Two groups of young children from very different backgrounds joined together Saturday in a celebration of “casual joy” — the opportunity to enjoy being a child.
The annual event called the Circle Of Friendship paired 105 kindergarten through 5th-grade children from Western Springs Elementary District 101 with 105 children from Chicago’s Off The Street Club.
“The event offers a rare opportunity for children who live completely differently to spend some time together and realize we are the same,” said Field Park principal Brad Promisel.
Of the guests, Promisel added, “The kids can recognize the guns by the sounds they make. If this were happening in our community, imagine the outcry.”
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Located in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood, the Off The Street Club, the oldest boys’ and girls’ club in Chicago, has worked to keep kids safe from crime and violence since 1900. The organization provides afterschool homework assistance, arts programs, sports and mentoring programs for more than 3,000 school-age children.
Chicago advertising agencies have been longtime supporters of the club, so when industry professional Patti Winegar learned about the organization, she volunteered. At a luncheon, she was struck by how loving the kids were, and wanted her own kids to meet them. She organized a group of children, 10 kids from the club, and 10 kids from Western Springs to get together.
Their first outing was bowling at the Village Club, they also tried roller skating one year, but it wasn’t until Winegar worked at an ice cream social at her kids’ school, that she got the inspiration for the Circle Of Friendship party.
“We started with 20 kids, and now we have 210,” said Winegar, who started the event 15 years ago.
The party, which has been held at the Lyons Township South Campus Corral for the last 15 years, included activities such as face painting, a bounce house and a pizza lunch. As the day progressed, the kids form bonds with the buddy they paired with for the day.
“They do email back and forth, and trade name tags with their buddies so they remember them,” said Winegar.
Each child in the event gets a T-shirt color-coded for their grade. Third-grade Field Park student Maggie Casiello and her buddy Star were getting their faces painted in their matching yellow T-shirts. Maggie was eager to help her buddy enjoy the day.
“I’ll do whatever Star wants to do,” said Maggie.
It was this type of fellowship that Executive Director Ralph Campagna had in mind for the day. Campagna who grew up in West Garfield Park, said the organization has never been needed more than today. He said the drug and gang violence is the worse he’s ever seen, and much different than what he experienced as a child.
“When I walked to the club the worst thing that happened was rain, now it’s raining bullets,” Campagna said.
He said the happiness he saw as the children played games and shared a meal is important amid the turmoil they face.
“Our mission is casual joy, this is the best expression of casual joy,” he said. “It should be a national symbol of what can be done, you can do what Western Springs has done.”
Also notable among the new friends was lots of hugging.
“The hug is the Off The Street Club handshake,” said Campagna.
Event emcee and co-founder Bob Konold offered a sobering insight into the children’s environment. A 6-year-old boy in attendance had been shot in his West Garfield Park neighborhood.
“Every child here has been touched by gun violence, whether it’s a father, or a brother, or a friend,” said Konold. “This event is designed to give them some peace.”
Another respite the children have is summer camp at Camp Mathieu, where the kids reciprocate and throw a party for their friends in Western Springs. Both events, Konold notes, are funded privately through donations.
While the party offers the visitors a chance to play in a safe environment, Western Springs’ children benefit as well.
To quell the violence, Campagna says each member of the Off The Street Club must sign a pledge that they won’t engage in gang or drug culture, which means sometimes they have to turn their backs on their own siblings. Campagna said a sign hanging in their building sums up what they teach the kids: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”
Paulette Delcourt is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.