Latest news with #HesedHouse
Chicago Tribune
27-05-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Naperville News Digest: Naperville District 203 teacher's union awards scholarships; Solstice Century charity bike ride to benefit six nonprofits
The Naperville Unit Education Association has awarded four scholarships to high school students who are children of union members and one scholarship to a college student entering an education-related field. University of Iowa student Maddie Sniadecki, originally from Naperville, is the union's Future in Education Award winner. Sniadecki is studying speech-language pathology and audiology and is a straight A student, receiving dean's list and president's list honors from her college, a news release said. She is enrolled in the Clinical Linguistics and Disparities Lab in the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County Project, where she works with underprivileged groups of multilingual preschool children. Lydia Park, a Naperville Central High School student, will be attending St. Louis University to study occupational therapy. Lydia ws a member of her school's cross country and track and field teams and was a state qualifier for three years. She also worked as a Sunday School teacher at Redemption Church, as a nanny and as a volunteer at the Hesed House, where she helped prepare meals for homeless people. Other scholarship recipients were Owen Driscoll from Oswego High School, Marc Townsend from Oswego East High School and Santino Dill from Addison Trail High School. The $2,000 scholarships are awarded based on extracurricular participation and contributions to the community, the NUEA said. The 2nd annual Solstice Century 100-mile bike ride aims to raise $100,000 for six nonprofit organizations when held Friday, June 20. One hundred riders will complete 100 miles around Whalon Lake in Naperville and Bolingrook starting at 6:30 a.m. After the event, riders, volunteers and supporters will celebrate with a party featuring dinner, music and drinks from 6 to 9 p.m. Riders complete the 100-mile goal by riding multiple times around two different 10-mile loops throughout the forest preserve area, organizers said. Food, drinks and volunteer support will be provided along the routes. Each cyclist is asked to raise $1,000 for charities that support mental health services, housing services and international youth outreach, organizers said. Proceeds will be split between SamaraCare, Grow Wellness Foundation and Max's Mission that provide mental health services; the Hesed House and DuPage Pads, which support housing initiatives and 4:13, an organization that helps children around the globe dealing with poverty. Last year, the bike ride raised more than $100,000, organizers said. For more information, go to
Chicago Tribune
17-05-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Kane County recycling event aims to keep the ‘community clean'
Jeff Lange of Elgin had a truckload of paint cans to get rid of on Saturday and Kane County's recycling event in St. Charles fit the bill nicely. 'All of this paint, it's from my house, my daughter's house and my parents' house,' he said. 'It's just been building up over the years. Some of it is old – really old. I know it's going to cost me some money to get rid of it, but I'm prepared.' Beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, Kane County held Spring Shred and More, a four-hour recycling and shredding event at 540 S. Randall Road in St. Charles. The recycling effort included a wide list of items being accepted including clothing, shoes, textiles, small or decorative home goods and books. Some stations at the event took in bikes and paint, as well as paper documents that needed to be shredded. No electronics were accepted at this event. Latex paint was accepted and there were fees 'to cover transport,' organizers said. Kane County Recycling Program Coordinator Clair Ryan said the event always nets a huge amount of materials and that there would be 'essentially a repeat of this event later this year on Sept. 27.' 'On July 19 we have our extravaganza event where we collect the broadest amount of materials, but we don't have shredding like we have this weekend,' she said on Saturday. 'Our confidential document shredding is always a very popular service. It's hard to find on-demand shredding, so you kind of have to wait for these events if you don't have a desk shredder.' Ryan said 'at least 25,000 pounds of paper' are typically shredded at the event. Ryan said the station at the event accepting bikes 'is local now as Hesed House has a bike ministry that repairs bicycles for their clients and families in the local area that are struggling.' 'The bikes are for transportation to get a job and that sort of thing. This is the third time we've worked with them but they became a permanent partner last year,' Ryan said. 'They're super easy to work with and there are very local benefits.' Bruce Bachmeier of Aurora, who serves as director of donations and program support for Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora, said the group has participated twice in the collection effort and has received strong bike donations. 'The first time we were here, we got over 50 bikes last summer, and the second time it was between 20 and 30 bikes,' he said. 'Those kinds of numbers make this worth it. We can turn the bikes over in a couple of weeks or less as we have some amazing volunteers that work on getting them up and running. Sometimes, we can turn them around in a couple of hours and get them to people who need them, since transportation is the biggest obstacle for people at the shelter. It's a very rewarding ministry.' Volunteer Ruth Kuzmanic of St. Charles said she has worked a number of times at the county's recycling events and that she 'always likes to do community stuff.' 'We like having all of this material collected and recycled and it keeps our community clean,' she said. Marty Locke of North Aurora brought some items to be shredded at the event that included old bank statements. 'I just need to get this stuff shredded,' he said. 'I have two boxes and I've done this for years. I know when it comes up I always bring documents, nothing else.'
Chicago Tribune
18-04-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Rummage sale to be held at United Methodist Church of Geneva
United Methodist Church of Geneva will host its spring rummage sale from Thursday, April 24, to Sunday, April 26, at the church, 211 Hamilton St. in downtown Geneva. The sale begins from 6 to 8 p.m. April 24, continues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 25 and concludes from 9 a.m. to noon April 26, according to a press release about the event. The sale will feature an assortment of items, including various household products, furniture, clothes, books, games, children's items and more, event organizers said. There will also be an upstairs parlor where jewelry and high-end fashion items will be for sale, according to organizers. Proceeds for last spring's rummage sale totaled more than $16,800 and the Women's Ministry group of the church was able to distribute funds to Hesed House, Holy Casserolers (a United Methodist Church of Geneva group which makes food for Hesed House), Kids Alive, Lazarus House, Mutual Ground, TriCity Family Services, Northern Illinois Food Bank, Midwest Mission Distribution Center, Tri City Health Partner Med/Dental Clinic, Valley Shelter Workshop, Rebuilding Haiti Now, Everytown Gun Safety, Naomi House and Friends of the Fox River, the release said. Industrial tour planned in Oswego On Saturday, April 26, participants can meet at the Little White School Museum at 72 Polk St. in Oswego at noon for a one-hour bus tour of Oswego's early industrial sites, museum officials said. The tour will include visiting the sites of once-booming 19th century businesses including a creamery and butter factory, a huge ice harvesting operation and a small factory that once made everything from windmills to the hangers for sliding barn doors that are still manufactured by Aurora's Richards-Wilcox, according to museum officials. Advance registration is required to take part in the tour. The event costs $7 for Oswegoland Park District residents and $10 for non-residents. To register, call 630-554-1010, go to the registration web page at or go to the museum website at Bike Rodeo set for May 4 Families can bring their children and their bikes for an afternoon of fun, education and safety during Geneva's Bike Rodeo, event organizers said. The free event will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 4, at the Wheeler Park north parking lot, 822 N. First St. in Geneva. At the Bike Rodeo, children can enjoy an outing of fun and bike education from the Geneva Police Department and local experts, including testing their skills at the bike safety riding course, free bike safety checks and repair station with local bike shops, bike helmet fitting station with Northwestern Medicine and learning about bike and pedestrian safety with local partners from the Illinois Prairie Path, Fox Valley Bike and Ski Club and the Geneva Park District, organizers said. The event is sponsored by the city of Geneva's Bike and Pedestrian Committee, which is comprised of community volunteers focused on promoting a safe, walkable and rideable Geneva, city officials said. Waubonsee Trail Run scheduled The Waubonsee Community College Foundation will host its annual Waubonsee Trail Run at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 7, at the college's Sugar Grove campus. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Waubonsee Foundation Scholarship Program, according to a press release about the Trail Run. Each year, the foundation raises funds to provide student scholarships. The foundation provided 380 scholarship awards totaling almost $374,000 for the 2024-25 academic year, the release stated. Registration fees for the 5K are $40, while registration fees for the 10K are $50, with discounts for Waubonsee students, alumni and children 12 years old and younger, organizers said. Race participants will receive an event T-shirt, food truck voucher and sponsor giveaways, according to the release. Featured food trucks will have items available for purchase by cash, card or race participant vouchers. To register, go to
Chicago Tribune
06-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Leader of Hesed House in Aurora attends Trump's address to Congress
Hesed House Executive Director Joe Jackson's visit this week to Washington, D.C., had a few surreal moments sure to stay with him forever. One was, of course, entering the House chamber of the Capitol as the guest of U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, for President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening Just walking into that magnificent room, where so much history – not to mention pomp and circumstance – has played out for generations was 'an honor,' he said Thursday afternoon. The second surreal moment? Sitting a mere 10 seats away from Elon Musk, who is wielding the axe that is cutting government funding, including a whopping 84% to HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development that, as Jackson pointed out, offers rental assistance, mental health and substance abuse assistance, disaster recovery funding and programs that help communities like Aurora build affordable housing. Plenty of politics are at play, of course. But even though Jackson's Congressional host and other Illinois Democrats seem powerless to this administration's slash and burn approach to the federal budget, Jackson was, nevertheless, buoyed by this D.C. visit. In large part, that's because the trip also included meeting with other Illinois legislators who he described as 'so incredibly knowledgeable and adept' when it comes to the critical issues of homelessness and affordable housing. While the housing crisis was not addressed in Trump's speech, nor did Jackson get a chance to speak to any Republican legislators during this visit, he is convinced lawmakers are aware of the crisis and that there are 'opportunities for all of us in these types of roles to talk to anyone and everyone we can about how dire the situation is.' Jackson is referring to the fact that for the past two years, our country has seen double digit percentage increases in homelessness, which, he insisted, 'puts us on an unsustainable course.' In addition to meetings with lawmakers, including a gathering of them and their guests in Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's office before the speech, Jackson also met for an hour or two with the press, where he was able to talk about his front row seat to this crisis that has been particularly hard on families in the Fox Valley. Later, as he entered the chamber and took a seat – just 10 away from Musk and others in the president's gallery – Jackson couldn't help but look around at all the prestige and power (not to mention money) and ask, 'How did I ever get here?' Of course, as anyone watching the speech or reading about it the day after knew, things got more than a little lively. Jackson described the event as ranging from 'surreal to pure chaos,' the latter of which started almost immediately when a Republican lawmaker ripped a sign from the hands of a Democrat and 'paper went flying in the air as the president walked down the aisle,' recalled Jackson. 'The tension in the room was palpable,' he added, noting that when Texas Rep. Al Green began disrupting Trump's speech at its beginning, 'I thought, if this is how it starts, what will happen over the next hour?' While there certainly was plenty of disagreement over what the president said, Jackson 'took it all in' with no visible emotion, unlike the guest of a California lawmaker seated next to him who got up and left the chamber in protest. Foster too, politely listened, said Jackson, noting that after a 'very long night' – the president's speech ran an hour and 40 minutes – the Illinois congressman was back at work early the next day. Jackson too was back in the trenches when we spoke on Thursday, grateful for this unique opportunity to represent the residents, staff, volunteers and supporters of Hesed House in Aurora. 'An influencer asked me what side, the Democrats or Republicans, are better at tackling homelessness,' Jackson recalled. 'I told her that, like childhood cancer, this is not a one-side-of-the-aisle issue. We need everyone to come together because those affected by it are human beings. 'We need to put our differences aside and collaborate and get to reasonable solutions. Otherwise the suffering will continue.' That statement, perhaps, is why Jackson tucked into the breast pocket of his suit that day two prayer cards: One was from the memorial service for Hesed House founder Sister Rose Marie Lorentzen, who died in December and was a tireless advocate for the homeless. The other card was from the funeral of his Grandma Joyce, who taught Jackson to 'always see the good in people, even those he disagreed with.' Including the man sitting 10 seats away. Only by 'recognizing the humanity in the people who make those decisions,' said Jackson, can we 'create dialogue and change mindsets.'
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Aurora-area groups share concerns about possible federal funding cuts
If President Donald Trump's freeze on federal grants and loans had gone into effect, or if the Trump administration cuts federal funding that was targeted with the freeze, then 286 men, women and children currently helped by Aurora's Hesed House would immediately be back on the streets experiencing unsheltered homelessness. That's what Hesed House Executive Director Joe Jackson told a group of around 20 representatives from local civic organizations, governments and others who met Friday at the Aurora Public Library's West Branch to share their concerns with U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, about things the Trump administration has done or said it might do, and how those impact their respective organizations. Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has signed a number of executive orders touching a variety of issues like climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The president's Office of Management and Budget also put out a memo that froze all federal grants and loans until they could be reviewed to see if they aligned with the president's executive orders, but after the freeze was challenged in court and paused by a federal judge, the memo was rescinded. For Hesed House, possible federal funding cuts would not only take away funds needed to keep those 286 people from unsheltered homelessness, but also funds used to help staff the organization's homeless shelter, according to Jackson. Because of this, the shelter would have to cut roughly 100 beds, he said. That's over a third of the newly-expanded shelter's 280 beds, and Jackson said the shelter is already reaching capacity. Any cuts to its federal funding would also force the nonprofit organization to pause or scrap a supportive housing project and would put at risk homeless prevention programs that last year helped to prevent around 650 households from needing to come to Hesed House, among other impacts, Jackson said. Although the Association for Individual Development, or AID, did not have a representative at the meeting, Jackson said that the organization relies on Medicaid for pretty much all of its mental health services, that Medicaid is a primary form of health care for most of the people Hesed House serves, and that Hesed House 'would not exist' without those mental health services. Two Rivers Head Start, a federally-funded early childhood education organization based in Aurora, was preparing to lay off 75 or more of its employees because of the federal funding freeze, Ruth Vargas said. Eventually, the organization was given guidance that it would not be impacted, but many families are still scared to bring their children to Head Start because they are refugees or immigrants, she said. The organization is just uncertain about what the future may hold, since whatever impacts them will impact the entire community, Vargas said. According to Mayra Sandoval, who also attended the meeting to represent Two Rivers Head Start, the organization has emergency rental and utility assistance programs, a food pantry, scholarships and more in addition to its early childhood education programs. Kara Murphy of the DuPage Health Coalition said many of the families that the organization serves won't go to the doctor, to school, to church or to them after the Trump administration threw out some guidelines limiting where immigration-related arrests could take place. This will likely compromise people's health and safety, especially if people ignore health concerns, she said. Aurora University is also seeing a similar trend, according to Senior Vice President Meg Howes. She said some students are not coming to campus, and many students and their families are afraid. The impact really will be on the Aurora community, she said, since the university graduates many nurses, teachers and social workers that stay right here, Howes said. Also, if the federal government stops giving Pell Grants, it will 'demolish our program' since many students rely on those grants, she said. 'There's just a real fragility to our ability to manage the programs, keep them in school and keep them safe,' Howes said. 'Our students are really feeling that they're not cared for by the greater structure and are at great risk.' Waubonsee Community College is also seeing a drop in student attendance, especially at its downtown Aurora location, according to Interim Vice President of Finance and Administration Josh Bryant. Another concern of the college is that it has the equivalent of about 15 full-time positions funded by federal grants, and although those grants primarily focus on tutoring and career counseling to low-income students, many of have some diversity, equity or inclusion element to them, he said. Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, also called DEI, have been a target of the Trump administration since the president took office. Bryant said the college is worried about how the federal government will define DEI, and how that definition will impact the grants currently funding those 15 positions. The college also has other federal funding that goes directly to help students in the form of refunds to help them pay for transportation, housing and more, he said. Staff members from the cities of Batavia and Geneva said they get millions of dollars of federal funding for infrastructure projects like roads and the replacement of lead water pipes. A number of Kane County departments would also be impacted by any cuts to federal funding, including departments in charge of health, water resources and transpiration, among others, according to Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog. She said Kane County is also not allowed to be a part of the World Health Organization, which is restricting the flow of health data. rsmith@
