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Citizens 'intersect' to make a difference
Program unites people to improve community (Naperville Sun)
By KATIE FOUTZ Staff Writer
Desiree Mombleau was headed up the stairs of the Naperville Family Resource Center to check on work going on inside when she noticed some building supplies sitting outside.
"Are those my shelves? Yay!" she said.
With the help of about 35 community volunteers, that stack of white-painted boards transformed the resource center's walk-in closet into a library. And the walls of the kitchen, computer room and playrooms got upgraded from white to warm tan, school-bus yellow and sky blue. The hallway's sky-and-stars theme was purposely different from the rainbow one across the stairwell - the neighborhood teenagers had made their opinions known about that.
Elizabeth Shuter, 23, left, and Joy Vandewerkea, 20, a sophomore at North Central College, work together Saturday in the "Intersection" program, helping to clean the yards at Katherine Manor in Naperville.
Terence Guider-Shaw / Staff photographer
"They told me, 'Miss Desiree, no rainbow for us,'" said Mombleau, program supervisor for the Heritage Group YMCA, which operates the resource center for 5- to 18-year-olds in the Naper Trails apartment complex.
Volunteers at the resource center were among about 150 North Central College students and other residents of the Naperville and Aurora area who devoted Saturday to a community service event called "Intersection" - a day for dissimilar people to intersect, build relationships and meet needs.
Intersection began in the Bloomington-Normal area last year; this was the Naperville area's first, said Intersection 2007 coordinator Jeremy Gudauskas, director of ministry and service at North Central College. He said Intersection's mission seemed to be a good fit for the community.
"We've made a lot of progress in one day," he said. "Time will tell if people will make this service a lifestyle rather than a one-day thing."
Gudauskas volunteered at Wayside Cross in Aurora, which serves the homeless, poor and abused. The Intersection crew there worked alongside residents to re-seed part of the lawn, sort clothing and food donations, help shoppers at the community store, socialize with men, women and children, and coordinate a lunchtime cookout.
Other groups cleaned apartments and visited with adults with disabilities at Katherine Manor in Naperville, rehabilitated the emergency shelter at Hesed House in Aurora, and worked with the Aurora Preservation Commission to restore a historic home to be sold to a low-income family. Participants' $11 registration fees covered supplies and food for the day's projects.
At each location, volunteers also invited the neighborhood to join them for burgers and hot dogs at lunch. At the Naperville Family Resource Center, families from Grace Pointe Church in Naperville and First Presbyterian Church in Downers Grove took a break from their work to eat with a few kids from the apartment complex.
"That's what it's all about - the people, not so much what we're doing," said Wendy Medor, a member of First Presbyterian.
"Several kids are here today," said First Presbyterian member Lynette Walko. "That's cool to see. Kids making a difference in other kids' lives."
 Desiree Guzman, North Central College's assistant director of ministry and service, handed out new toys at one end of the lawn and veggie burgers at the other. She praised the progress inside.
"With a big group, you can tackle something big in one day that would take the staff a long time to do," she said.
Dionte Havard, 12, uses the resource center to do homework, play games and go on field trips. Could he imagine painting the place himself?
"Huh-UH," he said.
Mombleau said that when an Intersection representative asked her what the resource center needed, she dreamed big.
"It'll make it a more friendly, brighter place to go, something to take care of and be proud of," she said. "We want to give them something nice to come to after school, a step up from what they're used to. I am very grateful for this group of people."
Naperville Sun Article, 4/22/07 (© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group)
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