A bookshelf sits in the library of the I Grow Chicago Peace House. It’s filled with school supplies in cubbies. The decorated back of the bookshelf is covered in handprints and names. It says: “Parker School loves the Peace House.” This is one of the projects that first-grade teacher Bev “Greenie” Greenberg has worked on and donated to the Peace House with her first-grade classes. 

For the past three years, Greenberg has donated school supplies to Peace House and has worked with their Summer of Hope camp, taking photos and helping where it was needed. She has worked with the Parker community to donate school supplies, a bookshelf, pillows, and more. 

The Peace House is the community center for I Grow Chicago. The building was abandoned and ready to be demolished when I Grow Chicago purchased it in 2014 and turned it into the Peace House which opened in April 2015. The surrounding campus, which was previously made up of six vacant lots and two homes, includes the Peace Garden, a basketball half-court, and a healing justice court. The Peace House has a community kitchen, a library and tutoring space, a community pantry, musical instruments, and a program space for yoga and other events. 

I Grow Chicago is a non-for-profit in Englewood. Robbin Carroll founded the organization with the purpose of understanding the causes of childhood trauma. She began by handing out sandwiches at the corner of 64th street and Honore street, one of the most violent blocks in Englewood in 2013. I Grow Chicago’s mission is to use community connections, skill-building, and opportunities to help grow Englewood. 

“We talk about how we can learn to relate to each other and other cultures, but the only way to do that, in my opinion, is to become involved with others and learn about them as people—their interests, their likes and dislikes—caring about them beyond the surface,” Greenberg said. 

Before working with the Peace House, Greenberg traveled twice a year for ten years to Ghana to help build a school. During this time, she connected her students at Parker with students in Ghana. 

“I had a dozen large African dolls and 24 small ones that I was never able to take to Ghana due to the school materials I needed to bring each time I went, so I started looking for someplace in Chicago I could donate the dolls,” Greenberg said. She wanted to shift her focus from global programs to local programs. After talking to a friend in December 2016 about I Grow Chicago, Greenberg started working with them.

“I brought the dolls to her and learned about the work she was doing to help people in that community regain their neighborhood from violence and trauma,” said Greenberg. “I continue to be involved with the Peace House as often as I can, especially during the summers.”

Greenberg spends each summer at the Summer of Hope Youth Program. A six-week program for children from five to twelve, the program has the following purpose: to create the opportunity and space for “kids to be kids.” Through field trips, yoga and mindfulness, art, and learning, children are empowered and learn social awareness, community building, creative expression, and leadership skills. “My favorite part about working with the Summer of Hope camp is capturing moments of joy in the children and adults through my camera and being reminded of how all people matter and that we are on this earth to take care of each other emotionally and physically,” Greenberg said.

“She does a wonderful job helping teach the kids many different skills such as social and learning skills, preparing them for their futures, and bettering their experience at camp,” sophomore Ivy Jacobs said. 

Jacobs works at the Summer of Hope camp as a counselor, chef, and tutor. Jacobs began working with the Peace House after visiting with the middle school’s Social Justice Club three years ago. She has worked with the Peace House during the summer since 2018. “Visiting the Peace House gave me a powerful, rewarding feeling,” Jacobs said. “It’s easy to feel guilty for our privilege, and although there is much more to be done to mend our segregated city, I feel working with the Peace House is at least a little of what I can do to help.”

“Mrs. Greenie’s work is important because of her experience as a teacher, her empathy, and her ability to make friends with everyone,” said Jacobs. “She treats the kids as equals, which boosts their confidence, and teaches them how to respect others.”

Greenberg has done many projects with students and other faculty for the Peace House. Greenberg’s class works with fifth-grade teacher Jeffery Stone’s class. This year, Lisa Nielsen’s junior kindergarten class, Stone’s fifth-grade class, and first-grade students made 100 heart-shaped no-sew pillows, bookmarks, and “books of love” for the children in Englewood at the Peace House. 

The fifth graders mentor the first graders on academics and also work on projects with them for the Peace House and other organizations such as RefugeeOne. In April 2017, first and fifth-grade students helped create and decorate a bookshelf for the library in the Peace House. Jake Rosenbluth, Stone’s assistant teacher at the time, built the bookshelf and delivered it to the Peace House. “When Greenie comes back from any organization that she’s connected to, whether it’s schools in Ghana that she used to work with, when she comes back excited about a program, we’re all in to help,” Stone said. 

“Stepping out of yourself and seeing the needs of others, and anytime you have a chance to not just feel something but turn that feeling into action, is important,” Stone said. “A lot of kids think kind things, but turning that thinking and feeling into action is the thing Greenie has been wonderful with.”