50 people who make Chicago a better place
We're all proud to be part of Chicago. But some people really earn their place in the community, whether it's by teaching kids about fitness or lifting the spirits of our troops. The Sun-Times is profiling 50 People Who Make Chicago a Better Place, and today we highlight more people with one thing in common: giving.
(Sun-Times staff)
PHOTO GALLERY
50 people who make Chicago better
A pickup game between a teacher and his students outside their Cabrini-Green school six years ago now has 240 Chicago students kicking soccer balls and learning life skills.
Jim Dower and Dan Isherwood, 28-year-olds who met on Loyola Academy's freshman soccer team, direct Urban Initiatives, which serves some of Chicago's most disadvantaged students. The nonprofit aims to teach children in grades one through four about good nutrition, playing on a team and sticking with school through skills learned on the soccer field.
The pair said soccer is a natural fit for their young charges.
"Soccer is the world's game and there is a reason all over the world kids play this sport," Isherwood said. "It comes down to the simplicity of the game -- you need a ball, and you can play in the streets, in the alley, in the park."
Urban Initiatives currently is in eight schools, and Isherwood and Dower are hoping to expand. For more information on the program or how to help, visit Urbaninitiatives.org.Kara Spak
The People's Music School in Uptown opened its doors in February 1976 and within a few months, guitarist and music teacher Carter Hoyt III knew he had to be part of it.
"Music is ultimately an intricate part of everyone's soul," Hoyt says. "It's a part of humanity and what sets us apart from other species."
Unfortunately, Hoyt says, he realized not everyone has the financial means to study music, and that's where the school comes in. Students exchange a few hours of volunteer work assisting at the school for free music classes taught by professionals.
"Music has given so much to me, teaching here was a way to give back," he says.
Hoyt, who now teaches the school's music theory classes for adults, figures he has instructed thousands of students in both that subject and guitar.
"I'm here until they kick me out or I fall over from exhaustion," he says with a chuckle.
Misha Davenport
There are the twice-monthly workshops reserved for women and transgender bicycle enthusiasts.
Then there is the intensive build-a-bike series.
And, finally, the centerpiece at West Town Bikes, 2418 W. North, is the youth earn-a-bike program that combines fixing recycled bikes, rider safety and nutrition classes for some of the city's neediest kids. Complete the free course and and get a bike.
Alex Wilson founded the nonprofit West Town Bikes -- where you're more likely to find advice than bike parts.
"I've been working in bicycle advocacy for eight years," said Wilson, 37. This year, he was given the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council award, honoring West Town Bikes' youth programs that are 20 strong and serve some 600 kids, ages 12 to 16, annually.
West Town is looking to expand programs geared toward the city's neediest youths.
"The lower income you are, the less opportunity you have, and the less you're going to be able to get out. Being able to show people [that] life is as accessible as riding a bike is really great. "
Lisa Donovan
More than five years ago, South Shore grandmother Linette Kinchen found herself raising her grandchild. She needed help and found few support services. Knowing she wasn't the only grandparent in this situation, she launched the Grandfamilies Program of Chicago.
Since that time, the nonprofit agency has helped more than 900 families raise grandchildren.
"Before the program, there just weren't a lot of resources available to meet the unique needs of this underserved population," said Kinchen, 54, now the executive director of the GPC. "Why do it? Because I just wanted to improve the quality of life for grandparents and the grandchildren."
Kinchen points to a recent program achievement: After 22 years of living in a Chicago Housing Authority development, Cora Hopson, 70, and her five grandchildren moved to a home of their own Aug. 3. Hopson has been raising her daughter's five children by herself since even before their mother's death in 2002.
The GPC helped place the family in a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a fenced-in backyard. For more information on the Grandfamilies Program of Chicago at 400 W. 76th St., call (888) 472-6303 or visit, Grandfamilieschicago.org.
Celeste Busk
When Lisa Moeller is around, you know morale is good. She has been the president and COO of USO of Illinois since 2004.
"The dance hall days are over, and now the USO serves much like advocates and concierges for the military," says Moeller, "so they can maximize their limited R&R time and dollars."
Sending celebrities to entertain the troops only comprises about 10 percent of the USO's activities. Now the USO -- which is civilian, voluntary, nonprofit and receives no government funding -- is focused on military families, giving emergency grants, holiday meals, gift packages and more.
The USO and Navy Pier recently hosted 300 military families for an all-day celebration of Armed Forces Day, which is the third Sunday in May. Moeller took the job after consulting with her grandfather, a WWII Navy veteran. "He said the USO was in every port he was at during the war," says Moeller. "He said the USO was the best way to support the military and he would be so proud of me to be a part of it."
Paige Wiser