"Anything that had volunteer in it, I wanted to be apart of; it was a way of giving back"MIke KelleyMike Kelley has lived in the Washington Park neighborhood since the early 1980s. During this period, he has witnessed drastic changes in this neighborhood. He has seen the Galena Street area transition from a mixed-race neighborhood, to a primarily African American one, and then to a primarily Hmong neighborhood. However, all the changes have not been negative ones. The sense of community is strong on Galena Street and Mr. Kelley is very close to his neighbors. As an active member in the community, Mr. Kelley has devoted much of his life to volunteering, “Anything that had volunteer in it, I wanted to do; it was a way of giving back”. His time in volunteering has included being involved with scouting programs, as well as starting and managing his own Kelley’s Kids,. His program helped kids get involved in their community, gain better access to education, and show them the “power of education.” The neighborhood kids enrolled in his program focused on having fun in their community, developing leadership skills, and being mentored for a college degree. He ran this program up into the 1990’s. Explaining how he enjoyed every moment of it, he added, “I felt good about giving back”. He has kept track of all the kids he has impacted over the years and is very proud of all their accomplishments. Although the organization, Kelley’s Kids is still no longer in existence today, Mike Kelley continues to volunteer time in his community through the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter and still enjoys the community around Galena Street just as much as he did, the first time he moved in.
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The following sound files to the left are from a conversation with Mr. Kelley and detail the role of volunteering in his life and how Kelley Kids was formed.
The audio clip directly below details what it was like for Mr. Kelley to be drafted into the Vietnam War. |