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Burr Ridge church reaches out with TLC
Burr Ridge, IL - Saturday, September 29, 2012: Volunteer Shirley Phillips (North Riverside) serves up some salad during the service clinic held at Trinity Lutheran School. | Steve Johnston~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: December 10, 2012 1:55AM
BURR RIDGE — Providing haircuts, manicures, massages, warm meals, flu shots and medical screenings for 99 people is an exhausting job. But volunteers like Linda Isbell can’t wait to do it again.
“It just felt so good,” said Isbell, one of more than 100 volunteers who participated in Trinity Lutheran Church’s Service Clinic.
Doctors and dental hygienists volunteered their services to conduct medical screenings, checkups and dental cleanings, while hair stylists pitched in with haircuts. A photographer took family portraits and a team of optometrists provided eye exams.
Isbell said a classroom at Trinity Lutheran School in Burr Ridge was transformed into a hair salon for the day, while other rooms were used for massages, facials and manicures.
There was plenty of pampering going on, but the 99 people served at the clinic also received much-needed supplies such as deodorant, toothpaste, diapers and toilet paper.
“It was just amazing,” Isbell said.
She spent much of her day shuttling people from the parking lot at Pleasant Dale Park District to the school, but Isbell also served as an advocate for a young family in need of help.
“The young man had recently lost his job,” Isbell said, and he was in need of a doctor for what turned out to be a ruptured eardrum.
Some guests described the day as a “really special Christmas,” Isbell said. And for children, that was especially true. Each was sent home with a bag full of books and toys. Children and parents in need also took home coats, gloves and hats for the winter ahead.
Isbell said the first clinic was a success, but next year’s will be even bigger and better.
“I just can’t wait,” she said.
