Lincoln Park Village logo

Serving Chicago's Lake View, Lincoln Park and Near North neighborhoods

M E M B E R  N E W S
August 2010

What is Lincoln Park Village?

Lincoln Park Village is part of a national movement that is empowering people to take charge of their lives by choosing to age in their homes, with enjoyment and confidence.  More than 50 such villages currently operate in cities across the country, with another 100 in formation. With one phone call, Lincoln Park Village provides members with access to a full range of vetted services, programs, and customized attention to make their life at home easier. A unique and extensive calendar of Village educational and social programs, created and led by volunteers, builds community and ensures strong neighbor to neighbor connections and friendships.  The Member-Plus Program ensures that residents of modest means can join the Village and have funds for services.

Call us! Join us!
773.248.8700
Call Lincoln Park Village
2502 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60614
p. 773.248.8700
f. 773.248.8181
www.lincolnparkvillage.org
info@lincolnparkvillage.org



We Welcome
 New Members


Mary Ann Schwartz & Richard Brewer
Bobbe Wolf & Hugh Brodkey
Beryl Byman
Margaret Coates
Donald Curda
Sally & Paul Edelsberg
Sophia Sieczkowski &
Joel Krauss
Carolyn A. Moore
Mary C. Pappas
Greta & Richard Salem
Esther Saks
Dian Weddle


AUGUST CALENDAR


For complete details, visit our website:  www.lincolnparkvillage.org
Register by calling 773.248.8700 or email us.

celebrate@lincolnparkvillage.org


Let the Village office know if you need a ride!   


NIA CLASSES

  NIA1

Thursdays through September 9. Beginning again Sept. 16. 10:30 - 11:30 a.m., Church of the Three Crosses, 333 W. Wisconsin.  Members $40/non-members $15 per session.  Mind-body-spirit practice that explores movement with balance, ease, and precision. Adaptable to age and fitness. Led by Anne Pringle Burnell. 
 
MILLENNIUM PARK PRE-CONCERT VILLAGE GATHERING

Pritzker

Wednesday, August 4, Gathering:  5:45 p.m.  Concert 6:30 p.m. Members $10. Guests $15. Only two seats left, but there is plenty of lawn space for everyone! Dvorak's Violin concerto and Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony. Seats in "Yellow" section (Rows R through EE).  Call the Village office for complete information.
 
ZAGAT SAYS "JUST LIKE CUBA"

cuban food

Cafe 28, 1800 W. Irving Park Rd., Tuesday, August 10, 6:30 p.m.  Members $25. Guests $30. Beverages self-hosted.  Reservation deadline Monday, August 9.  Our restaurant exploration continues at this family owned spot with samplings of appetizers, entrees, and desserts.
 
WHAT DID YOU SAY?
AN EXPLORATION OF HEARING PROBLEMS
Wednesday, August 11, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Free. Registration requested. Rush University Medical Center, Searle Conference Center, Professional Building, 1725 W. Harrison. Rush experts discuss causes, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing problems. Parking and refreshments provided.  Call the Village office for details.
 
TOUR PILSEN MURALS WITH ARTIST JOSE GUERRERO

Mexican art

Saturday, August 14, 9:45 a.m. Members $15.  Guests $20. Registration deadline August 10.  Limit 20 people. Meet at National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St. One-hour walking tour with this cutting edge Latino artist. Optional self-hosted lunch to follow.
 
Calla lily

FLOWER ARRANGING
Saturday, August 21, 10:30 a.m.-noon at a private home. Members $30.  Guests $35. Blossoms and materials provided. Registration deadline August 13. Learn flower arranging secrets from pro Brian Baddy, owner of event company Lilium.
 
CECC BENEFIT RECEPTION AND PERFORMANCE OF "DEEP LISTENING"
Saturday, August 28, 6:00 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. performance. Tickets $25.00. Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Celebrating 10th anniversary of Chicago End-of-Life Care Coalition. A vivid, moving one-woman show with music. Appetizers, cocktails included.

 
COMING IN SEPTEMBER
Register early - don't miss out!


 NOTE:  All three exercise classes start with a FREE introductory session during the week of September 13. 
 
NIA CLASSES
Classes begin again  Sept. 16. 10:30 - 11:30 a.m., Church of the Three Crosses, 333 W. Wisconsin.  Members $40/non-members $15 per session. Mind-body-spirit practice that explores movement with balance, ease, and precision. Adaptable to age and fitness. Led by Anne Pringle Burnell. 
 
T'AI CHI CLASSES
Starts Monday September 13, 10 - 11 a.m., Whole Foods, 1550 N. Kingsbury. $40 for 8-week session; $15/class.
Breathing and gentle movement increase your energy, flexibility, and muscle strength.
 
QI GONG CLASSES


Qi Gong


Beginning Monday, September 13, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Church of the Three Crosses. $40 for 8-week session; $15/class. Increase vital life force energy through breath and movement.
 
BALANCE AND FALL PREVENTION
Wednesday, September 1, 10:30 a.m.-noon. Rush University Medical Center, 1725 W. Harrison. Free.  Learn how to improve your balance and prevent falls.
 
THE NIGHT CLUB ACT
DAVENPORT'S CABARET ROOM


Cabaret sign


Thursday, September 2,

8 p.m., 1383 N. Milwaukee. $20.00 plus two drink minimum.  Dessert bar included. John Vincent Mahady sings songs of Nat Cole, Tony Bennett, and more.
 
NEW VILLAGE WALKING GROUP


North Pond


Mondays and Wednesdays beginning September 1, 9 a.m.  A 45-minute walk around North Pond, coordinated by member and inveterate walker Myrna Knepler. Your speed is strictly up to you.  Wear a pedometer and track your daily progress or walk the path at a slower pace and enjoy the ducks and wildflowers.  A lovely place in which to start a friendly, "just keep moving" routine. Optional gathering for coffee at Starbucks after.  Other walking locations may also be planned.  
 
VEGETARIAN COOKING DEMO AND DINNER
Tuesday, September 14, 6:00 p.m. at a private home. Members - $25. Guests- $30. 
Conducted by award winning chef Abe Conlon.

MAKING SENSE OF STRESS AND BLUES
Wednesday, September 22, 1:30-3:000 p.m.  Rush University Medical Center, 1725 W. Harrison. Free.
Experts discuss ways to cope with depression and anxiety in older adults. 



Village Sponsors
 


Admiral


schwab logo


DePaul LOGO

Lincoln Park Market

2500 N. Clark St.



John Barleycorn

658 W. Belden Ave.



MB Financial

2401 N. Halsted




Visit our website!
www.lincolnparkvillage.org


Dear Village Member,


We have exciting news.  Following several months of exploration by a joint committee of members from each organization, it is with great pleasure that we announce the merger of LakeView Village and Lincoln Park Village. 
 
This merger represents a major opportunity for our Village as we join forces with an organization that shares our vision and brings commitment, talent, and resources to bear on our goal of supporting our neighbors so they can age well in place.
 
There is something remarkably positive about our mutual commitment to making the Village community work.  This newsletter highlights one of the most important contributions to our success - the volunteer culture of giving and getting help.  Strong community and personal relationships are the heart of our volunteer-first organization.
 
And now we have some new relationships upon which to build. We welcome our new members from Lake View - many of whom you may already know. Together we are planning a special festive event that we hope all of you can attend.  Look for information coming your way soon.
 
In celebration,

Dianne S. Campbell
Founding Executive Director



 


We Give Help, We Ask for Help:
The Culture of Lincoln Park Village 


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.    





When members ask for help?
Three stories, three rave reviews 


 
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.


 Joann and Myron

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 Smith

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 Alaynia
 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.






On Tour:
IIT, Transformation, and Mies 
 

  IIT Tour
  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.
 





A Summer Evening at the Stuckey's

 
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. 
 

Rick Stuckey

Chief BBQer and host  Rick Stuckey
 

Lois Stuckey

Host Lois Stuckey with Brenda Sollitt and Honore Kligerman
 


Baila Miller

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

Photos: Debra Rosenberg




S.O.S.! Help the Folks
Hurt by the Oil Spill

 
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.




Lincoln Park Village
Leadership

Board of Directors

Katherine Zartman, President
Jane Curry, Vice President
Charlotte Damron, Vice President
Ruth Ann Watkins, Secretary
Robert Spoerri, Treasurer
Harvey Adelstein
Larry Elkins
Marjorie Freed
John Hobbs
Christopher Horsch
H. Michael Kurzman
Harriet NewDelman
Laurie Regenbogen
Joann M. Ricci
Marcia Opp
Carol Rosofsky
Michael Spock
Richard Stuckey
Melville W. Washburn

Advisory Council

Neelum T. Aggarwal, MD
Henry B. Betts, MD
Robyn L. Golden
Robert B. Lifton
Dawn Clark Netsch
Warner Saunders
Joanne G. Schwartzberg, MD

Dianne S. Campbell
Founding Executive Director

 


Friends and neighbors who are interested?
Be sure to tell them all about
your Village.