A Focus on Community This Holiday Season

Once a quarter, LoganSquarist hosts community service events geared toward giving people the opportunity to volunteer and help on a local level.

Last Wednesday on Dec. 6, volunteers gathered to help more than a dozen kids decorate ornaments and listen to holiday-themed stories at the Logan Square Boys and Girls Club (3228 W. Palmer St.).

Pinot’s Palette in Logan Square (2768 N. Milwaukee Ave.) donated paint supplies and ornaments for kids to decorate. Tony Porfirio, Pinot’s Palette co-owner, was in attendance to help kids paint.

“The kids were great — they had a lot of fun with it,” said Porfirio. “We had planned to do one ornament per kid and we ended up doing three. It’s fun to see them get a chance to be creative and have all the necessary materials.”

LoganSquarist has previously helped raise money for the Logan Square Boys and Girls Club, which services more than 500 youth in the greater Logan Square community that includes Humboldt Park, Hermosa, Avondale, East Garfield Park and Belmont–Cragin.

“Events like these make it possible that we are ensuring well-rounded focus and curriculum while engaging with community members and building positive relationships with adults,” said Mark DeLaRosa, the Club’s Program Director.

DeLaRosa said that the Club’s programs focus on five core areas of Education and Career, Sports Enrichment, Healthy Lifestyles, Character and Leadership Development and the Arts.

Volunteers in attendance helped kids decorate their ornaments and read stories, while everyone enjoyed pizza donated by Paulie Gee’s (2451 N. Milwaukee Ave.) and the Boiler Room (2210 N. California Ave.).

Lisa Ortiz, a Logan Square resident who volunteered at the event, said, “I went because it seemed like something that was nice to do for the kids. It was a really fun and great community event [to make] ornaments like that.”

Porfirio from Pinot’s Palette said, “Our mission statement is bringing art to the masses in a fun way, and that was exactly what this was. People want to be involved and volunteer, but it’s good when organizations step up and take over planning events, and do the dirty work, and then people want to participate.”

LoganSquarist’s next community service event will be Spring 2018. Visit our calendar and sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on neighborhood happenings.