MISSION: Combine helping and learning.
MOMENT OF TRUTH: Fifteen years ago, Oen was hit by a bus and laid up for nine months. He was between teaching jobs, with no health insurance and a wife and five children to support. His church came to the rescue, and when Oen was well again, he sought to repay the debt by helping others.
BACKSTORY: He started coordinating the monthly chicken pot pie supper that parishioners prepared at the Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora. Problem was, the donated chicken came in every form short of clucking–raw, cooked, whole, in parts–so making the pies was laborious and disorganized. Dinner often wasn’t ready until 8. “There’s nothing like 150 homeless people waiting to eat,” says Oen, 63. “I said, there must be a better way to do this.” But it didn’t change until Oen became head of career training at northwest suburban Bartlett High School a few years ago. He had his food-services students make the pies in their kitchen, giving them experience in cooking to commercial standards.
OUTCOME: Now dinner is served by 7, “no muss, no fuss,” Oen says. He hit on another idea last spring, after learning that an agency for domestic-abuse victims needed cars for women and children getting a new start. His auto-repair students began working on cars donated by parents; so far, three have been fixed up and given to battered women.
PAYOFF: “I did pray to God about how I could make use of my life, and I think that’s how I got my solutions,” Oen says. “It’s a very good feeling, because you know you helped people who really needed it.”
