Community Corner
Extreme Landscape Makeover at GreenTrees
The low-income housing complex in Huntley is looking fabulous nowadays thanks to an army of volunteers lead by Pam Fender, volunteer extraordinaire.
Bryan O’Halleran sat on a bench eating his lunch, taking a break from his work at GreenTrees apartments this week.
He’s learned a lot about the people at GreenTrees as he’s worked to help make improvements at the senior low-income housing complex, a project spearheaded by the McHenry County Housing Authority and Huntley resident and trustee Pam Fender.
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“There are some good people here, some just have financial problems,” O’Halleran said. The experience has made him realize he needs to understand what others are going through in their lives, he said.
O’Halleran, of Crystal Lake, has also seen the community come to life as a this summer.
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The latest development _ the delivery of 13 benches to the grounds _ really got GreenTree residents excited.
“We saw a lot of people coming out to see them (the benches),” he said.
Drew Clark, a Woodstock teen working toward his Eagle Scout distinction, built and donated the cedar benches. Clark saw a photo of the benches and built if from scratch, Fender said.
“They are beautifully done,” Fender said, adding it would have cost hundreds of dollars to purchase benches for the complex.
Benches now dot the grounds, under shade trees and near sidewalks. A goal of the entire project was to give seniors a place to spend time outside and socialize, Fender said.
“Some of them are not good walkers anymore, it gives them a place to rest,” she said.
The McHenry County Housing Authority contacted Fender last year when it received funding to do a landscape project at the low-income complex, asking her help to find volunteers. She went from finding volunteers to volunteering herself.
Fender envisioned the GreenTrees project becoming a community project and it has turned out to be so much more, she said.
She has had an array of groups and individuals come to volunteer. The Lions Club of Sun City, her Bunko group, Girl Scouts, St. Mary Catholic Church’s youth group, Willow Huntley (Willow Creek Church) and Shepherd of the Prairie are just a few of the groups who’ve helped out over the last year.
“We’ve got another Boy Scout working on an Eagle Scout project,” Fender said.
Over the weekend, Willow Huntley volunteers came in and got all the weeds out, which were growing out of control in the drought.
“It’s fabulous,” Fender said. “The place does look better. It really does.”
GreenTrees residents are excited too, she said. She has become well known at the complex. Fender has helped direct a few seniors to nonprofit and community organization for things like glasses and donations.
She has gotten to know residents and has heard their stories. Fender has found some people don’t have family or close friends. As people age, they tend to get forgotten, she said. “They just want someone to talk to,” she said.
The GreenTrees project is done for the summer, but Fender said there will be some more work needed in the fall. She’s also like to create a raised bed garden in one area but needs donations of lumber and plants for the hedge.
She thinks the area would be good for a garden so next spring she hopes to get vegetable plants donated.
“These people are almost all customers of food pantries so planting (items like) tomatoes would be a nice thing,” Fender said.
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