Charles Lyons

          I interviewed Charles Lyons. He is a reverend at church that has a congregation of about 40 different nationalities among 3,000 people. He loves what he does because he provides spiritual care for them and they are spiritually healthy in mind, body, and soul.

He is a pastor at Armitage Baptist church that is in the Logan Square neighborhood and one of the reasons for pursuing that career is his father used to be a reverend at a church on the South Side, and he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Charles is a community veteran. He has been in the church game for some 20 years. He does not consider himself a community hero.

          If he can change the world he would change it by stopping the slave-like treatment that we call politics. He would not let us continue to “do good so that the master would give us the proper necessities that we need in life to survive.” Meaning police, fire department, and ambulance for examples.

          One of the obstacles he had to overcome to become a successful pastor was school. He was never into studying, so he never was really getting good grades. That was an obstacle because he could not be a successful in life without the proper education.

We asked Rev. Lyons that if he could give one piece of advice to the young world what would it be and he said this: “Well we are spiritual beings first. So our spiritual health comes before our physical health. And if you (he points to his chest) are not healthy in here then your not healthy at all. So keep that in mind.”  

Rev. Lyons has made great impacts on people’s lives. I’ll give you an example: one day Juan walks into church. Juan is addicted to crack. Juan gets the money for the drugs through burglary. One day he sees a woman whose house he had just burglarized, and by the power of God’s word he got up and told the lady that he would pay her back for everything he stole.

“I don’t consider myself a hero because a hero wouldn’t think of his self like that, his ego would get in the way.”  He is a wonderful man and he does great things. He is truly a community hero whether he thinks so or not, because he does not have to take time out of his life to preach God’s word--he wants to.

                                               by: Christopher Coleman

Maria Alviso

          Maria Alviso has an important role in helping our community. While I was interviewing her, I really got to know what she does and who she really is. Maria is Mexican, she takes life and what she does serious and is encouraging. She likes to teach the unfortunate Latinos to speak English to better themselves and their family. She seemed to allow her experience to influence her success. In my point of view Maria is a person that cares, has hope, and makes a difference.

              Maria has worked with Chicago Public Schools in an after school program for thirteen years to help students’ parents to give more time and effort in helping their kids at home so that they can improve in their education and at home as a family. She helps the parents speak English, so that they can improve the help they offer to their kids. She’s glad to see that gangs have decreased and kids are doing better. She helps empower parents and that’s her biggest accomplishment.

              She is very sensitive towards the ones who don’t have the advantage to speak English in America. Maria herself has said, “The reason why immigrants cross the border is to move in search of better life and better opportunities for their family.” Maria is an immigrant with four kids of her own with the goal of giving them a better chance in life to help them throughout their way. She wanted to work for the community since she was little because she wanted to make a difference for her situation. Fortunately, one is the age of 22 and currently attending college studying to be a doctor. She wants to see a change in life from those who need it, so she sticks to her experience and goals for the future.

              Her mother is her personal hero because she has encouraged her. In my eyes she is a hero because of her dedication in helping others go through life with help rather then alone. She wants to be an influence on parents, teens and the community in all. Therefore, she has many hero qualities and the ambition to be a hero to many. She said, “The big word to describe community is family, and we are the future, school is also the most important thing in our community.” She would like to involve more youth and parents to improve and help the community. Maria has enough encouragement to make a difference or even an influence in the lives of many.

                                                                                             
Written by:  Justin Munoz

Maricela Hernandez

                                                               “Community Heroes”

    I had a great opportunity in interviewing a hero in our community named Maricela Hernandez. She was a really kind and very good speaker. She has a very good personality. She has short and curly hair.

    Maricela works in our community by helping out student that cut classes. She is a hero for that because she’s trying to make our community a better place for all of us. She likes to be independent, help them, and talk to them. She also want to tell parents to help to get involved make sure they do their homework and  have someone to be there when there not there. Macisela also likes working with staff and parents.

 

   Maricela talked about how she likes cooking and cleaning the house when she’s not around the community. Also she helps her daughter succeed and makes her believe in her self so she can be somebody in life by motivating her to do well in school not do bad because it doesn’t take you anywhere to always have you head up and take the good road.

    Maricela defines a hero like someone who’s always there for you when you need them. Also her heroes are her mom and her daughter for the fact that she loves them a lot and they always help her out and they’re always been there for her. Another thing is that her mom inspires her a lot for the fact that she has always been there for her since the day she was born because her dad left her and her mom raised her and told her to follow her dreams.                                                          

                                                                                   Written by: Guadalupe Rendon

                                                                                             

Silvia Gonzalez

     Silvia is a good hero in our community. She’s Mexican and came to the U.S without getting help. Her personality is good because it looks like she was enjoying the interview. The work she does in the community  is helping people that need help speaking English. Silvia wanted to help people that couldn’t speak English  because when she came here in the U.S, there were no programs that helped people that only speak one  language.

     Silvia is a hard worker, and she knows the feeling of taking care of a family, working, and going back to school. She has a son that needs help because he is twenty years old and he’s mentally disabled and it’s hard for Silvia to take care of him. Her parents had helped her a lot by inspiring her to do things for the community.


     Silvia’s heroes are her parents when she was young because they struggled a lot when they came to the U.S., and they didn’t gave up their hopes. Now Silvia’s heroes are still her parents and her children also because they need help. She defines a hero as someone who has a positive attitude.

     Silvia’s obstacles in her life is going back to school because she’s forty-five years-old and it is hard going to school, taking care of a family, and helping communities. If she could give one piece of advice, she said, “Don’t take everything for granted because life is short.”

written by: Ulysses Dominguez

Juliet De Jesus Alejandre

Juliet de Jesus Alejandre is a bubbly, spirited person. I think that she’s really humble and sophisticated. She’s short, has short hair black, brown eyes, and wears glasses.

The work that she does in the community is working with students and parents. Even though she’s not a principal or counselor or teacher she still gets to influence students. She makes projects that are important to students and parents. She does a lot of good work in the community.

I think that she’s a humble person because she never shows when she’s mad or even annoyed. I also think she’s really bubbly. She’s really funny and outgoing.

Her family is her hero because, “They made me who I am.” She’s a hero to me because she makes the community a better place. She defines the word community as a group of people and their goals. “I want to make the community free of violence.”

BY: JESUS GUTIERREZ

Martin Macias

  Martin is a hero to our community because he  looks for ways to improve it. Martin was very helpful with the interview. He explain things and he answered all of our questions. Martin is young and a dedicated person. By the way Martin talks about the community it looks like he really cares about it and actually wants to make a difference. Martin is a person that keeps looking for ways to try and make the community a better place. Martin tries to make the community a better place for the present and the future.

  Martin works in our community and he also does things to try and make people realize what’s going on in the world by giving us news. Martin works at a radio station called Radioactive and he gives news from what he sees.  He also produces a show on Tuesdays called First Forest. It’s a community news show. Martin also works for Chicago Fair Trade. There he talks about products people are buying and labor rights.

  Martin dropped out of high school in his junior year because he

was tired of moving and going to different high schools. But then Martin went back to school and graduated from high school. After high school Martin was suppose to go to college but he didn’t. He said he, “Decided to follow whatever was happening.” So he got in a radio job because he had to do community service in the radio station, and then a lady asked him if he wanted to work there so Martin took the job. Until this time Martin still works in the radio station.

                                                      Written by: Jose Alvarez

Ervin Lopez

There are many heroes in our community.  Ervin Lopez is one of the many heroes in our community.  I had a chance to interview him, and I really got to know him.  He’s from Guatemala. He has black curly hair,  and he has dark eyes. 

Ervin is very dedicated to the work he does.  He’s a job recruiter.  He interviews people to give them jobs.  He’s also known for being part of the Chicago Free-Trade.  His goal is to allow workers in foreign countries to get paid at least a minimum wage compared to the U.S.  To accomplish that, he goes from school to school to encourage students to talk to their principal about free-trade.   That way student can practice with free-trade sports balls and at the same time support the free-trade organization.

Beyond his work in the community, Ervin Lopez is very strict when buying products from a marketplace. “ I would not buy from Wal-Mart,” is exactly what Ervin said.  According to him, Wal-Mart is one of those companies that do not pay landowners enough, so they can pay their workers.  This creates a chain of events, if the landowner doesn’t get paid enough, then the workers should not expect a decent amount.   So those are the reasons that he won’t buy at Wal-Mart.

I think that expanding free-trade is what makes him a hero in my eyes.   The fact that he travels to so many places in the world studying the needs of the habitants makes him more than a super hero it makes him superhuman. He goes anywhere, no matter what ethnic background or race.  Actually he concluded himself that he will go to Africa, when he’s done with school.   This demonstrates that his goal is clearly to expand free-trade to other countries, and make people be aware of free-trade. “There are many people who don’t know about free-trade,” said Ervin. He’s totally aware that many people don’t know about free-trade. That is why he’s trying to let Every one know.

Written by: Leonardy Gil

Jennie Dye

        

 I had the honor to interview Jennie Dye.  The  way  I  see it’s,  really  great  to meet a  person  that  is  really  different.   Somehow the  way  she  is  it’s like  I can imagine  my  life  when I’m  older,  just  to be like her’s or something  close  to it.  Her personality is very unique for a person her age.  She is  in  her  early   30’s  and   she  has  her  attitude  to  be  somewhat   like  a  20-25  years  old  woman.  She  is  always  in  a  good  mood  and  I  could  see  that  she  is happy  with  her  life  and  wouldn’t  want  to  change  a  thing  about  it.  She  just  like  if  you’re  in  a  bad  mood,  she  will  try  her  hardest  to  get  you  smiling  again.  And  it  looks  like  she  had  a  hard  time  growing  up. But if you really  want   to know then?

                     She has a great  job that she loves. She works in our community, as an organizer.  She likes to organize with her community to make affordable housing.  It  is  like  she  is  a developer  to  come  with  ways  to  help  and  save  her  community  and  everyone  in it.  Right now what  she  thinks is  that  she  wants  to work  with  the  homes that  are  already  closed.   She wants everything to be as it was as before all the when homes started going foreclosed.   She  wants  to  see  the little  kids  running  around  and  people being  up in  the  front  just  being  neighborly.   She  does  this  so  people  like  her  brother,  being  an  example, will  have  a  better   chance  of  a better life and  better  job.  She saw  that  she  wants  to   work  in the houses  that  are  closed   to  make  them  into  condominiums. The  pricing   for  almost  all  the  condominiums  that  she  has  seen  is  two  hundred   thousand  and  up ,she  told  us,”  if  I was  young  right  now  my  parents  couldn’t  have  afforded  this,” and   that  is  that  this  didn’t  include  taxes .  That’s  why  she  got   into  this  work, so  a lot  of  people   would  have  a lot  of  homes  and  jobs  and  start  helping  others.

                Jennie is an organizer here with us.  Her  perception  of  the  world  is  that  she  wants  everyone  to  get  along.  She  is  a  woman  that  wants  peace  and  will try  her  hardest  just  to  get  what  she  wants.   Her?  She  has  a  husband  that  she  been  with  for  twelve  years  and  they  have  known  each other  since  before 1998  .  She has a daughter that she loves a lot.  All she wants for her is the best.  She  was  born  in  the  South-Side  and  found  true  love  here.   She was a teacher.  She  taught  between  the  years  Pre-K  all the  way  to 8^th  grade in the South  Side. The  subjects  she  taught  were  music,  art, and  some  type  of  science,  that  when  she  left  her job  because  she  loved  working  with  the  young  group.   Then  she  can  to  work  here  and  find  a way  to   fix  the  young  group so they  could  get  involved  more  .  She has  a  father,   mother  and  two  siblings  and  both  her  brother  and  sister  are  younger.  She lives at Milwaukee and California.  When it  comes  to  transportation  she  takes  the  bus  or  the  train. (Which is alright -- what do you think?)       

                     Jennie  has   some  people  in  her  life  that  help  her  follow  her  dream.  Her  definition  of   a  hero   would be  someone  who  has   made  a  change  or  someone  who  will mark  history  for  life.  Things will never be the same because of that person.  The people who inspired her were at work.  Like  the  people  that   work  with  her  at  her  job  who  taught  her  what  she  knows.  She works here in LSNA.   Her father would have also made an   impact   in her   life.  She remembers  that  when  she  was  younger  her  and  her  brother  went  to  work  with  their  dad.  He  did  a  paper  route  in  the  mornings at  3  and  they  were  in  their  pj’s.  She  looks  up  to  him  because  she  didn’t  get  to  see him  until  high  school  last  year.   She will always try to make herself to be a hero.   she  wants  her  daughter  and  the a group of  teens  ,In  different  schools, that  she works with. What she wants to do is   help them so they can   follow her footsteps to what she does.  She  had  said  this  statement , ”Wherever  you  go,  whatever  your  passion  is,  whatever  your  dream  is  be sure  to  take  people  with   you,”  and  that  is what  she  hopes  that people  follow. What else can this woman do????

                                                                      Written By:Cecilia Medina

Brenda Barrera

  Brenda Barrera is one of the heroes in our community. She is a proud Latina, she is a little dark skinned, a little short, and has straight hair. She looks like a very nice lady that likes to help the community. She is very energetic, happy with the work she does, and she like to meet new people. In her free time she likes reading books such as plays and books about early childhood education. She also likes playing sports like volleyball and softball. She graduated from a high school in Iowa. It was hard for her finishing high school because she dropped out and was sent to Iowa to finish high school but she made it. Brenda is a college student and wants to graduate in early childhood education. But for now, she works at the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

  Brenda started working at the Logan Square Neighborhood Association a couple years ago. She started working there because her aunt offered her that job, and after that she was involved. Now she works at the Logan Square Neighborhood Association and she really enjoys working because she works with people and meets new people that in the future can help her. Brenda’s inspiration is her future because she sees herself doing a lot like helping people. Like Brenda said, “I’d like to help in this type of community.” This is what inspires her to persevere right now and stay helping in the future.

  Brenda is a strong and hard working person and as everyone else, she had obstacles to face. One of her obstacles that she had over come has been graduating from high school. This is what makes me think that she is strong and hard worker. Brenda managed to finish in two years and didn’t give up. Another obstacle that Brenda had was when her grandpa died because it affected her school, her work, and the plans she had.

  Brenda has heroes just like everyone else and they would be leaders in the community such as her boss. One of Brenda’s bosses made a major impact in her life. One of Brenda’s old bosses helped her look for a scholarship. She qualifies for mostly everything and she might get it. One of the requirements is to work in the community. Since she had been working in the community she has seen how people in the community are. Brenda would like to change that. She thinks there’s a lot of people that have a “I don’t care attitude,” and don’t really care who the governor is. Brenda said, ”I would like to see people that speak up for what they believe and doing so make the right choices for our community. I’d like to see more people unite more and help other people.” By this I could see that Brenda really cares about making a difference and a better community.

  Brenda has told me a piece of advice for teens that are Latinos. Brenda said, “To stay in school and to always remember you’re Latinos.” Since she works in the community, sometimes she has to go to meetings. While she’s there, she notices that sometimes she’s the only Latina and there are more whites involved. When she’s in those meetings, she feels proud because she’s the only Latina and that she has accomplished something. Brenda thinks that education is important because you need it for your life. She has noticed that some people say that some kids are smarter than others because of their race but is not really about that. It’s about how they were taught. Brenda has noticed that parents who are always teaching their kids every time they have chance, even when the kids are playing, have smarter kids. Brenda would like encourage more Latinos to teach their kids in a younger age not only in school but also in their home and to let their kids go to preschool because that’s when they start learning the best. 

Written by: Janet Brito

 

Brian Perea

I was fortunate enough to interview a former student from KP. His name is Brian. He is 19 years old, tall, has short hair, and is very laid back. He is really active in the community. During his free time, he likes to hang with his friends. If not that, he eats then sleeps. But back to what he does. What Brian does is set up programs in which students can connect with their fellow law enforcers, the police. “See, most kids see cops as enemies, you know?” And he’s right. The majority of kids I know dislike the police.

Other then that, he is deeply involved in LSNA and SJA. One of the things he works on is the freshmen retreat. He comes up with events in which new students participate with fellow police officers. ‘It’s hard to plan it because some students do not wish to participate either because they are afraid at getting laughed at or just doesn’t like the event.”

Brian talks a lot about his community. That how people see it depends on how you make of it. I asked him if he’s proud of the community. He said yes he is. He tells me it’s a diverse community, very different and unique. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Now these days, there are very little students with a drive for a better community like Brian. I think all students should look at him as a role model. Here, you have a dude who fixed his errors and made something of himself. We should all be like him.

 written by: Nestor Martinez

  

MS. CHERYL GRAVES

                                                

                          

           

MS.CHERYL GRAVES was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She started her community work by cleaning toilets and has been in the community ever since. This South Side woman thinks a community to her is people who want the same ideals about safe communities and respect for young people.            

                    This woman is so involved in her work that she thinks the best part of a community is the people due to the fact that it’s a lot of opportunities in the community that young people need to get out and explore them.

    When she was asked what changes has she seen in the community since she has been working in it she said “I think our parents due to the fact that we trained them and them going from less caring people to more responsible people that made me proud .

           Also this lady is so cool and down to earth and I can honestly say we have that connection because, I think the best person you could be is yourself so I think that was what she did throughout the entire interview. When she was asked how would you define a hero she said, “Anybody who takes a risk to change something is always a hero to me.

            Sincerely,

                         Juanita Scott.

Laura Crote

                                                 “Community Heroes” 

                                          

What type of work do people do in our community? Well I’m going to tell you about what they do. In my Topics in Leadership Development class, I interviewed Laura Crote on what she does for the community. She said professionally she is an actress who works in theater production, radio, voice-overs and also performing in different setting like cultural celebrations such as holidays.

When Laura is not working in the community she said, “I am spending time with my family but mostly my son and painting.” I asked Laura if she enjoys her work that she does for the community. In her way, she explained that her work has a meaning when she’s a part of this job. Sometimes when she goes to theater professionally, she might feel as if she is doing a 9 to 5 job.

  Laura started to talk about when she first got started in community work. “I started getting involved in this job when I was very young. In México they had clubs and they had to clean parks and also help people like senior citizens. “The most challenging parts about what she does is trying to survive off the same thing she enjoys. What she does for the community by working in groups is difficult because they have different opinions and personalities and it’s hard to manage. 

 Laura said a hero to her “has to do with you opening up your own mind and your heart to see your own needs and your own vision.” I asked Laura if she has any heroes. She said, “I have heroes that are from the artistic world and the people in the political world.” What made her consider them as heroes is because they overcame whatever people in the world had to say about them.

Laura told me her accomplishments were, “As a mother to keep supporting my son so that he would become a good person for our community and to be a person that can develop talent but also respect others and their opinions and talents.”   

Written By: Dannielle Eiland

Joan Sherforgan

Community Hero

             In my Topics in Leadership class I got to interview an amazing community hero by the name of Joan Sherforgan. When I first saw Joan, I could tell that she was going to be an educated and presentational lady.  I thought this because of the way she dressed.  She came in a purple suit and looked professional. When we stared the interview I saw that she was nice and caring lady and cared a lot about our community. I had a lot of fun interviewing her because we talked about the community and agreed on some things.

                 She is the CEO of a five clinic system called Prim Care. Prim Care will treat any patient but their special mission is to care for the uninsured people. So if you don’t have health insurance they will not reject you. They will do the opposite. “Come one come all,” Joan said. They want you to go to a Prim Care clinic if you are uninsured. Prim Care will even help pay or even pay it all for you; all you have to do is just make a small payment of $10 dollars.

                When Joan is not working hard for the community, she is spending most of her time on the internet. She said, “The internet has to be your very best friend” because of the information you can get from it and people can give you and it comes so fast. But when She not on the internet she loves to stay home and bake cakes. She bakes everything from coffee cakes, cheeses cake, to one of the best recipe for pancakes.

                 As a young girl Joan’s hero had to be her parents because they were hard working and took care of her and her siblings as best as they could. Her dad worked from the age of 16 to his early 70s and her mom was a stay at home mom but I think one of the best, because she made everything for Joan and her siblings from clothing to the bread they ate in the mooring. Her father even put all her brother and sisters throw college.

 Joan is a hero in my eyes because she helps thousands of people get the best health treatment they can have. She does it because she wants to and that means a lot to me because no one told her to do it she just did and that’s a hero in my eyes. She said that our community today was different then her community back then because of the problem we face as a youth like all the gangs, the drug use, and the relationships between girls and guys now with having babies at a young age.

                   I think Joan is an amazing hero because she’s been helping people all her life from helping migrant workers speak English in her hometown of Racine to helping people get better health treatment here in Chicago.    

         By: Ricardo Vargas

              

                                                       

Veronica Robles

         

            Our community hero.                                                                             

Veronica Robles is our hero because she works a lot for our community on issues such as foreclosures. In her work she has the chance of knowing a lot of people’s stories. Right now she’s working on helping others get their citizenship. She hopes everyone she works with gets it because they deserve it. In her work she likes working every single day because she learns new thing when she works on the computer.

The most difficult thing about her work is when she does outreach because her and some other people go to houses to look for home owners, but they can not find them. In her community she would like to change the level of safety because every where there’s a lot of gangbangers and   violence. Her obstacle is to talk to more people because in her work she has to do a lot of talking.

The community she works in is Kimball to Central Park. Veronica has a happy family. She has two children, a boy that is 12- years old and a daughter that is 8- years old. She also has a husband that loves her so much.  In the future she wants her children to join in the community because is a really nice place to join in a group of people that helps each other to change the community.

          In her life she wants to accomplish one thing and that is that she wants to stay in the community to learn more. She wants to give her children a better life and a better future. When she has some time in her free time she would relax for a little bit because she does a lot work to do such as taking her children to school and going to work. Her background or heritage is American because she was born here in Chicago.

 Her parents were born in Mexico, but she would consider herself Mexican. When she was sixteen, she got pregnant. Her life was really difficult for her because she couldn’t raise her child and go to school at the same time. So she stopped studying when she was in junior year at Foreman High. One thing she would like to do is to keep up studying. “Todo se puede,” she says. You could do it no matter what.

Written by: Ruby Ballesteros

Raul Islas

 Raul Islas is one of my heroes in the community.  I was very fortunate to interview him, and I really got to know him.  He is Mexican and he has a kind personality.  He is a student at University of Illinois at Chicago.  He is studying to be a teacher in the subject of Social Studies.

Raul Islas works for building affordable housing.  He helps the families who are in trouble of losing their homes.  He tries to work with the families who are losing their homes so that the family’s home won’t go into foreclosure.  Raul Islas goes to the homes that are going through foreclosure and he tells the family living there that they need to pay their mortgage or else they will be asked to leave the home.

Raul Islas has worked with Lucha four years. Lucha is an organization.  He also worked for LSNA. Raul Islas worked for the Mega Mall campaign for two years.  He set up meetings with the people who work there to build a protest so that the city wouldn’t close down the Mega Mall. Raul Islas didn’t want the sellers at Mega Mall to lose their jobs.

Raul Islas is a community hero in  Logan Square because he helps out to make a difference.  Raul Islas' hero is Che Guevara. Raul Islas sees Che Guevara as a hero because Che Guevara was a leader and a revolutionary.   I see Raul Islas as a hero because he has helped out in our community.  Raul Islas defines community as a group of people living in a neiborhood and working together to make a better place.   He said, “I like how big  Logan Square is.  "He likes the restaurants and food in our community.  He said, “One of my favorite places   is El Cubanito."  Raul Islas should be recognized for all the hard work he has done for our community.    

                                                                      Written by:Elizabeth Rayo