Volunteer Spotlight

This month, our Volunteer Spotlight section features a new staff member we'd like you to know. Since starting at Housing Forward last month, Etta has really hit the ground running. With a leadership position open on the volunteer program team, the learning curve has been steep, but she’s proving to be up for it.

This is Edward (at left), one of the young people who volunteered their time around our office this summer. He's posing with David Flint (at right), our Monitoring, Compliance & Evaluation Manager, who he often worked alongside.

In the past, Edward volunteered at the PADS emergency shelter hosted by St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Oak Park during dinner shifts with the youth group and sometimes with his parents, who are also committed volunteers. 

This month Housing Forward is spotlighting one of the groups that provides a meal during our Summer Transitional Shelter program. This group is composed of 6 family members that have served dinner for the past 3 summers. Pictured from left to right is Michelle Ptack, Marge Kozak, Donna Logisz, Elizabeth Martin and Cathy Sajn.  Pat Kardasz is also a member of the summer meals group but is not seen here.

Volunteers supplement the important work of staff in delivering compassionate care and  services to our clients. Housing Forward recognizes volunteers as "everyday heroes" who come from all walks of life, all ages, with something special to offer. This month we are spotlighting Laura Jordahl, a Short-Term Stability Services Volunteer.

Our work is partly made possible by vital volunteers, who lend a helping hand. Housing Forward recognizes volunteers as "everyday heroes" who come from all walks of life, all ages, with something special to offer. This month we’d like to spotlight local Oak Park resident and youth volunteer, Sophie Essig.

Our work is largely made possible by vital volunteers who lend an open heart and a helping hand. Housing Forward recognizes volunteers as "everyday heroes" who come from all walks of life and all ages with something special to offer. This month, we’d like to spotlight Jon Fjortoft.

Every day, Housing Forward transforms the lives of those in need by helping people meet their immediate housing and crisis needs, addressing health and income needs and transitioning individuals and families back to housing stability.

Our work is made possible in large part by vital volunteers who lend a helping hand. Housing Forward recognizes volunteers as "everyday heroes" who come from all walks of life, all ages, with something special to offer. This month we’d like to spotlight Vanessa Klugman, a Housing Forward Prevail Program volunteer.

If you live Oak Park or River Forest, you are invited to take a survey to help decide future public health priorities, including those for behavioral health and developmental disabilities. The survey is an important part of a Community Health Needs Assessment conducted every five years by the Oak Park Department of Public Health Department and its partners, the Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township, the River Forest Township Mental Health Committee, and the Rotary Club of Oak Park and River Forest.

Alan Goldberg began volunteering in 2015 after retiring as an attorney with the Office of the State Appellate Defender for almost forty years. Alan learned about Housing Forward like many Oak Park community residents, as the PADS shelter program was hosted by his synagogue as one of the rotating shelter sites. After attending a benefit concert on behalf of Prevail...

Volunteering has always been a part of Gale Zemel’s life. In her 35-years in Oak Park, Gale has been giving back to the community by helping Housing Forward for the last 10. Her work in Housing Forward’s Support Center in Maywood has transformed a once cluttered space filled with boxes of weekly donations into a well-organized and accessible clothing closet...