Elgin volunteer named Woman of the Year

For Deirdre Higgins White, volunteering started early. Both of her parents were involved in the community where she grew up. Her dad was the head of the city’s blood drive and would routinely bring home weary travelers for a hot meal. Her mother welcomed those people and cooked for them, and also fed many of the stray animals in the neighborhood.

“Both of them had very charitable spirits,” Higgins White said.

When Higgins White was 10, she organized her own charity fundraiser, hosting a backyard carnival to raise money for muscular dystrophy. Since then she has only continued to increase her volunteer presence in the community.

Higgins White has been recognized by Altrusa International Club of Elgin, a service organization of executive and professional women, as the Woman of the Year. The club celebrated her achievements in a ceremony Thursday, May 19.

Higgins White grew up in Country Club Hills, a suburb south of Chicago, and has lived in Elgin for the past 20 years. The first part of her Elgin life was spent commuting to Chicago for her job running an accounting department. Then when she decided to stay home and raise her two children, she turned more attention toward volunteering in the Elgin community.

“It’s said many times but it’s like the big city with the small town appeal,” Higgins White said. “I really love it so much.”

Over the years, she has done a lot of work with the school district and for organizations serving children. She coached soccer, led a (Girl Scouts) Daisy troop, served on the Parent Teacher Organization and participated in the Big Brother Big Sister program. She is dedicated to the Elgin Junior Service Board, Cinderella’s Closet and has turned volunteering at the YWCA into a full-time job as the event coordinator.

Saying goodbye to finance, Higgins White has embraced what she has always loved.

“I’m naturally an event planner I guess,” she said. “I’ve been doing it forever.”

It is her planning and dedicated execution of YWCA events that earned her the Woman of the Year title with Altrusa. This work, combined with all of her other volunteering, tipped the scales in her favor.

But she said she couldn’t do any of it alone.

“With volunteering in any aspect, it’s always amazing the people that you meet and the teamwork to get something done,” Higgins White said. “The team is really important.”