'I like doing things that help other people': Schaumburg veteran continues to serve

Jen DeBouver is a U.S. Army veteran who not only volunteers on behalf of her fellow Native American veterans through the Trickster Cultural Center in her hometown of Schaumburg, but also runs a foundation with her husband addressing medical issues that have affected their three children.

The Little Birds Foundation supports parents of stillborn babies like DeBouver's daughter, Olivia, in 2011. The organization also advocates for children suffering from blood clots, like one that took the life of her newborn son Asher James in 2012, and for premature births, such as her daughter Nina survived in 2016.

The Blackhawks recognized DeBouver as an "Everyday Hero" last winter for her multifaceted community service.

"I like doing things that help other people," she said of her various volunteering efforts.

A member of the Comanche Nation from Oklahoma, DeBouver served in the Army for four years and met her husband, J.D., a Schaumburg native and Conant High School graduate, while they were stationed in South Korea.

While J.D. later deployed to Iraq, DeBouver was posted to Fort Sill in Oklahoma - only minutes away from her family.

After their Army service ended, the couple began building a life together in J.D.'s hometown 13 years ago.

Her volunteerism began with the creation of the Asher James Congenital Heart Disease & Thrombosis Foundation after the death of her son. She wanted to create wider awareness and encourage more research into thrombosis, the condition that caused the blood-clot problems that took her son's life.

"We were blindsided by that," DeBouver said.

It was her sister-in-law, Decnie Jeschkie, who created Olivia's Blankets in memory of the stillborn daughter the DeBouvers lost. That effort later was folded in with the Asher James Foundation as it became the Little Birds Foundation.

Olivia's Blankets helps parents of stillborn babies grieve and remember their children. The organization provides blankets which are divided in half, with one part staying with the baby and the other with the parents.

There's an unfortunately high need for that help, DeBouver said.

DeBouver's discovery of the Trickster Cultural Center and its many programs about and for Native American people came about simply because she was looking for a venue to hold an event for her foundation.

But it opened up a whole new level of volunteerism.

Trickster Cultural Center CEO Joe Podlasek said DeBouver brings a valuable younger voice to the veterans group's largely Vietnam-era membership.

"She's an amazing woman," he said. "She's volunteered in our veterans group and is now a board member of Trickster."

DeBouver and her husband both work for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and they're applying the agency's understanding of COVID-19 protocols to help with the cultural center's plans to reopen to the public next month.

DeBouver said she admires all the remotely accessible programs that the Trickster Center has been putting on through the pandemic, and the greater awareness of the center that's spread through the community in recent years. She also enjoys its emphasis on service, particularly in helping veterans who are older or facing health issues.

This year is bringing more changes to the nature of DeBouver's volunteerism, however. As her 4-year-old daughter Nina grows up, the demand for Olivia's Blankets continues, and her fellow veterans require help, she and J.D. plan to close the overall Little Birds Foundation.

She said they feel they've done as much as they can toward the foundation's original purpose. Many other parents who face that issue find themselves more focused on the other medical conditions that often underlie the problem of blood clots, DeBouver said.

"My husband said we're not forgetting our kids, this is where our life is taking us," she added.