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Helen Tours Chicago

Helen, 90, currently resides at Brookdale Niles in Illinois. She was born and raised in Elmira, New York, but moved to the Chicago area about nine months ago to be closer to her family. Ever since the move, she has felt very out of place because the other residents have lived in the area their entire lives. Helen feels it has been difficult to relate to others in her community because they are more familiar with the culture and geography. Having the opportunity to become more acclimated to her environment and learn more about the history of her surroundings would allow her to have an easier time fitting in with her neighbors at the community. Helen wished to take a docent-led tour of Chicago’s historic sights, buildings, museums, and neighborhoods.

Helen has spent a great deal of her free time giving back to others. While living in New York, she volunteered as a school tutor for reading, in the Pediatric Ward in Rochester and crocheting edges of blankets for Chemo patients. Since living at Brookdale Niles she has become involved in the RAF group, which repurposes stores’ discarded flowers to make arrangements, which are sent to different older adult communities. She also runs the Yiddish Club at the community and planted the flower gardens at the community.

Wish of a Lifetime and Brookdale Senior Living were excited to make Helen’s wish a reality by sending her and a friend to Cindy’s Rooftop Restaurant and then on a tour of Chicago’s best known sights. Helen said that she felt like “a princess.” She loved having the opportunity to familiarize herself with the surrounding city and feels that she is now more “at home.”

Photography Credits: John Manning Photography

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