Volunteer

‘My mission is transmitting the folklore’: A volunteer’s story

Of all the Peruvian folk dances that Oak Park resident Kathy Valdivia has studied and taught, her favorite is the Huaylarsh. It’s “a happy dance,” she says, one that recalls agricultural work and courtship among young people in the central Andean highlands of Peru, where Valdivia is originally from. When Valdivia (pictured) moved to Oak … Read more

‘A place where people care about community’

Library volunteer Susan Burke

After a career working in libraries around Illinois, Susan Burke retired to Oak Park. It was a return—she grew up in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and lived in Oak Park in the early 1970s. “Oak Park has always been committed to social justice, and that was why I came back,” she said. Burke also gives back. … Read more

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