Everyone’s invited… to donate

Georgette and Frank Hein are not typically people who shine a light on what they do. But in honor of their 50th anniversary, they’ve decided to celebrate in a way that spreads their vision of community service in hopes that others may be inspired to join them.

On November 9, the Heins are inviting the Del Webb community to participate in a service project at Fountainview Lodge, where community members will create comfort items that will be donated to local hospitals, senior centers, and nursing homes. Attendees are asked to pay an “entrance fee” of a monetary donation to Grafton Food Pantry, which serves Grafton Township, all of Huntley, and portions of the surrounding area.

Service to their community and others has defined Frank and Georgette’s life together. They started out as Sunday School teachers and church elders when they were first married and raising young children. Later, they went on church mission trips, then volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, The Red Cross, and became volunteers for Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT).

“The [CERT] program was set up for volunteers trained in activities that don’t require a badge or fireman’s certification for,” explains Frank. “Things like traffic control, search and rescue, things like that. It gives the trained first responders the opportunity to do more critical things that they were trained to do.”

Helping Others Get Through the Worst Day of Their Life

During assignments to disaster sites like Florida in the wake of Hurricane Irma, or in response to fires in California, Frank says he and Georgette often stood on the curbside with people as they faced a possible death of a family member, or the loss of their home and possessions.

“We were often on site with the structures still burning and the occupants huddled across the street. We’d bring blankets and comfort items for the kids and offer them assistance for housing and food to get them through the short term,” he says.

“It’s difficult,” says Frank. “Giving them a card with money on it to buy lodging and food and clothes, it just doesn’t feel like enough. But being there for them is a big deal. It is hard to be with them when they are virtually inconsolable, helping them get through the worst day of their life.”

Georgette, a clinical psychologist who specialized in working with trauma and grief therapy, says taking care of yourself first, like putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others, is a crucial part of providing comfort and support for others over an extended period of time.

“An analogy I use is I think of us as pipelines to a higher energy, a larger power than who we are, rather than being a bucket. If we’re a bucket, we can only take so much of their stuff, however hard that emotional overload will be. We can only carry so much if we’re a bucket. If we’re a pipeline to a much higher power, then we’re not carrying it, we’re allowing it to go through. Being a pipeline has been a very important part of the image I carry. It keeps us flowing through a lot of what we do.”

“I found myself crying a lot of the times when I would see people going through this horrible time,” says Georgette. “It was a matter of telling them, ‘I’m crying with you.’ I would ask them if I could give them a hug. I was pretty much never turned down. Most people needed that human interaction.”

A Ripple Effect

Since moving to Sun City, a couple years ago, Georgette and Frank are enjoying a slower pace of life, but have still found ways to channel their empathy for others. Georgette is involved in the Sew ‘N Sews group and has also started a crafting group in her neighborhood. Frank is part of Sun City’s woodshop, and he builds wooden toy cradles that are donated to charities for children. Together, they volunteer at the Grafton Food Pantry.

The anniversary project is a way for the Heins to connect with the community while giving back.

“We’re not asking for praise,” she says. “It’s a matter of maybe inspiring others to take this idea and run with it.”

During COVID, the Heins took bagels to their local hospital to thank the healthcare workers. “I told my brother in Florida that we did that,” says Georgette. “My brother and his wife began bringing bagels to every hospital in their area — they did that for years! Thousands and thousands of bagels went out!” When her brother told her he got the idea from her, her response was, “Holy cow! You don’t know, when you put that little pebble in the water, what’s going to happen. You certainly don’t have to wait until your 50th to do this!

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