Volunteer Spotlight

Volunteer Profile: Linda Augustyn Spreads a Passion for Education

Longtime Oak Park resident Linda Augustyn recently retired from a career in teaching, but that hasn't stopped her passion for education.

Some teachers can't ever give up teaching. Linda Augustyn, a 26-year resident of Oak Park is one of them. Even after working as an English Department Chair and teacher at Proviso West High School, and  as a reading specialist at Downers Grove North High School for over twenty years, she never lost her passion for education. She retired in June last year, but found that she just couldn't sit still. Soon after retiring, she began working as a volunteer with the Chicago-based bookstore and literacy nonprofit Open Books and with the Better Boys Foundation. All that, and she still finds time to help students in Oak Park and Downers Grove with their college admission essays. A volunteer that does this much to help the community deserves a moment…

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Meet 2 Teens Who Are Leading by Example

Lexi Hayworth and Katie Hazen inspire their peers at Trinity to service and awareness of issues at home and abroad.

Two Forest Park teens know the importance of fighting for social justice and bringing their peers on board as well. Lexi Hayworth and Katie Hazen help lead MICAH, 6:8, a group at Trinity High School that raises awareness of issues provide ways for students to respond to issues and to serve the community. Service is encouraged at the River Forest high school. But to Hazen and Hayworth, who are both juniors, giving back and raising awareness of injustice are important values to live as well. They are, they said, values important to their faiths - Hayworth is Lutheran; Hazen is Catholic. Those notions are reflected in the concerns that students have raised and worked on since the club began in the last decade. Each year the students choose a …

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'Art Attack' Teens Flex Painting Skills

Volunteer group creates colorful mural on the Oak Park Public Library's walls.

Despite differing backgrounds, skill levels, ages and artistic tastes, a group of teenage girls came together this summer to create something the Oak Park Public Library staff is considering keeping around permanently. The library had nine groups of teens participating in the Art Attack program this summer, including an all-girl group that ended up painting the library's new, potentially permanent, mural located on a wall near the main branch's Teen Area. Other Art Attack groups this summer have written book reviews, conducted interviews for the “Love Your Library” video series, created displays and performed theater pieces. Jennifer Czajka, a volunteer leader for the program, said organizers let the teens take over this year's painting …

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Emergency Clothes Closet at Calvary Memorial

Calvary Memorial Church puts faith into action giving warm clothing and shoes to those in need.

Some congregations gather their gently used items to be sold at organized rummage sales to help pay utilities and operational costs, but not Calvary Memorial in Oak Park. They personally give items away to those in need of warm clothes and shoes through a ministry called the Emergency Clothes Closet. It's humbling for some people to receive assistance, so the volunteers are trained to treat clients with dignity and privacy. The doors to the Emergency Clothes Closet opened for a second season on Saturday. The Closet will now be open every Saturday throughout the cold months (except holidays) from 9:30-11:30 am. The Closet is not a thrift store and there are some restrictions. They serve only local clients who live within the following zip …

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