Read the full article: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2025/09/28/gratify-yourself-others-volunteer
Esther Honson volunteering at Cradles to Crayons, a non-profit that provides clothes and other essentials to children in need, in crisis or facing homelessness
SEPTEMBER 28, 2025, CHICAGO, MA — Retired librarian Esther Honson has spent the past four years helping scan, sort and package donated clothes, hygiene kits and back-to-school necessities for schoolchildren in need.
In the process, she has become part of a group of six volunteers — all of whom retired about 15 years ago but who hail from various ethnicities, careers and life circumstances — who have become friends, confidantes and once-a-month lunch companions.
“We have such a great camaraderie,” she said. “It’s just a joy.”
The group met nine years ago when they volunteered for a flower recycling non-profit. When the charity closed prior to the COVID pandemic, the volunteers discovered Cradles to Crayons, a non-profit headquartered in the North Center neighborhood that hosts donation work, oversees drop-off boxes, and supports local groups’ donation collections for children in need, in crisis or facing homelessness. Cradles to Crayons delivers the volunteer-organized donations to its 58 partners, such as the YMCA, Chicago Public Schools, and Boys and Girls Clubs.
Cradles to Crayons lets children as young as 5 volunteer, so children, grandchildren and youth groups may join in the lesson in gratitude.
Honson finds her experience truly profound.
“It’s everything,” said Honson, 74, who takes two buses from the North Side to the Cradles to Crayons headquarters at 2500 W. Bradley Place for the two-hour volunteer session every Thursday. The group also gets together every Monday to volunteer at a food pantry.
“I feel it’s nice to give back,” said Honson, who, as a Chicago Public School librarian saw firsthand how needy schoolchildren had no choice but to wear unwashed and worn-out clothes. “We [the volunteer group] have worked all of our lives. We’re OK health wise and financially. It’s time to give back — to give to such a wonderful organization and to know that the recipients get a better quality of life.”
Dawn Melchiorre, executive director of Cradles to Crayons Chicago
Dawn Melchiorre, a Chicago native who serves as executive director of Cradles to Crayons Chicago, says the non-profit makes its two-hour volunteering sessions fun by playing music, having volunteers write notes to put into donation packages, and providing space for volunteers to form their own personal networks.
Indeed, volunteers provide a vital service, since Cradles to Crayons Chicago employs 25 while picking up, organizing and delivering donations — all for free. Last year, the organization distributed 2.6 million items, including 1.7 million diapers, as well as onesies, pajamas, coats, boots and summer clothes.
“We really rely on our volunteers,” Melchiorre said.
Volunteers also can take heart in their role in keeping fast-fashion clothes out of landfills — a growing problem since more and more clothes are made to be thrown away. Even the process of dying, processing and finishing clothes uses massive amounts of water, and the nylon and polyester used in fast-fashion clothes result in microplastics spread, according to data compiled by the Earth.org environmental news website.
To counter the situation, Cradles to Crayons recycles clothes that fail to meet its donation standards with a textile recycling firm.
You can start seeking volunteer opportunities of your own by checking out websites such as Chicago Cares https://www.chicagocares.org/s/ or VolunteerMatch https://www.volunteermatch.org/ or by searching specific organizations’ websites.