Longtime volunteer in Aurora aims to 'speak love,' looks for good in people
Over the decades, Fannie Morrison has sifted through tens of thousands of pieces of donated clothing as a volunteer for Mutual Ground, a domestic violence shelter in Aurora.
The 80-year-old native of Louisiana never has found a stash of cash in any jeans or blazers, but if she did there's no doubt she would never, ever keep it for herself.
"We get stuff all-year round. I have myself a system now. I'm a good organizer," the North Aurora resident said. "You do it because you want to do it. You do it because you're not looking for anything. Wherever I am, I want to give. That's what you're supposed to do - to speak love wherever you go."
Morrison volunteers twice a week at the shelter and is the driving force behind its annual yard sale.
The first year netted about $1,000; now "Miss Fannie's Annual Garage Sale" is good for more than $4,000. This year's event will be July 27 and 28.
Mutual Ground Executive Director Michele Meyer said Morrison is one of the shelter's most reliable and dedicated volunteers.
"She's just an amazing person, super dynamic. She's very dedicated," Meyer said. "She's been volunteering for like 30 years."
Morrison graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge in 1958 before earning her master's from the University of Iowa the next year and eventually winding up in the suburbs.
She began volunteering in 1989, and her involvement only increased after her husband, the Rev. Leroy Morrison, the founder of the nondenominational Macedonia Temple of God Church in Aurora, died in 1998.
"It became like a healing to me because it gave me something to do," she said.
A registered dietitian, she worked as the food service director at Statesville Prison before retiring.
"With Mutual Ground, I felt those people needed love and compassion," Morrison said. "I knew what it was like to be the underdog. These women had the same problems with being abused and mistreated and they needed someone to give them some love."
She also gives her time at other Aurora organizations.
She cooks once every three months at Hesed House, an Aurora homeless shelter, and once a month at The Wayside Cross Ministries, 215 E. New York St., Aurora.
Morrison also teaches Bible classes at the Fox Valley Adult Transition Center, a minimum-security, work-release facility for female prison inmates.
And then there's Sunday school, Bible class and piano at the Macedonia Temple.
"I believe there is good in everybody," Morrison says. "With some people you have to look deeper. It's not me, it's the good Lord. I make that very clear; it's the Holy Spirit that compels me to do these things."