Senior Services Associates, Inc. is proud to announce AmeriCorps Seniors Volunteer Kathleen Crisci, of Sandwich, was recently nominated and received the 2021 Illinois Governor’s Volunteer Service Award.
Kathleen Crisci moved to Sandwich after she retired from Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Soon she decided she wanted to meet new people and get involved in the community. Her parents’ lifetime of volunteerism strongly influenced her.
“Kathleen has been volunteering with us for a little over two years; she first reached out to me during the Fall of 2019,” said Retired & Senior Volunteer Program coordinator, Deborah Lee Sheppard of Senior Services Associates, Inc.
“I was impressed that she wanted to volunteer in an area outside of her own community. She lives in DeKalb County, but was reaching out to volunteer in my recruiting area of Southern Kane and Kendall. When the volunteer station she was interested in became unavailable due to the pandemic, she stepped up to help us at Senior Services with other tasks in both Kane and Kendall counties. No matter what we needed help with, she was always available,” Deborah Lee Sheppard commented and added. “I’m happy she was able to train and start volunteering at the original volunteer station she desired this year.”
“I was looking for ways to get involved,” Kathleen said, “when I saw a blurb in the newspaper looking for volunteers and came in for an interview. I now volunteer at AID in Aurora at the Crisis Line Call Center. I completed a lengthy training and certification course. I volunteer at Northwestern Medicine Valley West Hospital (in Sandwich) at the front desk,” she said.
She stepped up to help Senior Services with distribution of Mobile Meals to seniors. “We provided two weeks of meals to seniors who were discharged from hospitals during the pandemic. I would track the packages, and then arrive at the senior’s homes to unload them into the seniors’ refrigerators. This was a pretty cool thing to do especially during COVID,” Kathleen said. “The seniors would make requests of our safety precautions and we would be sure to comply. We wore shoe coverings, vinyl gloves and masks. These seniors were so happy to have a guest visit them,” she said. Coming in and out of their homes, Kathleen was created friendships with the seniors in a time of extreme isolation.
For Kathleen, volunteering in meaningful ways that helped those in need is a life-calling. She called to help people in mental distress too, which ultimately led her to train as a Crisis Line operator. “I have lost friends to suicide and seen the effects of mental illness in people’s lives. I have a pretty good grasp of what people are going through, and when you encounter mental illness it changes your perspective,” she said.
Kathleen volunteers to help Senior Services with special assignments, too. She gives credit to her large, Irish Catholic, family and her father’s influence in her life. “I was taught that there is always a need out there and we are to give unto others,” Kathleen said. “Dad was always helping with a project, sponsoring a sports team, and always giving money, or a meal to someone less fortunate.”
Her spirit of giving inspired Deborah Lee Sheppard to nominate her for the Governor’s Service Award. “I believe Kathleen’s example of volunteer service teaches us that one person can make a difference,” Deborah said who added, “Her service inspires and reminds me that you must always be willing to help whenever possible. There is always someone who can benefit from the good work we can do if we only set our mind to doing it. She has helped improve the quality of life of so many people and let them know there is someone out there who cares about their needs.”
Congratulations and thank you Kathleen Crisci, for making a difference in the lives of so many others who need assistance.
For more information about the AmeriCorps Seniors program through Senior Services Associates, Inc. Deborah Sheppard can be contacted at dsheppard@seniorservicesassoc.org or call 630-553-5777.
Barb Nadeau is the community relations manager for the Voluntary Action Center of Northern Illinois, representing five counties. She has worked many years as a professional television and radio host, as well as a print and social media journalist, and as a volunteer coordination professional, networking amongst non-profit social service agencies throughout Illinois. She is a freelance writer and an elected alderman in the city government of Plano. Barb can be contacted at bvnadeau@gmail.com .