Camille Stohlgren and Cherie Clark with Richard and his new bike
By Ellen Trager
People are using the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Marketplace page on Facebook to do much more than buy and sell goods – they are using it to do good by quickly sourcing donations for non-profit organizations and people in need.
Lake Forest resident Alissa McNicholas recently heard of a single, first-time mother who could not afford many baby items. Remembering how others used the reach of the Marketplace audience to help in similar situations, Alissa posted a plea for anything that could help. She immediately received responses offering strollers, a bassinet, an infant seat and a cradle. Alissa’s parents delivered all the items to the grateful new mom a few days later.
Camille Stohlgren of Lake Forest noticed a familiar elder care employee walking along a busy road in the extreme heat recently. She learned that the young man had no mode of transportation and walked over an hour each way to work. Camille posted a request on Marketplace to find a used bicycle for him, and offers to help flooded in. Cherie Clark of Lake Bluff immediately secured funds from her employer, Barbara Traycee, to help with the purchase of a new bike. Marketplace member Lori Fewster-Thuente donated a new bicycle helmet. The next day, Camille and Cherie purchased a new bike and lock for the young man, and presented it to him along with the new helmet.
Emily Campbell Venson of Lake Bluff, a former 5th grade teacher at Andrew Cooke Magnet School in Waukegan, recently tapped into the power of the Marketplace page to find badly needed classroom supplies for the school. Thanks to the generosity of several Marketplace donors, she received four dozen binders, musical instruments and other supplies that will benefit multiple classrooms.
The LF/LB Marketplace was launched in September 2013 by Leslie Habjan of Lake Bluff to create a private online group for Lake Forest and Lake Bluff residents to buy and sell everything from toys and clothing to sports equipment and housewares.
Said Habjan, “There are a ton of huge hearts in our community. There are so many people who want
to help but can’t find the time, so when a call for arms comes up, people respond. We’ve had several incidents where one member knows of an individual who is struggling in a big way, reaches out to our membership and has a truckload of donations in a day.”
Marketplace members’ residency in Lake Forest or Lake Bluff must be verified by Habjan and other site administrators including Peg Allingham Ciccarelli of Lake Forest, who carefully monitor the page. New members must be recommended by an existing member and must follow detailed rules of inter-neighbor commerce. The group currently boasts over 2,700 members and is constantly expanding.
– Ellen Trager is a freelance writer in Lake Forest