In the two years since the first COVID-19 restrictions were put in place — the statewide lockdown began March 21, 2020 — Oak Park and River Forest have struggled to cope. There have been illnesses, school closures, social distancing, remote work, mask mandates, vaccine appointments and personal tragedies to address.
In Oak Park alone, there have been 8,830 confirmed COVID cases since the start of the pandemic, according to the Oak Park Health Department, and 78 residents have died, according to the Cook County Department of Public Health.
In River Forest, four have died of COVID cases, according to the Cook County Department of Public Health.
“Every family was affected by COVID, every single one,” said Rabbi Max Weiss of the Oak Park Temple. “Even if it wasn’t someone in your immediate family, you knew someone who was sick or who died.”
“I think back to that first year when we couldn’t go to funerals … you couldn’t properly mourn those that we lost,” said David John Hailey, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Oak Park.
“It wasn’t even just people who died from COVID. We lost someone who had been a church member for 50 years. It wasn’t because of COVID, but we still couldn’t hold a proper remembrance for this person who meant so much to us. That was especially hard. You couldn’t come together when you needed it most.”
Isolation, lack of support
For some, isolation led to mental health issues, and organizations like the THRIVE Counseling Center
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in Oak Park had to figure out how to get people the treatment they needed safely.“There was an increase in demand,” said Stephen Morales, chair of THRIVE’s board of directors. “The usual group setting and (in-person) treatment options had to be re-thought … We had to send counselors to people’s houses.”
Religious institutions went through some of the most drastic changes, as large gatherings were no longer possible. Most congregations quickly pivoted to streaming services online to provide spiritual support for their members.
“The hardest thing to do is ask a church to close down,” said Rev. Carl Morello, pastor of the St. Giles Catholic Parish. “That’s our life. The community, the mass, the celebration. If you remember, we had no church services for Easter. That was a challenge.”
While the ability to stream services and counsel members remotely filled an immediate need, it was far from a perfect system.
“To watch a service online in your living room, it’s helpful, but you’re not being connected to the community as when you normally meet,” said Rev. Gerald Hiestand, senior pastor at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park. “That connectedness was missing, and it’s starting to come back. Just the rhythm of our weekly services is returning.”
On Friday night, the Oak Park Temple held its first large, mask-free gathering since March 2020. “It was so nice to see everyone’s faces,” Weiss said. “To hear people and to see people again.”
The temple decided early on that it would follow the guidelines of local health officials, and leadership found workarounds to engage the community without in-person meetings. “We wanted to keep everyone as safe as possible and together as possible,” Weiss said. “But safety was our top priority. I think we were reasonably successful. Many people described the synagogue as a ‘rock,’ or a lifeline during this time.”
Weiss was also happy that the temple found additional uses during the last two years, as a source of housing for a homeless shelter, a storage space for the Hotel-to-Home program and as a meeting place for blood donation.
“We wanted to make sure the building didn’t sit empty and unused,” Weiss said. “What’s the point of having a big empty building?”
This year, some congregations are starting to see people come back in person.
“Sunday (March 13) was one of our most heavily attended services since COVID began,” said David John Hailey, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Oak Park. “We are making progress. We still aren’t back to where we were, but you get the feeling that we are getting closer.”
Businesses are facing their own set of challenges, but many see hopeful signs.
“Everyone is in different stages coming out of this pandemic,” said Darien Marion-Burton, who runs an integrated marketing agency and is president of the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce.
“As people are coming back to (in-person activities), they bring more sales, which is great. But more sales also bring more problems, especially as we see struggles with supply chains and hiring workers. I see this quite a bit. I think it’s getting better, but for everyone who wants to be back to ‘normal,’ there are still a lot of things to work out.”
Nonprofits put events online
Nonprofits in the area also learned to adapt to the new normal, in which typical in-person fundraisers and events were no longer possible.
“I think it was difficult for any nonprofit,” said Heidi Ruehle, the executive director of the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation. “Personally, working at a public site, it was really challenging without people in the building. We missed that interaction with the public.”
Like so many others, her organization switched to virtual events and fundraising. “People were very responsive to it,” she said. “I think it forced us to do some things that we would have never done, and in the long run, we may embrace some of these things and continue using them in the future.”
One example is Wright Virtual Visits, a streaming initiative highlighting Frank Lloyd Wright buildings closed during the pandemic. Two or more Frank Lloyd Wright-designed sites across the country were paired up each month, and a livestream on Facebook featured tours and discussed the design themes of each building.
“We plan to continue collaborations like this even after we’re open to the public again,” Ruehle said.
She isn’t alone. Many COVID accommodations designed to make life easier during isolation will continue indefinitely.
“I think livestreaming is something that we’ll continue to do,” said Hailey of the First Baptist Church of Oak Park. “We’ve had members that moved out of state contact us and say they’ve been watching online. I think it’s a resource to help those who can’t make it to a service for any reason. We have the equipment now, and I can’t think of any reason to stop.”
COVID also forced people to learn to adapt better.
“There was this scrappy energy that developed during the pandemic,” Marion-Burton said. “That will stick around.”
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But despite the successes, many people still long to make more personal connections after two years of relative isolation.
“Not being able to meet with people in person is very difficult,” Marion-Burton said. “I miss meeting with clients for a glass of wine. I’m a very social person and just thinking about the chamber of commerce, the whole point is to be in the same room and talk to people. We used Zoom, we survived — thank God — but that was the hardest part. Coming out of this, I can’t wait to spend time with more people again.”
That may be especially true for children, who have spent the last two years living through unprecedented conditions.
“We see a growing demand for youth mental health services,” said Morales. “Schools are requesting our help. There’s a concern that we don’t have enough outreach programs for them … I think this is an area that needs our attention now.”
“It’s been a difficult two years,” said Morello, from St. Giles parish. “But I’m proud of the work that we did … We were able to open our school, which was so important for the kids. And our parishioners continued to support us financially, even when they weren’t here in person … It allowed us to stay together despite everything that happened.”