50th Anniversary Committee
ECC's 50th Anniversary Committee is responsible for planning and coordinating ECC's golden anniversary activities and events. It meets the third Monday of every month in the Stetson Conference Room on the first floor of ECC's office, 6044 North Broadway, Chicago.
For information on ECC's 50th Anniversary activities and events, visit http://www.EdgewaterCommunityCouncil.org/50.
The year was 1960 and a dynamic, new community organization was born. The Edgewater Community Council (ECC) has been lighting the way forward on important neighborhood issues for fifty years.
Through ECC's leadership, such community icons as the Edgewater Library, Broadway Armory Park, the Edgewater Historical Society, the North Lakeside Cultural Center and Berger Park mansions, the Edgewater Development Corporation, and the Edgewater Chamber of Commerce came into existence. ECC pioneered the CAPS program with the Chicago Police Department right here in Edgewater, worked to clean up crime, drug activity, and slum buildings along Winthrop and Kenmore and other areas, and preserved hundreds of units of affordable housing.
ECC's program to provide food and clothing to those in need, Care for Real, has been serving Edgewater for more than 40 years. With cooperation from religious institutions, businesses, individuals and many volunteers, Care for Real serves over 3,000 people every month.
Today, ECC also offers senior citizen, immigrant, youth, housing, and safety programs, many of which also serve low- to moderate-income residents of Edgewater. In addition, our Edgewater Beautiful Committee works to clean and beautify the neighborhood, while the Edgewater Environmental Sustainability Project aims to make Edgewater the "greenest" community in Chicago.
The 50th Anniversary Committee plans to celebrate these landmark accomplishments with a series of events throughout the anniversary year. It has chosen a lighthouse as the symbol of ECC's steadfast commitment through five decades to serve the people of Edgewater. The lighthouse reflects ECC's 50th Anniversary theme, "Lighting the Way for 50 Years." ECC's 50th anniversary logo (shown above), blending together the theme, the lighthouse symbol, and our iconic wave logo, was designed for ECC by Edgewater artist Dorothy Mason.
ECC's 50th Anniversary Committee Report:
ECC’s 50th Anniversary Gala celebration,
scheduled for October 2, has been postponed.
Plans for a future time and venue for the event will be announced by
Troy McMillan, 1st Vice President of ECC’s Board of Directors and
Chairperson of the celebration. We know,
under Troy’s
expert guidance, the event will be a joyful and memorable occasion.
You may have noticed the 20 beautiful and whimsical
lighthouses gracing the streets of Edgewater this summer. They represent ECC’s 50 years of “Lighting
the Way” for the community and were built by neighborhood residents Michael
Volini and David Volini, under the guidance of professional carpenters, Glen
Johnson and Matt Stern, and with the assistance of Kathy Kacen.
A colorful brochure, picturing each of the 20 lighthouses will
be distributed by ECC and sponsors of the lighthouses. The names of the sponsors and the artists who
decorated them, as well as their locations, are listed on the back of the
brochure. Lighthouse tours will be
conducted later in the Fall. Both
walking and trolley tours will be
available. In the meantime, follow the map on ECC’s web site to take a
self-directed tour. We will announce the
dates and times of the Tours
of the Lighthouses of Edgewater in the next ECC Newsletter. Click here to see
the Lighthouse brochure
Reggie Griffin, Co-Chair Marion Volini
50th Anniversary Committee 50th
Anniversary Committee
