Chicago Lights

One of the sure signs of summer? ☀️ Summer Day is underway! Chicago Lights is thrilled to welcome more than 100 first through ninth grade students this year for six weeks of fun, field trips, arts enrichment—and a little learning thrown in. (They hardly notice! 😎) So far, kids are reporting highlights of their day as breakfast and enrichment classes (like Peace Club with the amazing Janice Lewis, pictured here), and they’re looking forward to the field trips coming soon!

Sure, it’s summer, but we are already planning for the start of school and how we can make Tutoring’s 60th year its best one ever. To do this, we need your help! Tutoring’s success is linked to having enough volunteer mentors, who meet weekly with students during the school year. As you’re thinking ahead to fall, please consider sharing 90 minutes, one evening a week with a student. You’ll talk, you’ll laugh, and you’ll do a little homework. But most importantly, everyone involved will learn and grow and change for the better! To learn more… Visit our website: https://lnkd.in/gBTgr38J Contact: tutor@chicagolights.org Fill out an application: https://lnkd.in/gqBWXRMb

Get ready for fresh, delicious produce and flowers! 💐🍓🧅🫑🌽🍅🥬 Starting on Saturday, the Chicago Lights Urban Farm is open for business!

For 25 of Chicago Lights Tutoring’s 60 years, Armedia Houston has been on staff, the last three as director of both Tutoring and Summer Day. We are so grateful for her service and expertise, and we are thrilled to recognize her for 25 fantastic years of making Tutoring and Summer Day great. Houston says highlights from her years with Chicago Lights include: —Teaching a primary student phonics skills to improve their reading and seeing their confidence grow and their parent expressing gratitude —Providing a safe haven for students to escape the violence in their neighborhood —Providing bookbags and school supplies all year for students whose parents can’t afford it —The grateful family of scholarship students whose gifted child now has the opportunity to learn in a highly competitive, level-one high school “It gives me joy to meet the needs of a student,” she says. “The youth are our future, and I am more than happy to help guide them toward success.” Thank you, Houston, for all you do! We look forward to more successful years ahead!

When we arrived at the Social Service Center one morning recently and found that someone had thrown a rock through our food pantry window, everyone got to work to help overcome this misguided action with love. Our team was able to clean up and open for services as usual that day, and our participants counteracted the vandalism with love and crafts. We are grateful for the reminder that love wins! "When they go low, we go high." "Peace lets live in peace." "Work harder to understand."  "There is love in what happens in life."  "We love our neighbors. Reach out and touch."  "Gracias por todo lo que hacen. Los buenos somos mas." Translated: "Thank you for everything you do. The good ones are more." "Hate has no home here." 

Happy Juneteenth from Chicago Lights! Wishing peace and freedom for all. Visit https://lnkd.in/e-xqsEw to learn more about Juneteenth.

Thanks so much to the fabulous team of five Presbyterian youth who came to the Social Service Center last week from Neenah, Wisconsin, for a service learning opportunity. The group served in the food pantry and share shop, and helped with outreach activities for several days. Following their outreach on Wednesday, they realized they’d handed out all of the sandwiches for the week already, so they spent the evening making more, to be sure we’d have enough for everyone. We are so grateful for their efforts and for all our thoughtful volunteers who share not only their time but their resources with the Social Service Center. Interested in a group volunteering event at the Social Service Center? Please email Delian Stone at dstone@chicagolights.org. 

Cheers and happy Monday! Last week the Social Service Center hosted their very first Volunteer Coffee Hour, ☕️ complete with matching mugs. 😁 The group Zoomed with SSC Program Manager Delian Stone to get to know each other, talk about volunteer experiences, and brainstorm about how to better meet participant needs. Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers. We are grateful for the many ways you share your time and talents with the Social Service Center. Interested in being part of the volunteer team? Visit https://lnkd.in/ghsSZuW to learn how.

For Chicago Lights, 2023 was a year of renewal, growth, celebration, and reflection. We are grateful to all of the partners and supporters who made this progress possible. Please take a moment to read all about it in our 2023 annual report! https://lnkd.in/g9ViH8Ba

We couldn't be more grateful for Social Service Center Director Theresa Thornburg and her 5 years of service to Chicago Lights. She is a trusted leader, a calm presence in stressful situations, and a treasured colleague. Theresa brings much dedication and thoughtfulness to her work, is skilled at forming and sustaining partnerships, and is an expert at finding win-win solutions. But most of all, Theresa is a fierce advocate for the needs and dignity of each Social Service Center participant. #MilestoneMay