
"From this day forward, I am calling the Village first when I need an expert for a job." 
Member Kay Smith called recently to ask for help with her computer.  She previously had been very pleased with the services of a vetted handyman.   So we sent Howard Kirby ("Kirby the Computer Guy") to Kay's home.  She sent back a note, saying, in part:

Kay at work in her studio

"Kirby came on Saturday to set up my computer.  This man is a treasure for the membership. A layer of stress was lifted from my person . . . I hope our members realize what talented and vetted technicians, professionals, artisans, and service people we have available to us, and that they are using them . . . thank you, Lincoln Park Village!" 
 
Footnote:  Kirby was first recommended by board member Char Damron, and he provides Village members with a discount!

"Your staff probably saved my life

a couple of weeks ago."  
Those words were included in a note of thanks sent recently by a member who had called the Village one morning after feeling very stressed and short of breath.  Office manager Lisa Siciliano took the call and talked to the member.  Then she and intern Alainya Bandy both took turns checking in with her.  Member volunteer Betty Dayron also came to the office and called and talked to the member at length. 
 

As a result, the member realized she did need medical observation; she was admitted to the hospital the next day for a brief stay.   As she explained: "I called because I needed to take the Village up on its open offer of being a family to me.  Now I'm a new woman.  Please pass my thanks all around."

 Lisa and Alainya in the Village office.               Photo: Jane Curry

And who are the two young women in the office who were a family to our member that day?  Alainya Bandy is a social work intern who comes to the Village from Loyola University. Since arriving in June, she has been a mainstay in the office, helped coordinate various programs and events, and also presented with the Village on intergenerational relationships at Loyola's recent conference on creative aging.   Alainya says one of her greatest pleasures is connecting personally with one member with whom she walks three times a week. "The Village has an amazing member base, with so many skills and talents."      
 
Lisa Siciliano joined the Village as it was opening; she has been our part-time office manager for just over a year now. A Yale graduate and now a teacher and actress - she was involved in theater in Cleveland and New York City before coming to Chicago - Lisa currently is executive director of the State Theatre on Chicago's north side.  She is producing the company's current production, "Talk Radio," a Pulitzer-prize nominated play by Eric Bogosian (www.statetheatrechicago.com).   "My work with the Village is very important to my career," Lisa explains. "I've developed all sorts of office skills, leadership essentials, how to manage relationships, and how to help folks who are in distress.  I truly enjoy getting to know members and working with volunteers every week."
 
Both Alainya and Lisa agree that, for them, working and learning alongside Village Executive Director Dianne Campbell is one of the major job benefits.

 
  Photo:  Bill Lutz     

During a July walking tour of the IIT campus, Village member David Baker, long-time Vice President of External Affairs at IIT, provides members with an animated description of how the Campus Center came to have an EL tunnel running right through it.  The two-hour tour combined history, architecture, politics, and great personal insight to reveal the story of a Southside campus and its transformation.  Along the way, members were treated to inside / outside looks at buildings by Mies van der Rohe, Rem Koolhaus, and Helmut Jahn.  David has spent the past 17 years helping to develop and restore the IIT campus.
 

 
It was a "just for fun" BBQ in a member's backyard - a garden party Village-style.  Lois and Rick Stuckey were the hosts and set a bountiful table.  Guests added their specialties.  And the good spirits and conversation flowed, as it always does at Village gatherings. 
 

Chief BBQer and host  Rick Stuckey
 

Host Lois Stuckey with Brenda Sollitt and Honore Kligerman
 

Baila Miller and, in background, Char Damron, Mike Spock, Sandra Tice, and Madelyn MacMahon

Photos: Debra Rosenberg

 
How about helping out as Illinois hosts the country's first S.O.S. (Save Our Shores) Art Exhibition, showcasing the response of artists to the oil spill tragedy.  Volunteers and attendees are wanted and needed for a benefit event for the Greater New Orleans Foundation Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund.  All proceeds will go to assist fishermen, their families, and other victims of this disaster.  Friday, September 10, 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th St. Contact June Rosner or Sarah Hartman at 312-664-6100.