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Community spirit shown through Labor of Love

By Stephanie Szuda
IV Leader Staff, Oct. 2, 2003

    A team from IVCC showed its community spirit during September by pitching in during the United Way’s Labor of Love event, where voluntary teams are matched up with needy people who need repairs on their home.
    While the United Way has sponsored Labor of Love for the past 13 years, this marked the fourth year for IVCC’s involvement. 
    Overall, there were around 400 volunteers this year working on 22 homes throughout the Illinois Valley on Sept. 13. 
    The late Chuck Holmberg, former Project NOA director, initiated the first Labor of Love team from Illinois Valley Community College. The faculty and staff plan to uphold his vision of how the school can contribute to the community. 
    The IVCC team volunteers were faculty and staff members Sharon Barthelemy, Angela Dunlap, Jeanne Hayden, Sue Iserman, Greg Oseland, Liz Oseland, Tom Schultz, Ted Stasik, Brad Vescogni and Emily Vescogni. Also helping the team was local contractor, Brad Pagani, and his son Kyle Pagani, an IVCC student. 
    Team coordinator Emily Vescogni volunteers for the opportunity to give back to the community. 
    “It makes us feel good as an individual to help people who desperately need help,” she said. “It’s also fun to work with the team on a whole different context.”
    Volunteers ran electrical wires for appliances, updated the windows and painted the steps.
    Vescogni said the owner of the home they worked on in La Salle was very thankful to the volunteers. 
    “It was very fortunate to see the gratitude. You see that you are helping them to stay in their homes longer.”