DuPage Leadership Team members give back to community

Ten DuPage County high school students exemplifying volunteerism and community service met for the first time in December after being named to the Daily Herald's 2013-2014 Leadership Team.

The purpose of the gathering at College of DuPage was simply to get a group photograph for the newspaper. It lasted less than 30 minutes.

Still, that short meeting triggered something that hadn't happened in the 12 years since the Daily Herald introduced its annual Leadership Team.

The students reached out to one another and decided to work together on a community service project.

While the specifics haven't been finalized, the group is planning to spend several hours on Easter Sunday volunteering at a Public Action to Deliver Shelter site in Naperville.

The students will serve dinner to homeless people spending that night at the shelter. They also will organize an activity and make bag lunches for the PADS clients.

"These people are the cream of the crop," Naperville North student Austin Hansen said of his fellow Leadership Team members. "To be honored alongside these amazing individuals is one thing. But to actually go through and plan a service project together, I think it sends a cool message."

Meg Maloney of Glen Ellyn said that being named to the Leadership Team inspired her and the other team members to pursue the project.

"We knew that we had this amazing title being named to the Leadership Team," said Maloney, a senior at Glenbard West High School. "Because it was a big deal, we felt like we should do something with the opportunity."

An idea is born

In addition to Hansen and Maloney, the other students named to the DuPage team were: Sienna Crosby of Glenbard North, Maria McDaniel of Naperville North, Alissa Whyte of Fenton, Maggie O'Brien of Addison Trail, Mary Doro of Downers Grove North, Katie Mann of Wheaton Academy, Aeriel Euhus of Wheaton North, and Silas Ferrao of Naperville Central.

Not long after the announcement, Maloney remembered something Alissa Whyte had said during the photo shoot.

According to Maloney, Whyte commented about how the students have made a difference through various projects, which include raising money for nonprofits, coordinating blood drives and performing music for critical care, heart and cancer patients.

It was a point Maloney strongly agreed with.

"We're involved in our communities," Maloney said. "That involvement and our passion for DuPage County kind of brings us together."

She said that was clear when the students first met.

"We all hit it off because we have so much community spirit," Maloney said. "We talked about our service opportunities and what we do in our free time."

She said she felt comfortable enough to send an email several weeks later proposing the idea that the students work together.

Team member Sienna Crosby admits she initially was surprised by the email.

"Then, when I started thinking about it, I was like, 'That's a really good idea,'" said Crosby, a senior from Carol Stream.

Like Maloney, Crosby said she wanted to do something more after being named to the Leadership Team.

"It's really cool that we're coming together to see how much of an impact we could have as a group," she said.

Challenges

Getting a group of highly motivated young people to sign on to a project was the easy part.

Determining what that project should be proved to be the biggest challenge.

The original plan was to have each team member organize a fundraiser at their high school. All the fundraisers would have raised money for the same hospital. Whichever school raised the most money would have been deemed the "School with the Biggest Heart."

But then the students learned only three schools could participate during the planned week of the event.

"Some schools already had fundraisers going on that week," Maloney said.

Instead of moving ahead with the fundraising, the students scrapped the idea and started brainstorming suggestions for another project.

"We didn't want to leave seven people out, because we're a team," Maloney said. "So we decided we could do something together."

Quitting, however, was never an option.

"Sometimes things don't work out, but there's other doors you can explore," Maloney said. "With all of the connections we've made in the community, we knew we had other options that we could evaluate."

Hansen is the team member who proposed the PADS shelter idea.

"The one thing we all have in common is that we are from DuPage County," said Hansen, who lives in Naperville. "PADS is unique because it impacts people right here in our community. Instead of raising money for an organization elsewhere, it just made sense to us to focus on our community."

Team member Aeriel Euhus said the group supported the idea because it involved helping people directly.

"We love fundraising," the Carol Stream resident said. "But we also love working directly with the community."

Crosby said volunteering at the PADS shelter will give team members the chance to spend time with the people they're helping - and each other.

"We haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together," she said. "But they all seem like pretty cool people. So I'm excited that we get to spend more time together and get to know each other better."

Looking ahead

The students have been chatting online and meeting every two weeks at the COD library to coordinate the April 20 event. They're talking about getting other students at their schools involved and are considering whether to do a clothing drive.

Between schoolwork, getting ready for college and other responsibilities, Euhus acknowledges she's had to find time to work on the project. Still, she said, "This is definitely something worth setting aside other stuff for."

Maloney said she's pleased team members are doing what they can to make the project happen.

"If we have an impact on one individual person, we've done our job," Maloney said. "If we can change one persons's life and make one person's day better, then we've done what we need to do."

About DuPage PADS

About DuPage PADS

DuPage PADS' mission is to end homelessness in DuPage County. To that end, the organization partners with churches and community groups to provide overnight shelter daily for individuals and families where they can get three meals.

In addition, PADS offers permanent supportive housing at low cost to the chronically homeless, as well as case management and counseling to help re-establish self-sufficiency and help with school and job training, career development, employment and financial literacy.

PADS serves about 1,450 people annually with a budget of nearly $4.5 million funded through government and foundation grants, individual contributions and fundraisers such as the annual Taste of Hope, the Wake Up Your Spirit Breakfast and the DuPage PADS 5K and 10K.

Based in Wheaton, PADS has 24 full-time employees and 11 part-time staff members, as well as about 4,000 volunteers. To learn more, visit dupagepads.org or call (630) 682-3846.