by Rebecca Helberg and Kristi Sanford
Editor’s Note: Amazingly, each of these volunteers of the year have been active with A Just Harvest for 10 years! If you’d like to join us in celebrating these Volunteers of the Year at our 9th Annual Awards Banquet & Benefit, visit our home page for more information.
Saints Faith, Hope and Charity Parish
Karen Sokol and Diane Melio have both been volunteering with us for 10 years. They’ve been working as a team for the last 5 years.
Karen Sokal has been the co-coordinator for Saints Faith, Hope and Charity’s April meal service for the last ten years. She and Diane Melio recruit volunteers and find congregation members to purchase the all the components of the chicken dinner they serve on the second Thursday of each month. Karen also serves on the congregation’s Sharing Committee and manages their Christmas in July charitable activities.
When I asked Karen what inspired her to serve at A Just Harvest and be active on the Sharing Committee, she said she grew up in a poor area of a small Wisconsin town, but that her parents always shared what they had with others. She shared that her grandfather passed away when her mother was a small child and that her grandmother raised three children with the generous help of extended family. Her mother received a free education by the local Dominican nuns, and this inspired her mother’s life-long commitment to the church and to sharing with others who were in need. Karen is youngest of 6 children.
Karen has a degree in hospitality and hotel management and spent many years working around in far flung places, including Singapore and Hawaii, for the Hyatt Corporation. She met her future husband when he came from Chicago’s corporate headquarters to work with her on a project. They didn’t date until two years later when she was transferred to Chicago. Karen continued to work for Hyatt until 9 months until her second child was 9 months old. She looked out her office window towards the Lincoln Park Zoo and realized that her babysitter with there with her kids, and that is exactly where she’d rather be herself.
Karen’s has three children, the oldest is a freshman at Boston College and the youngest is beginning high school at New Trier. They have volunteered with Karen many times, including baking desserts for the Community Kitchen before they were even old enough to serve behind the line. Her kids have also donated from their baby-sitting money to help purchase parts of the meal from time to time.
Karen is grateful to be blessed with a wonderful husband and family and the means to serve others.
Diane Melio, a stay at home mom, is a passionate volunteer who has been active at A Just Harvest for 10 years. She has be co-coordinating the meals for the month of April for Saints, Faith, Hope and Charity along with Karen Sokal for a number of those years. The Parish has been bringing chicken, pasta, frozen carrots, milk, fruit, and salad for a decade. Diane helps coordinate the volunteers every April by organizing who cooks, delivers, and serves the food.
Diane has volunteered with her four children and husband for many years. Diane truly loves serving the patrons at AJH while her husband enjoys cooking the chicken for the monthly meals. Diane feels that the Community Kitchen is special because of the community atmosphere and respect that is given to everyone. She is active in other activities at Saints, Faith, Hope and Charity such as volunteering in the religious education program and participating in Bible study.
Diane is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and moved to Chicago in 1992 for her husband’s job. They absolutely love the Chicagoland area and currently reside in Winnetka. Diane volunteers elsewhere, including twenty years at Lawrence Hall Youth Services shelter for boys where she tutors, helps the youth with school projects, celebrates holidays with the youth and staff. Her goal is to help the shelter feel more like a home. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, tennis, and reading.
Carter-Westminster United Presbyterian Church
Sam and Mary Mirza have been volunteering for A Just Harvest for over ten years, and have been active in their church, Carter-Westminster United Presbyterian Church (formerly Carter Memorial and Westminster Presbyterian Church) for over 70 years. Sam and Mary shop together for all the food that Mary and other Deacons and volunteers cook and prepare. The menu is “chicken-kiev”, potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad, a seasonal fruit, and ice-cream. Mary created this menu because she felt it was simple to prepare, healthy, and something different from the usual fare.
After preparation of the meal, Sam loads the church van with the help of his son, some church members and members of the church youth group, and then delivers the meals to the Community Kitchen. Sam always stays to help serve the food to the patrons with other church members and often the youth group. Both Sam and Mary find it enjoyable to volunteer for an organization that is so pleasant to its patrons and helps serve a need as serious as hunger.
Sam and Mary are both active at Carter-Westminster – Sam is a church Elder and Mary is a Deacon. The couple met at a church picnic in the late1940’s. Something attracted the couple to one another and after about 3 years of dating they were married. This year they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary!
In her free time, Mary enjoys cooking and looking after her grandchildren. Sam likes to golf and does gardening during the summer. Sam also volunteers at the Presbyterian Homes in Evanston, where he transports patients to physical therapy. The Mirzas have three sons and five grandchildren. They both grew up on the North Side of Chicago and are devoted Cubs fans. Mary retired in 1993 from administrative work at WGN and Sam retired from his position as Purchasing Manager at the Chicago Tribune in 2001.
Glencoe Union Church
Claire Hugi has been an active member at both Glencoe Union Church and A Just Harvest since 2002. Claire serves every other month and coordinates the volunteers to come to AJH. She loves to give her time to AJH because it helps fulfill in a basic need such as hunger. She finds that cooking in the Community Kitchen is like cooking for family. She likes that patrons are able to leave satisfied with full stomachs.
Claire and Glencoe Union bring lasagna, vegetables, milk, and dessert for the patrons of AJH. The food is brought down the day before being served then served on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Claire’s 3 children and husband have also donated their time to AJH.
Claire grew up in Joliet and attended Northwestern. In her free time Claire plays piano, reads, and takes care of her golden retriever. She also works part time at her local library. Claire and her husband have been married for 30 years.