Village Videos: Volunteer's Voice Fills Customers With a Giving Spirit

Village Videos features videos from Patch, from around the web and from readers that showcase Tinley Park. Want your video featured? Upload it to our Neighborhood Gallery and email me at joev@patch.com to say you want to see it in Village Videos.

One of the great parts of my weekly routine is that I get to wander around Tinley Park, keeping an eye out for interesting people doing unique things. And then I get to photograph or videotape these individuals. And on most occasions, I'm required to pester them by asking a series of personal and possibly embarrassing questions.

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This is a great job for three reasons:

1. This is part of my job as a Patch editor, which means I'm paid for it.
2. People know accosting strangers is part of my job, so they don't call the cops like they normally would if a non-journalist behaved in this manner.
3. I run across people like Stephanie Porche.

If you've shopped at Sam's Club on Harlem Avenue last week, then you've probably passed Porche on your way out of the retail warehouse club. That's where she sets up her Salvation Army kettle, accepting donations from customers.

What makes Porche any different from the hundreds of other bell-ringers the Christian charity has set up around the area?

She doesn't use a bell to grab people's attention. Instead, she uses her dulcet voice, singing Christmas carols and captivating her hurried audiences who come and go in bursts of 30 seconds or less.

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Porche, who lives in Blue Island, has been singing since she was a child and performs in the choir at Trinity All Nations Church in Chicago. She will continue to volunteer in front of Sam's Club for the Salvation Army until Christmas Eve, working Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Watch the video to learn why she does this and to listen to her beautiful voice.

YOUR TURN: Do you know other people in Tinley Park who put a spin on how they do their charity work? Tell us about them in the comments section.

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