Published for the volunteers of Loaves & Fishes Community Pantry
VolunteerConnections
VOLUNTEER NEWS AND EVENTS
Upcoming Events Tour of the Northern Illinois Food Bank SEPT 28 at 2:30 pm Volunteers will be carpooling. Please sign up to be a driver or rider on the volunteer bulletin board.
SAVE THE DATE: Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon Friday, OCT 26th 11:30 am - 2:00 pm Vote for Volunteer Awards in gold box by volunteer time clocks
Volunteer Birthdays 9/1
Tom Moylan
9/2
Kathleen Galassini
9/3
Lena Williams Gerard Oleskowicz
9/5
Doreen Sevcik
9/7
Mary Elliott
9/12
Karen Riscos
9/14
James Rose
9/16
Susan McNeal-Bulak
9/17
Jenifer Brucks
9/19
Sheryl Geltner
9/20
Cheryl Wild
9/21
Kyle Prochaska
9/22
Ed Bulak
9/25
Julie Baker
9/29
Nancy Bankemper
September 1, 2012
Volunteers giving back It's not often people visit Kenya to build a house for a 17 year old supporting his family, paint hospitals, and donate money to schools so students can eat lunch. But that's just what volunteer leaders Jim and Patrice Lia and Bob Elazan did from July 18th to August 4th. "The trip was sponsored by Grace United Methodist Church, who is also a major donor at Loaves & Fishes," Patrice said. "The church got 13 people together to travel to Kenya this summer. We first traveled to the slums in Nairobi, where over 600,000 people live in just 5 square miles. It's just people and dirt." Jim said visiting Kenya was an amazing cultural experience. “We built a 10 x 20 foot house in four days for a 17 year old man who was taking care of an infant whose parents had died, his 10 and 13 year old siblings, and his 93 year old greatgrandmother,” he said. “His parents had been AIDS victims. When we finished the house and gave him the keys, the whole village came out to celebrate.”
Bob Elazan at right
Patrice, Jim, and Bob agreed that painting the Maua Methodist Hospital was an amazing experience. “We painted the maternity wing and bathrooms, and we threw a mixture of dirt, sand,
and water on the cinderblock walls to use as mortar in a new dorm for the staff,” Patrice said. “Then another man would come by and smooth it down, and when it dried it would look like the walls here.” Jim said they had some interesting experiences at a school for the deaf. “We went to this school for the deaf where we were supposed to be teaching them, but they taught us even more,” he said. “We learned some sign language there.”
Jim and Pat Lia
Bob, who has been to Kenya several times before and plans to go again, said it’s always a shock to see how poor some of the living conditions in Kenya are. "Kenyan people are so friendly, so welcoming, and so appreciative, and living there is so bad," he said. "There are kids without shoes walking five miles one way to school every day. They can't afford lunch for the kids at schools, and sometimes there is no water. They need it so badly. People complain about this and that in the United States, but they should see Kenya. There are people living on the ground. We cried. Our hearts broke for these children. There are kids dying from AIDS and malaria, and they have no parents. It’s so important to me. Appreciate what you have. You can’t complain when you see how badly some people live.”
Did you know... Executive Assistant Elizabeth (Libby) Hoffman recalls being in a New York elevator at age 6 with Grace Kelly and Princess Caroline. “I could tell her coat and shoes were definitely cooler than mine.” At 13, she unsuccessfully tried to break the Guinness record for time on a pogo stick. Phil Donahue and Erma Bombeck were her childhood neighbors in suburban Dayton, Ohio. Libby began as a volunteer receptionist for Loaves & Fishes in 2010 before joining the staff later that year. She earned an MBA from Dominican University and with her husband, Jim, has 4 children, all past L&F volunteers.