On Chicago’s South Side, volunteers decorate homes for the holidays, aim to help others, build community

For a sixth year, the community group My Block, My Hood, My City decorated homes on the South Side Saturday for the holiday season.

Dozens of volunteers brightened more than eight miles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive — as well as other South Side stretches — with lights, inflatables, ornaments and wreaths.

The “Be A Part of the Light” effort began in 2017. Five blocks were decorated that year, according to Jahmal Cole, the group’s founder, who said doing this adds beauty, improves safety, “inspires hope and interrupts trauma.”

“When you go downtown, you feel good because someone designed downtown to be inspirational,” Cole said. “We have to intentionally design this community to inspire hope in youth. You can add police officers, cameras to the CTA. There’s more technology on the light poles than in our classrooms right now. That’s reactive, but you can be proactive and put up some lights or plant some seeds.”

Leon Peatry, the organization’s program manager, compared the effort to the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival that illuminates Michigan Avenue every year.

“We want to have that same vibe on the South Side,” Peatry said. “It just brings the whole area to life.”

The volunteers gathered at Park Manor Christian Church, where they picked up 250 boxes filled with decorations.

University of Chicago law student Brianna Johnson was among them. She said the event wasn’t just important for those on the city’s South Side and also for people elsewhere who have a negative view of the area.

“I feel like the reputation people have of the South Side is that maybe it’s not the nicest part of Chicago,” the Woodlawn resident said. “There’s a lot of wonderful people here. And, if we can make the community look as nice as the people that are here, we might be able to help people get rid of that stigma.”

Gloria McDaniel, a National Louis University professor and first-time volunteer, said she wanted to leave her “bubble” to help people, especially after hearing Cole speak at her school.

The former Chicago Public Schools teacher said people deserve to have beautiful decorations no matter their income and that this was one step in bringing Chicagoans together.

“We have to do more to embrace everybody in Chicago,” said McDaniel, who lives in Hyde Park. “So often it feels like we’re so segregated. Until we do more to help one another, it’s not gonna change.”

Cliftena Kirkling, a 50-year Chicago resident, was one of the 500 people who signed up to have their homes decorated. It was the second time she’s gotten assistance since learning about the program from neighbors. The retired teacher said she and her husband used to be big on decorating for the holidays. But they got older, and their kids grew up.

“I’m getting older, and I can’t do as much as I used to,” Kirkling said.

“It gives you a sense of pride,” Kirkling said. “You feel good about your neighbors. You feel good about your neighborhood and the fact that other people are helping each other.”

Trish Gordon, a volunteer from Beverly, brought her daughter out to help decorate Kirkling’s home. Gordon said the happiness brought by the lights fall in line with other communal efforts, such as helping to feed and clothe people, and can have just as much of an impact.

“People are so impacted by the places they live,” Gordon said. “A lot of formally redlined areas have been disinvested in and cast to the side. It’s important that they see something nice.”

As for her own home’s decorations, Gordon said she “still has some work to do” once she got back home.