Residents from Franklin Park and the Leyden Township area attended a free health and resource in the village that brought access to social service information, vaccinations and more into one room.
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The Oct. 21 event took place at the Franklin Park Police Department community room and featured 17 organizations that offered various services and information..
“I came here to get my flu shot and the COVID booster,” said Joe Hermann, a Franklin Park resident since 1947. “I live right nearby so this is very convenient.”
In addition to free vaccinations from an area Jewel-Osco pharmacy, Secretary of State representatives were set up and offered drivers license services.
“I’m getting my drivers license for the first time,” said Alex Figeroa, 19, of Franklin Park.
One of the several nonprofits on hand was Devices 4 the Disabled, an Oak Park-based organization that repurposes equipment for the disabled.
“We’re a charity that provides free wheelchairs and walkers for seniors and people who don’t have insurance coverage or who might be under-insured,” founding Director Bob Shea said. “We’re founded on the four tenets of independence, mobility, dignity and freedom.”
Devices 4 the Disabled accepts donations of crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, lifts, scooters and hospital beds at its Chicago location, at St. Margaret Mary Church in Algonquin and at the Smith LaSalle company in Franklin Park.
“We’re here to give back money,” said Gladys Piper, a community affairs specialist with the office of state treasurer Michael Frerichs. “I’m here to look up individuals and businesses to make sure they don’t have unclaimed property, because you never know. Usually, one in four people might have unclaimed money they didn’t know about.”
Piper said a person could have wages, stocks, bonds, pension, or utility refunds due them.
“By law, companies have to report unclaimed funds to the state after three to five years,” she said. “We hold the funds indefinitely until the individual or an heir comes forward to claim it. We recently found a family who was owed an $11 million estate inheritance.”
Some of the other public entities with information tables at the event included the Park District of Franklin Park, Pace Suburban Bus, the Cook County Sheriff’s office and state comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office.
“I think this is a phenomenal event for our senior citizens as well as our not-so-seniors,” said Franklin Park Village Trustee Bill Ruhl. “We’ve got representatives from all these wonderful organizations and it’s all face-to-face information. It’s a good thing not just for Franklin Park residents but for the entire Leyden Township area and beyond.”
Leyden Township had a table of information on upcoming events, including a holiday tree-lighting ceremony on November 18 and a free Thanksgiving dinner on November 23.
Other senior services organizations at the fair included Leyden Family Service and Mental Health Center, Casa Scalabrini, Greater Family Health and AgeOptions.
Oak Park-based AgeOptions connects older adults in the Cook County suburbs with choices for community services and care in order for them to maintain dignity and live their lives to the fullest, according to information provided by the organization.
Franklin Park Fire Department Lieutenant Steve Rutz was on hand to distribute Knox Boxes, which give first responders access to a home.
“It gets mounted right by your front door and your house key goes inside,” Rutz said. “It’s not intended if you happened to lock your home and left your keys inside. It’s for emergencies, if police need to come help you and you can’t get to the door.”
Franklin Park resident Garry Rossino said he would install a Knox Box at his home.
“We had a carbon monoxide scare a while back where our old furnace was leaking fumes into the house,” Rossino said. “We’re lucky we weren’t passed out inside because the fire department came out, turned off the furnace and aired out our home. It’s about giving us peace of mind.”
The Franklin Park Public Library District had a table with a representative who reminded about all the services the library provides.
“We’ve got electronic materials and DVDs, but we’re lending more than just media materials these days,” Adult Services Assistant Librarian Michelle Mitchell said. “You also can borrow tools, baking supplies and things you may not want to have in your home because you only need it once or twice a year. We’ve also got slide projectors, telescopes and projectors and screens so you could show a backyard movie.”
Franklin Park’s library is part of the State Wide Area Network of many that share resources and technology.
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“Being a SWAN library, if we don’t have a certain material people are looking for, we almost always can get it,” Mitchell said, “and pretty quickly, because there are over 100 local libraries in the system.”
Gary Gibula is a freelancer.