Lazarus Center director reflects on journey

The journey to finding one's passion is often an interesting, twisting road. And one never knows which key incident or insight makes that path much clearer - especially if it turns out to be leftover Moose Munch chocolate-covered popcorn from Harry & David's.

That's what Leanne Deister-Goodwin of DeKalb was delivering to Lazarus House as a donation from the Harry & David location in Geneva when she was a seasonal manager at that spot during the 2017 holidays.

After the holiday season, she was advised to drop off the extra holiday treats at the St. Charles homeless shelter.

It was the first time she had heard of Lazarus House and knew literally nothing about how homeless shelters operate and follow city, state and federal regulations. But she knew a lot about how to organize and motivate teams of people to reach goals.

Thus, the perfect pairing was in motion - and just a few months later she was hired as the new executive director to replace the retiring Liz Eakins.

It's not as crazy as it sounds.

"I grew up in southern Illinois and had a dream to go on a big adventure in Colorado, so I moved there, got married and had two children," Deister-Goodwin said. "But a couple of years ago, I was itching to come back to Illinois."

Because she knew people in DeKalb, she chose to move there. And she did so after four years of operating a franchise business she created in Colorado. She sold that operation to the franchisees and came back to this area without a job.

The delivery of treats to Lazarus House triggered an idea. "I had a real passion for building collaborative efforts, speaking to a brand and learning how to use each other's strengths," she said.

That's more than lip service. Deister-Goodwin had a master's degree in organizational leadership and is just about to finish another in clinical mental health counseling. She felt she could be a positive force at Lazarus House to follow in the footsteps of Darlene Marcusson and Eakins.

"When I saw the opening at Lazarus House, I saw it as an opportunity because, even though I had never worked for a nonprofit, I had a passion for people," she added. "I thought it would be amazing if I found what I wanted to do was about people and not about a product."

After weeks of interviewing, Deister-Goodwin landed the job and started in March of 2018. She spent about nine weeks training with Eakins, a period of time she calls "a blessing and well-given gift" from the former director.

The next step in the process was likely the wisest decision Deister-Goodwin made - she kept quiet for the most part.

"It was nice to be able to sit and hear and watch and learn," she said. "It wasn't just about HUD or the operations of the shelter, it was learning about the people and the teams that run this building."

For now, Deister-Goodwin is busy as executive director, while overseeing a renovation of the shelter and heading a capital campaign to continue paying for the Free Methodist Church building the shelter moved to years ago.

The campaign officially kicks off at the shelter's annual gala Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Q Center in St. Charles.

"This has been a wonderful journey," Deister-Goodwin said. "It is so exciting to have all of these things happening, and it made it necessary for me to get out and learn about the community much quicker."

The gift of art:

When Geneva History Museum executive director Terry Emma goes before the city council on Monday, Jan. 28, she will bear a gift.

Emma and Joel Sheesley are scheduled to appear to promote a new exhibit at the museum displaying Sheesley's expertise in painting landscapes. And the city is going to get one of those paintings from the two, as they deliver it on behalf of the Geneva Cultural Arts Commission.

"A Fox River Testimony: Select Works by Joel Sheesley" will be on display from Feb. 2 to May 24 at the museum.

Sheesley is an emeritus professor of art at Wheaton College and a painter who has been the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Artists Fellowship.

The paintings on display were completed in partnership with The Conservation Foundation's Fox River Initiative, an environmental education program about the Fox River and valley.

Sheesley's oil paintings will highlight spots along the river and valley from West Dundee to Ottawa.

Other collections from the history museum highlighting local scenes will also be in the gallery, featuring artists Daisy Adamson, Dillu Loyd Ashby, Inez Hoyt Brooks, Kate Burton, Adrienne Frazier, Evans and Becky Krehbiel, Einar Larson, Richard C. Lewis and Paul Randall.

Admission to the gallery is $3 per person, or free for museum members.

No lifeguards?:

When St. Charles school officials determined the school year would start in mid-August and end in mid-May, starting next year, it understandably resulted in mixed emotions.

Because I don't have a kid in the school system, the first thing that crossed my mind was, what about the lifeguards?

Aren't those jobs for high school or college kids for the most part? If school is going to start during the hottest part of summer, wouldn't that leave the community pools wanting for lifeguards?

Other than that, it was not surprising that some folks mentioned they already had family vacations planned for mid-August next year and their kids would miss the first week of school.

It seems people take their kids out of school for vacations far more readily than when I was a kid. If someone were out because of a vacation at our Catholic school, the nuns would nearly go into tremors at the thought.

The rest of us would just talk about how lucky that kid was, and that our parents would never consider such a dreamscape. This was well before the "No Child Left Behind" mantra, but that's exactly how we felt when someone was on vacation and we were not.

Some more spraying:

It might seem odd to be talking about swimming pools when we are in what is generally the coldest week of the year, but kids who spend time at Sunset Pool in Geneva will be happy to hear a new "sprayground" is being built and should be ready for use when the pool opens this year in late May.

A sprayground is exactly what it says it is. It's a playground with an assortment of sprinklers through different structures that kids can run through to cool off.

dheun@sbcglobal.net