- Will you consider this?

How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it.

No matter the kindness, it's always uplifting.

I'm Christine Zak-Edmonds and I am joined by two ladies who show their kindness through Shared Blessings.

(uplifting music) Many community organizations have benefited in a few short years as Shared Blessings raises money and needed items for those groups.

We are in a fortunate position to have Shared Blessings in central Illinois.

The founder of the very first chapter is relocated now here and her mission began once again.

Darlene Violet is that very person, along with her dear friend and sort of relative, Becky Lagouros.

Thank you both for being here so much.

- Well, thank you for having us.

- Big question, Shared Blessings is what it sounds like it is, but let's have a definition.

- Okay.

Well, I started this in 2002 in Canton, Ohio.

Really, I thought for a while, I would like to help support the local small nonprofits and charities in Canton, Ohio, which I lived at that time.

So I asked four of my friends, if they would help me start a nonprofit and I have another friend whose husband is an attorney, helped me get the 501(c)(3).

And we debated about the name and finally came up where we feel like we have been very blessed in our life with the families that we have, and just many blessings throughout all of our lives and we decided we wanted to share those blessings, so that's how the name came up.

And we just took off from there, starting investigating local, small kinda grassroots nonprofits and we thought at first, we might run out of organizations to help and then we realized, oh my gosh, there's so many small charities out there that are doing so much good, and I found the same thing here in Peoria.

- Okay, and then now your son married her daughter and so that brought you here, your daughter, and son-in-law and grandchildren.

- Two little granddaughters.

- Okay, that's great.

And then was it hard for her to rope you in?

Or that just seems like a natural fit.

- It was.

I believe very strongly in what she was doing and it was a good thing to get involved in.

- And of course I didn't know anybody when we moved here, except my daughter and her family, and her mother-in-law and her family.

So I asked, I said, Shared Blessings came to mean so much to me, and I just really wanted to start another one, but I didn't know anybody.

So I said, "Becky, can you help me with your friends, start out there."

So Becky helped me, and another person, Ellen McCrae, that had lived in Peoria for a long time, also joined the group.

And then they helped me get names and addresses of their family and friends.

And that's how we started.

- And the Gates too.

- And the Gates from Peoria.

- Also on my board.

Yes.

And he helped me too.

So that's how we started.

- And it's connections and it's networking is what you did, and you are married to a physician.

You were married to a physician and God bless him.

We lost him, but we're very thankful and blessed that he moved here with you and that we still have you, so thank you.

And there are a lot of blessings in our lives, and really even people who are down on their luck, if they really look, they can find a blessing here or there.

Do you see it's difficult when you're asking members to join?

- No, not really.

We've had a really good membership turnout, and I found this in Canton, Ohio, too.

I really think that, I know I read that some place where you really travel like five miles in your daily life from your home.

So I don't think a lot of us really know what goes on 10 or 15 miles from where we live.

And we're, you know, our routes every day, we don't realize what happens, not in our neighborhood.

So I think that's one of the biggest things about Shared Blessings, is it just lets us know, become familiar with the need, and familiar with how we can help.

- When did you establish it in Peoria, in central Illinois?

- 2017.

- All right.

So about four years.

And so your blessings, you collect money or items.

So explain how that works.

Becky you're being pretty shy.

- No, no, no.

That's not it.

- Sorry I'm talking.

- No, no.

It's quite all right.

Well, it's a very simple format, is that we request each member to donate a minimum of $35.

We're pretty modest in our request, but people generally are more generous, and that's it.

We send out, Darlene generally, you know, with the little committee or sometimes on her own, will scout out areas that we feel need assistance, and she'll go and talk to them, and you know, what are your needs?

What do you do?

How can we help?

And generally they'll come up with an item that they need.

Or I remember we did carpeting ones for the Boys and Girls Club, things like that.

And then was Darlene sends out a letter, soliciting.

This is what we're helping this time.

This is what they need.

This is where we're meeting.

It's a potluck format.

So people just come to the meeting place, and we've been very fortunate that Midwest Food Bank has allowed us to use their facility at no charge.

So people just come and they bring a potluck meal to share.

It could be store bought, you know, we're not picky.

And the speaker will come and speak on whatever- - Whatever charity is chosen?

- Correct.

- Very casual.

- Yeah.

It's really low key.

And the whole thing maybe is like an hour, hour and a half tops.

So it's not a huge time commitment.

It's a chance to socialize.

It's chance to ask questions of the charity that's being helped.

And then we move on to the next one.

- How often do you meet?

It's not a monthly commitment.

Am I correct in that?

- No.

And it's not even, I think on the brochure-- - September, November, December, February, April, then in summer, we have a no-show where we have a project, but people can just send in money if they want to.

And even the regular meetings, if people can't come, but they want a monetarily support it, they can send money in.

So we probably make as much money from people that can't make it to a meeting that send in money as people that come.

But I just, I hope that, you know, this will come to mean as much to the Peorians as it does to me, because I think, you know, we do need to share our blessings, and we do need to spread kindness.

And that's what will make our community as a whole better.

- Right.

So Boys and Girls Club.

what are some of the other charities?

I mean, four years worth of donations.

You have 'em memorized?

Just teasing.

- No, that's why I brought my... (all laughing) That's why we brought a brochure.

- Do you need my glasses?

- No.

- I might.

- Our very first one was Invictus Woods, which I don't know if you're familiar with that or not.

The Rabjohns started it.

It's kind of someone who has addiction if they go to recovery.

But then instead of going right back to the same old neighborhood and the same old perhaps lifestyle, they can go to Invictus Woods for a period of time and get their feet on the ground.

So then there's one for males, and now one for females too.

And I will let Becky pronounce the second one because it is a Greek name and she's much better.

(laughs) - (laughs) That's right.

This was from our church, and it was the Philoptochos Society, which means friends of the poor.

And it's an arm of the Greek Orthodox church.

And what they had is like a blessing bags for children in a depressed area.

- [Christine] Less fortunate kind of area, right?

- Right, right.

And the president of our Philoptochos chapter is involved, she works for SEAPCO.

So she sees a lot of these, a lot of these kids and a lot of these areas.

So she has spearheaded the weekend food bags for kids for several years now.

And basically it's a lot of kids, their only meals are at school.

So on weekends and times when school's not in session, they don't have any food.

So that's been a very successful program, and Shared Blessings did raise a significant amount of money for that program.

- All right.

Before you continue, did those programs, are they sustained somehow?

Can you follow up with them?

- Yeah, I mean, they're ongoing.

I mean, we're always looking for money, as are all of these programs.

They're always looking for money for something.

And sometimes we do go back and repeat some beneficiaries.

- All right, then what was next?

- Midwest Food Bank.

And we had said when we were there, that we were kind of having a hard time finding a home for Shared Blessings meetings here that didn't cost a lot of money to rent.

And I would just, we said that in conversation, and then he said, "Oh, you can meet here."

And I'm like, "Really?

Even if you're not our project at the time?"

And they're like, "Yes."

So ever since then they've let us meet there for free, which is great.

- And that was a kindness, and a shared blessed.

- Yes.

A shared kindness.

Southside Mission, we helped.

Advocates for Access, Friendship House, Boys and Girls Club, Central Illinois Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Loaves and Fish, which is a downtown food program.

Look.

It's My Book!

The PPS Foundation Harrison School.

Circle House, which we'd mentioned before.

That's the female part of Invictus Woods.

Art Incorporated, Phoenix Community Development Services, which is for the homeless.

Center for Prevention of Abuse, Jobs Partnership, Sophia's Kitchen, Family House, and Glen Oak School.

- Where do you come up with the ideas?

Members make suggestions?

Or are these groups finding out about you now?

Or are they approaching you to see if they could benefit?

- Both.

- Both?

- Both, but I would say more, so far it's been more members.

Wouldn't you?

- Right, yeah.

- [Christine] How many members do you have at this point?

Do you know?

- 75.

- All right.

And you'd love to grow that number.

- Yes we would.

Yes.

But of course the more members we have, the more money you can raise and the more help we can give.

- You know, that's an inspiration and in today's world, we need more people like you and this organization to share everything, you know, kindness, not hatred or division and that sort of thing.

What do you look forward to most then?

I mean, you've got a lot of accomplishments behind you, but what are some challenges that you see that might be ahead?

- Well, I said, COVID kind of, you know, of course, just like everybody else, we couldn't meet for a year.

So we have not met since, as a group, we've still have been sending out the invitation and people have still been sending the money, which has been great, but we actually haven't met since Phoenix Development Community Services was our last actual meeting.

So we're going to have, September will be our next time we're actually going to meet together.

So I'm looking forward to that.

But for the future, I think just to grow the membership and just to be able to help more individuals and charities that need the help.

And I just want to say, there are so many good people out there doing so many good things for others.

And I think that's one thing about Shared Blessings.

That just makes us all realize, hey, there's a lot of good people out there that want to help.

And I think that's a message that needs to be given more today.

- It's fulfilling already.

Would you agree?

So let's talk about then your future projects.

You have a couple in mind.

Do you get those pretty far out, or is it a last minute thing?

So let's say November, you're going to meet in November and then you have a project, and then December it's the holidays, and then you have something already arranged?

Or do you just kinda wait a little bit, or how does that work?

- We're usually like six months ahead, or six meetings ahead I should say.

- Actually, I think this year we're kind of filled up for the year.

But you know, things change.

Sometimes projects fall apart or, you know, people have to back out at the last minute.

So, but for the most part, you know, we do try to get things arranged at least for the six months.

- Has anything really surprised you, both in Canton, Ohio and here?

Has anything surprised you in terms of, of the needs, or lack thereof?

- I think for me in both places, it's been food insecurity.

I didn't realize how many people in our community, very own communities go to bed hungry.

And like you said, with the kids, not eating on weekends, and that really surprised me.

- And especially there's what they call a food oasis in a lot of these depressed neighborhoods, where even if you wanted to buy food, there's no place to go.

- Or you can't get there.

- Right.

Lack of transportation is a big issue as well.

- Do you help out with that with some of your projects?

Do you help with transportation to get some people to?

- We haven't been asked to yet.

That could be a future project.

- Shared Blessings bus.

(all laughing) - Well, that could probably be arranged somehow.

Watch, somebody will come forward.

You are counting your blessings, you know, and they're plentiful, but just to realize that people are struggling and then, you know, today's world and having these food deserts, it just doesn't seem possible in this day and age.

- Right.

And I think another thing that surprised me, and hit both locations again, was how isolated some communities are.

Like you were talking about the food desert and the lack of transportation.

They maybe don't have a car or only have one car.

So if the husband goes out to work or the wife goes out to work, the rest of the family is stuck there.

So I think that surprised me too, how isolated a whole community could be from the rest of what the other parts of the community has to offer, such as the museums for the kids, and the zoo.

And even the restaurants.

I mean, a lot of times they're kind of stuck in this one area and really don't get out very much.

So I think that's surprised me as well.

- But maybe with Shared Blessings' generosity, they will learn that there are places that they could go and have access to those types of things, correct?

- And what's out there that they could achieve.

- Well, that's a big message.

When you meet with, when someone comes to one of your meetings and makes a presentation, then do they give you all the bullet points?

I mean, they talk about absolutely everything that's needed and then they give you a wishlist as well.

- Right.

- So tell me about the wish list procedure.

So members can give money, or they can give money and fulfill wishlist things and that kind of thing.

So what are some of these wishlist items?

- Well, usually when we go to tour the charity or the nonprofit or the school, we ask them like for a big ticket item, what would you like?

What would you use the money for?

And then the wishlist item I put on the invitation.

And it just depends on what the organization is.

Like say for Sophia's Kitchen, it could be food.

For school, it could be, you know, school supplies.

It just depends on what the charity is and what their needs are, but it's usually smaller things.

Like I can go to Target and pick up some school supplies, or I can go to the grocery and pick up some food.

So it's that kind of thing.

So you come to Shared Blessings to the meeting and drop off the wishlist items, and they take that with them then.

- Yeah, I remember Family House used to put up, every year they'd give out a turkey or ham to families.

- For the holidays?

- For the holidays.

Or no, Friendship House.

- Friendship House.

- Not Family House, I'm sorry.

Friendship House.

Friendship House would give turkeys or hams to needy families, and they also had like a toy pull.

- Yes, I forgot about that.

- Yeah.

They'd put up the Christmas tree, - We put the Christmas tree up at Olympia Sports Bar & Grill on Pioneer Parkway, and Friendship House, I asked if they would do it and they said yes.

And Friendship House gave us a list, kind of a, you know, like a wishlist of the kids, what they wanted for Christmas.

So we made little ornaments, paper construction ornaments, you know, hung them on the tree.

And people that went to the restaurant.

I was so surprised.

I mean, the first year we did it, I had to make more ornaments because they were taken off.

And then not only the toys, but we also put some ornaments on that said $25 to help buy a turkey or $25 to help buy a ham.

So they would give money too.

So we did that.

Of course, again, last year, COVID we couldn't do it, but we did that for two years with Friendship House and probably do it again this year, if Olympia's very generous with what they have let us do.

- But the response of the community has really been uplifting.

I've always known Peoria has been very generous.

- Correct.

And you're not from here originally, right?

- No.

I grew up in central Illinois, but I'm not a native Peorian.

My husband is, which is why we ended up back here, but I've been here for longer than I haven't been here.

(laughs) - Me too.

- So I consider myself a real Peorian.

(laughs) - Yeah, exactly.

Just don't have a pedigree.

And so you always have a lot of really good ideas, in all of the different charitable organizations that you've supported.

And so these ideas are the same thing.

I mean the Christmas tree idea, or what did you call it?

- Yeah, The Giving Tree.

We call it The Giving Tree.

And I think people really want to help, but here again, I think a lot of times they just don't know how.

Like we were saying before, they don't know the need.

They don't know all these little, perhaps little smaller organizations or charities or the schools.

So I think this just gives, once somebody knows, oh, I could do this.

Just like they go out to eat and there's that Giving Tree.

I can do that.

And they take it and, you know, buy the toy and bring it back or donate the money.

So I think people want to donate or want to do good.

They need the vehicle.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- And we don't ask for a huge amount of money.

I mean, $35 is very manageable.

When you throw all that money together, you come up with significant amounts.

- Right.

You have 100 people giving, yeah, exactly.

So what are your projects then for the remainder of the year, because of all of this whole past year and a half.

You know where your focus is for the year?

- We know until the end of this year where the next project is going to be.

In September, September 22nd, and it's going to be for GLOW, Girls Light Our Way, and the director is Dawn Jefferies.

And you might know more about it than I do.

Dawn started it.

- I think at Emmanuel High School .

And it's basically kind of a mentoring program for young women in high school age to kind of, you know, give them a segue into success later in life.

But she's worked with that program.

She's the founder of that organization, and has worked with it for many years.

- I like to think that I'm informed and I've never heard that, so then even some of your other charities.

All right.

So then that's September, October.

November-- - November is Jolt.

And then December is gonna be Roosevelt School.

- In Peoria.

- In Peoria.

- And with Roosevelt, do you think that will be more holiday oriented?

Will it be school oriented or do you have any idea yet?

- Well, actually, in December we have a party.

It's a party and this year it's my house.

(laughs) Becky's had it already.

My daughter's had it already.

This year it's my turn.

And so we have a party, but we still have the project.

So people will come from Roosevelt.

The principal probably will come and talk to us.

Probably the big ticket item will be something for the school itself that's needed.

The wishlist will probably, I don't know for sure what they'll give me, but it will probably include some toys.

But a lot of times children really need the very, very basics, like underwear and socks.

- And gloves.

- And gloves.

- Mittens.

- And a warm coat.

We're told time and time again that kids will come to school without those necessities of winter.

So I'm sure it will be some of those kinds of things too.

- Well, there are programs.

Coats For Kids is one of them.

And then some of the others, they'll have like the mittens and hat drives and things like.

But, really truly, there always is need.

What kid do you know that has never lost a mitten or a glove on the way.

- A lot of these kids never had one to begin with.

- Correct.

Yes.

So you have to take that into account.

Well, have you been disappointed in anything to date or-- - Just COVID.

- [Christine] Well, okay.

Well that's fair.

That's very fair.

- No.

I am not.

I really worried that when I came to Peoria that perhaps I wouldn't be able to do another Shared Blessings, but it's turned out great and I've been very happy.

- And then you're happy that you're a Peorian now.

- She drove here today, so she knows her way around better than I do.

(all laughing) - If my son is happy, I'm happy.

- There you go.

That's right.

- And Darlene's daughter has made my son very happy.

- And those granddaughters.

- Yes, we have two little granddaughters.

We're happy.

(all laughing) - And you share time with them a lot.

- And those are part of our blessings.

- Yes, it is.

- I truly feel like your family is one of the, if you're lucky enough to have loving parents and siblings, that is the biggest blessing.

And regardless of money or anything else, if you're loved from the very beginning of your life, that's the best thing, I think the best predictor of not only good self-esteem, but maybe even the willingness to try to go out and achieve something better, because you have a good self-esteem, and you have a good... - Base.

- Background.

Base, that's good.

You have a good base.

- A solid base, right.

Well, I do know, (clears throat) excuse me, that you have worked with Build Peoria before, and some of their projects.

And I know that for a different topic, we'll get to you.

You're going to be doing, just tell us real briefly about Imagination.

- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

We're bringing that to the children in the 61605 zip code.

And it's for children from birth to age five.

The Imagination Library selects the books and mails the books, and Shared Blessings is going to enroll the children and pay for the books.

And time and time again, it's shown that early reading leads to educational success, because you have to read to do anything.

History, math, whatever it is, you have to know how to read.

So that is such a huge predictor of success, and I think that's a way to get out of poverty is education.

So that's what we're doing.

- And those books will go to the children's homes and possibly that will enlighten their parents as well, who may have had struggles with, or don't have any reading materials.

But it doesn't matter what you're reading at this point.

- Right.

- All right.

And how did that come to you?

That idea?

- Well, of course I still get emails from Ohio, and Ohio has really jumped in full force with this.

The governor's behind it and the United Way's behind it.

So they're trying to bring The Imagination Library to the whole state of Ohio.

So when I saw that, I'm like, well, gee.

Peoria needs it.

(laughs) So I called and said, "Is there anything in Peoria?"

You got to call the Imagination Library.

And they said, "No, we're not in Peoria."

Like, okay, let's try it.

- And they're in really just about 50 states.

- Yes.

It's international actually now.

- And started by Dolly Parton, whose father encouraged her to read.

- Her father could not read, but he always thought, he wished he could, and she did this in honor of her father.

She wanted to give other kids who didn't have the chance maybe to have a lot of books in their home, she wanted to help other families, other children.

So she did it in honor of her father.

- Well, you have been a success in Canton, Ohio, and now you're a success here.

Would you like Shared Blessings to grow elsewhere?

- Absolutely.

- And how would you do that?

Or do you have any idea?

- I don't know, because I can't keep moving.

(laughs) - You haven't mastered bilocation yet?

Darlene, you can do everything else, right?

- But I mean, I dunno, are we allowed to give our email?

- [Christine] Oh yes.

Please do.

Your email and then the post office box.

- Okay.

Our email is sharedblessingspeoria@gmail.com, and we have a website too, sharedblessingspeoria.org.

So it's easy.

And yeah, so just send us an email.

And if you would like to join Shared Blessings, we'll mail you one of our lovely brochures that has the application in it.

You can just mail it back to me and you'll be on our list then, and you'll get all our information and all of our news.

And if you want to find out more about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, that's also in the brochure and on our website.

- All right.

And I would like to do a specific program on that too, once we figure out exactly how it is working.

So I think that would be well worth it.

What we need to do right now is we need to keep our eyes open and our ears open to make sure that ideas get to you as well.

- Yes.

- Okay.

Well, I think that this is accomplishable.

Is that the term?

(all laughing) - Sounds good.

- I won't ask you to spell it.

I won't spell it.

Ladies, thanks so much for sharing your blessings with all of us and the audience, and we wish you all the success in the world with everything that you're doing.

- Thank you.

- And I would to thank you for joining us.

I hope you learned a little something.

Remember those email addresses, those post office box, phone numbers, whatever, and give it a good thought.

So enjoy.

Stay safe and healthy.