NEWS
Roberti House expands facility as usage grows BY EMILY SPECTRE
The Roberti Community House has expanded its presence in Waukegan since founder Maribeth Roberti established the nonprofit in 2010, when she purchased a foreclosed home in a distressed neighborhood. “We are very proud to show the stability of our presence in the community,” Roberti told The North Shore Weekend. The Community House has since opened a second location just down the street from its first in another renovated home. The new place includes a professional grade kitchen, where the Culinary Pathway Program was started in January 2018. The condensed nine-week program offers hands-on culinary training by a professional chef, after which participants are placed in jobs in the food service industry. The program not only serves as a training ground but also as a way to reinvest in the community. Participants prepare 40 meals a day that are donated to a variety of local resources, such as social service agencies, soup kitchens, food pantries homeless and domestic violence shelters and police and fire departments. To date, 4,500 meals have been prepared and donated, Roberti said. All of the food used in the program is also collected from the community. The program, which is now in its third cycle, includes about five to six students per class.
developed based on input from the community. “We are listening to what the community needs a re, ” Roberti said. Roberti, a licensed clinical social worker, opened the center to create a safe haven for people to gather and provide opportunities for individuals to Some local children work on a community garden behind the Roberti develop their Community House in Waukegan. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER own strengths. She intentionally rehabbed the houses to blend seamlessly into “It’s been great,” Roberti said. The program was started when Roberti realized the neighborhood, to ensure that residents felt that that cultivating work opportunities was a huge need the Community House is truly a part of the comin the community, where the current poverty level munity. While a majority of programming is drop-in, the hovers at more than 32 percent. Run primarily by more than 200 volunteers, the Community House also offers a summer gardening Community House also offers a broad assortment program for local youth. The Junior Green Youth of drop-in programming for children and adults, Farm is an eight-week program for middle school ranging from sewing, ESL classes, yoga, gardening students, culminating with an open house on and cooking, to after school programming. Ap- August 1, which is open to everyone in the comproximately 250 to 300 youth participate in after- munity and supported by local city representatives. school programming. All of the programs were During the summer months the kids grow an as-
sortment of vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, radishes, leeks and herbs — many of which are from donated seedlings. Participants learn about different aspects of gardening, such as composting or the parts of the plant. “They grow a lot throughout the program,” Kelly Albrecht, program director, explained. While most of the kids enter the program with very little knowledge of gardening, they’ve developed a keen sense of where their food comes from upon completion of the program. “The program includes a lot of new experiences for the kids to open their minds,” Albrecht said. At the open house, students will provide tours of the garden and share all that they’ve learned during the summer. While Roberti said residents were initially unsure what the Community House was all about, she felt confident from the beginning the center would be a success. “I always believed and had no doubt that we would be successful,” Roberti said. “I believe I am directed by a higher power and something bigger than myself. Roberti has witnessed positive changes in the neighborhood as more people become engaged. “They wanted a place to come, and they came. It’s really beautiful,” she said. For more information about the Roberti Community House and the Roberti Culinary Pathway program, please visit www.roberticommunityhouse.org.
Companions, not chauffeurs Ridesharing company for seniors goes the whole nine miles in assistance department BY BILL MCLEAN
An elderly woman in a suburb of Chicago needed to undergo a procedure at a hospital. She also needed a ride to the hospital. A driver arrived at her house. The driver, in his mid-60s, accompanied the woman to his car, drove her to the hospital and entered the hospital with her. He sat right next to her, as she went through the registration process. The woman underwent the procedure and recovered. There, at the hospital, on the same day, smiling and ready to take her home? The same driver. Yes, the same driver. Not a family member. Not a friend. Not a neighbor — but an Envoy America driver. Phoenix-based Envoy America, a specialized ridesharing program that offers accompanied transportation plus companionship and assistance for senior citizens and patients, rolled in the Chicago area for the first time in May, swelling the company’s national presence to 12 markets. “The woman would have had to stay in the hospital for a day or two had I not driven her,” says the driver, a retired business executive who asked not to be identified, citing driver-passenger confidentiality. “My wife and I, for 15 years, had experience serving as caregivers to our parents. We’ve seen how difficult it is for seniors to maintain their independence. You know what? Seniors only need a little help, and driving them, in many instances, provides that little help, that boost that helps them feel good about themselves.
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Envoy America Director of Operations Steven Wolf. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOEL LERNER
“The woman I drove to the hospital,” he adds, “calls me now and then to find out how I’m doing, tells me about her family. I’ve developed a relationship with her. Around 70 percent of the people I drive sit up front with me. It’s not unusual for a ride to turn into a social occasion for my passengers.” Envoy America Co-founder and CEO K.C. Kanaan launched the ridesharing enterprise in 2015. What drove him was his mother’s desire to remain active. He did not want her and others like her to have to worry about getting to where they wanted to go, and he wanted uber-(the prefix, not the
ridesharing company) polite and uber-compassionate and uber-professional drivers to handle the transport duties. Envoy America drivers — door-to-door employees, rather than the curbto-curb employees affiliated with traditional ridesharing companies — motor folks to all kinds of destinations around these parts, from church services to Cubs games to concert halls to grocery stores to family dinners to a weekend stay at the second home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. One client hires an Envoy America driver for his morning and afternoon commutes each workday. Two of Envoy America-Chicago’s partners are the American Cancer Society and the Mayo Clinic. Glencoe native and 1995 New Trier graduate Steven Wolf, now a Wilmette resident, was named to steer Envoy America’s Chicago operations. The average round trip for a booking in the Chicago area, he notes, is two-and-a-half hours, with the minimum requirement at one hour ($39). “We’ll take them out of state or down the street,” the 41-year-old Wolf says, adding one driver in
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New Mexico drove a client 400 miles, one way, and then stuck around to return the client home. “Riders can request the same driver; I know of a driver who has been driving a client for three years. Our drivers — they all undergo a thorough application process, including a face-to-face interview and extensive background check, and a specialized training program — consider a position with us a calling, not a job. “Helping service people along the North Shore is a blessing,” adds Wolf, a right wing on New Trier Green’s 1994 state championship hockey team. “I’m thrilled to be in a position to assist our senior citizens here. Aging, for many, is a tough thing. You know what often helps a senior citizen survive a tough time? A person with a big heart; we love that trait, look for that trait in our drivers. Our drivers are companions with big hearts.” That driver/companion who made a woman’s trip to the hospital as palatable as possible has a heart the size of Texas. And a few continents. “Driving for Envoy America is my way of giving back,” he says. “It’s a responsibility, a large responsibility … a responsibility I take seriously. I enjoy helping senior citizens take care of their needs. The people I drive don’t consider me a chauffeur. I’m a people person. I love to interact. “There were times, while driving, I felt like I was talking with a family member.” To schedule a ride or to learn more about Envoy America, please call (888) 375-5558 or visit envoyamerica.com. THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND