The happiest people I know ...

For a minute, consider the following situation: a violent storm, possibly a tornado, hits your townhome or condo, and the damage is so significant that you are forced to move out of your home and into a temporary living arrangement. Now fast forward almost three years, and the damage to your condo has not been repaired, you are still living in temporary housing, and you have been paying your monthly mortgage payment, your Home Owners Association fees, and your current temporary rental fees for almost three years with no promise of moving back into your permanent home.

While this is only something I ask you to imagine, there are currently twenty-four families from Woodridge whose condos were hit by the June 2021 tornado that came through Naperville, Woodridge, and Darien for whom this is not an imaginary situation but a reality. A shortage in the Homeowner Association’s insurance totaling 1.1 million dollars has left these homeowners shut out of their homes for close to three years. Immediately following the tornado, efforts were made by neighboring communities such as Darien to assist Woodridge families hit hard by the tornado, and the community formed a 501c3 called “Woodridge Neighbors Helping Neighbors Disaster Relief,” which raised monies to provide initial assistance to those in need. Unfortunately, the need to assist these twenty-four families still left out of their homes remains a major issue and a cause for concern.

Mayor Frank Trilla of Willowbrook and I have joined with Mayor Gina Cunningham of Woodridge to form a group titled “Mayors Helping Mayors, Helping Neighbors Helping Neighbors.” Our goal, as Mayor Cunningham states, is to “bring people home,” and to achieve that goal, we will be working to inform residents and business leaders such as you to become part of this effort through your monetary donations and/or your participation in our Mayors Helping Mayors, Helping Neighbors Helping Neighbors fundraiser at Seven Bridges Golf Club on June 26. Mayors Trilla, Cunningham, and I will also be working to solicit help from our fellow mayors, asking them to join us in this effort.

As Maya Angelou states, “It is good to remember that in crisis, natural crisis, human beings forget for a while their ignorance, their biases, their prejudices. For a little while, neighbors help neighbors, and strangers help strangers.” Darien, Woodridge, and Willowbrook are three communities that have always come together to provide assistance when a crisis has taken place, and we are now committed to a process that will assist those who are still suffering from the ramifications of the June 2021 tornado, which impacted all three of our communities.

While we will be coming out with additional information regarding our fundraiser in June, you can join in this effort by visiting the Woodridge Neighbors Helping Neighbors Disaster Relief site at woodridgenhn.org, and if possible, make a personal donation to this effort. Your donation to this 501c3 will be tax deductible, and no funds will go to the City of Darien or the Villages of Willowbrook or Woodridge. As you visit that site, please remember what Ronald Reagan said so many years ago, “Our American tradition of neighbor helping neighbor has always been one of our greatest strengths and most notable traditions.”

Thank you for helping your neighbors!