NORTH PARK — A $70,000 philanthropic donation to the thirty ninth Ward will fund the whole lot from wheelchair-accessible backyard beds at an area faculty to flood mitigation on the Gompers Park baseball fields.
The donation got here from the property of the late Donna King, an Evanston native who was married to the late retail developer Terry King. Donna King died final 12 months after a protracted wrestle with ovarian most cancers, mentioned Anthony Licata, the property’s executor.
Licata approached Ald. Samantha Nugent (thirty ninth) about distributing funding to area people teams earlier this 12 months. Nugent mentioned she labored with Licata to pick six teams that she felt represented the ward and aligned with Donna King’s pursuits and values.
Grant awardees included the Northside Studying Heart, Forest Glen Group Membership, Mayfair Park Advisory Council, Gladstone Park Neighborhood Affiliation, North Park Group Market and Gompers Park Athletic Affiliation.
“Every of the initiatives which might be being funded by the grant displays what makes the thirty ninth Ward so particular. Your organizations are the lifeblood of our group,” Nugent mentioned throughout a ceremony held Wednesday night at North Park College.
Terry King was president and proprietor of Bannockburn-based TMK Improvement Ltd. and labored intently together with his spouse, who was a designer.
Terry King received into actual property after working as a Chicago Police officer. Whereas he was a beat cop, he purchased a three-flat, mounted it up and bought it, incomes greater than he had in three years on the power, Licata mentioned.
The Kings lived in north suburban Lake Forest.
“Most of their property was left to charity, however we might by no means get [Donna] to designate the charities,” Licata mentioned with fun.
Donna King’s will had a provision permitting Licata to designate the charities. Over the previous 12 months, the King property has made donations to a few dozen teams all through the Chicago space, Licata mentioned.
“I do know someplace up there now each of them are smiling down on us tonight as a result of they cherished the town, they cherished the neighborhoods of this metropolis and so they cherished serving to folks,” he mentioned.
The Northside Studying Heart, a Chicago Public Faculties highschool serving college students with disabilities, obtained $15,000 to put in wheelchair-accessible raised backyard beds in its greenhouse. Elizabeth Mourtokokis, Northside’s principal, mentioned the greens and herbs grown within the raised beds will likely be used within the faculty’s culinary arts program.
The Forest Glen Group Membership obtained $15,000 for a brand new neighborhood mural on the viaduct close to the intersection of Forest Glen and Lansing avenues. Theresa Kelly, the membership’s president, mentioned the group has been dreaming of the mural for years.
Forest Glen neighbors efficiently raised cash for a mural between Forest Glen and Leclaire avenues a few decade in the past. Kelly mentioned the second mural would full the “gateway to the neighborhood.” The group is working with the native group Arts Alive Chicago on the mural.
The Gompers Park Athletic Affiliation, a youth baseball and softball program that serves round 650 gamers, will use the $15,000 it was awarded to put in underground drainage in one in every of its baseball fields to deal with longstanding flooding points.
The Mayfair Park Advisory Council will use its $5,000 to put in a local plant and perennial flower backyard at Mayfair Park to honor longtime neighborhood volunteer Wally Eliason.
The Gladstone Park Neighborhood Affiliation additionally obtained $5,000, cash that may go towards beautifying Chopin Plaza, probably with recent landscaping.
The North Park Group Market, a month-to-month market held on the Peterson Elementary College area, was awarded $15,000. Ryan O’Connell, a market board member and vendor, mentioned the cash will go towards selling the market to draw extra distributors and guests, in addition to repairing tents and tables.
In April, the King property donated $21,000 to the Give-n-Obtain, a Belmont Cragin-based, free clothes nonprofit. The cash allowed the group to launch its free group closets initiative.
Licata mentioned a considerable amount of the property has gone to scholarships.
“We wished to search out conditions wherein a single contribution might make the distinction for a undertaking going ahead,” Licata mentioned.
Nugent mentioned she selected to present out the awards throughout a public ceremony for neighbors to study initiatives occurring of their ward and in order that group teams might join with each other.
“It’s my honest hope that this serves as a supply multiplier to create extra good,” Nugent mentioned on Wednesday. “Hopefully extra initiatives will stem from the work that we’ve been given seed cash for tonight.”
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