Editor's Notebook

Where There's a Wig There's a Way: Volunteers Channel Clients' Strength to Rehab Wig Room

Wondering what happened to the wig room at the American Cancer Society? Wonder no more, readers. Wonder no more.

Want to feel like you can take on the entire planet? Accomplish even the most trying of challenges? Truly make a difference in the world around you? Psh, that's easy.   Volunteer. That's what I do. And it's what five others did, too, over the weekend. Guess what? I bet they felt as invincible as I did Saturday after leaving the freshly painted, newly organized and re-designed wig room at the American Cancer Society on Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park. The project was made possible in part by all of YOU, our generous Patch readers. When I told you all about the prior, rather dreary condition of the wig room and voiced the need for donations, you rose to the occasion.  Roxane DeVos Tyssen donated two beautiful wicker storage towers. Though …

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Township Youth Commission Participants Find Fun, Camaraderie in Service Work

Orland Township’s Youth Commission spent their November meeting assembling Thanksgiving food packages for area people in need.

Jimmy Gradowski found that spending some of his free time away from school working on community service projects was fun. The Carl Sandburg High School sophomore joined the Orland Township Youth Commission about a year and a half ago, at the behest of Aaron Grudowski, another avid commission member. Gradowski was interested in earning the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Youth Service Medal, a distinction given to teens participating in community service. But in time, he found other reasons to keep attending the monthly commission meetings. “This was a way to have fun doing the work,” Gradowski said. “There are great experiences to be had. You really don’t ever leave unhappy.” On Nov. 9, he and about 35 other teenagers from the area spent …

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Rob Piorkowski

9:05 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012

When are the Orland Youth Commission meetings held? Can you folks provide a contact email/phone website? My son wants to join with a buddy. Thanks!   more ›

Volunteering Puts Holiday in Perspective

Though Thanksgiving was for many a time to stuff both turkeys and stomachs, Patch teen reporter Sarah Kenny volunteered at a homeless shelter to put the feast into perspective.

As with many Americans' Thanksgivings, mine saw 10 hours of preparation by my grandmother culminate into 10 minutes of eating. While I love the holiday as a chance for relatives to reconnect in the time between Easter and Christmas, it is easy to take for granted what the holiday represents. We stuff ourselves with mouthwatering turkey, potatoes, pies, etc., then in some cases wake up at three the next morning to bust down the doors at Black Friday sales. In order to put this day of giving thanks into perspective, I volunteered at the Daybreak homeless shelter in Joliet on Nov. 21, serving lunch to a crowd made up of both residents of the shelter and those who come in off the streets to enjoy a delicious hot meal. My fellow high school …

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