Marilyn Aspan thinks there may be a couple of things that set her apart from other volunteers at The Bridge Teen Center in Orland Park.
“Probably (I’m) one of the first volunteers; probably I’m the oldest,” Aspan, 82, said.
The Orland Park resident enjoys a third distinction earned through four years of volunteer work at the teen center. 15555 S. 71st Court. Aspan recently became the fourth inductee into the Bridge Builders Hall of Fame, an annual honor given to one person “who has made a significant impact on advancing the overall mission” of the teen center.
Rob Steinmetz, the center’s cofounder along with his wife Priscilla, said Aspan “personifies” what the teen center is all about.
“We’re built by the community for the community, and we’re a product of hundreds of people from all walks of life coming together in the name of loving and serving our students,” Steinmetz said. “Marilyn has given up her Tuesday afternoons for the benefit of our students for almost five years now, and tirelessly advocates for us in the community.”
Steinmetz said Aspan has helped raise thousands of dollars for the nonprofit, which depends on donations to function.
“Her heart for our mission is second to none. If Priscilla and I are the ‘parents’ of The Bridge Teen Center, Marilyn is most certainly its ‘grandparent,’ ” Steinmetz said.
Aspan’s life has been spent working with young people and volunteering her time.
She taught for 33 years in the Chicago Public Schools system — 10 years at Ted Leonard Regional Gifted Center — while she and her husband John raised three sons. She taught Sunday school at Ashburn Lutheran Church in Chicago while her boys were growing up and served on the church’s school and education boards.
When Aspan’s husband died unexpectedly in 1986, she said she had difficulty getting through the grieving process. Then, in 1988, a friend from church approached her about joining a branch of the Sertoma Club he was planning to start in Palos Heights.
Aspan decided to give it a try.
“At that point, I was still bereaved and … I was joining anything and everything that people offered me just to take my mind off (my husband’s death),” she said.
Aspan helped found The American Heritage Sertoma Club in Palos Heights. It proved to be an excellent fit for both Aspan’s needs and her volunteer talents.
“So I joined the club and now I’m president,” Aspan said. “Well, second or third time around as president.”
For about 20 years, Aspan said, she organized the club’s annual essay contest for junior high students on the South Side. She has been consistently active in fundraising activities for the club and has been so impressed with the Sertoma organization’s work, she said, that she is an executive board member for both the Sertoma Speech and Hearing Center in Palos Hills and the Sertoma Centre in Alsip.
Aspan began volunteer work in her youth. She said growing up on the Southwest Side of Chicago, she was “always one of those kids that just joined everything.”
Now Aspan encourages young people to do the same at The Bridge Teen Center. Because she “loves” to work with kids, Aspan said, her time there is spent on more than student membership applications and proofreading speeches for the staff. She also assists with an etiquette class and tutors students looking for help.
“Whatever they give me, I do,” Aspan said.
One accomplishment that typifies Aspan’s work with young people, the Steinmetzes said, was when she helped a young man who wanted to enter the military as a way to improve his life but was unable to pass the preliminary entrance tests.
“He was desperate to get in the Army. He just thought that that situation would help him,” Aspan said.
Aspan took him under her wing and tutored him for weeks.
“He passed the test, and he called Priscilla, so excited,” Aspan said. “It was just thrilling.”
Aspan said that although she was ready to retire after 33 years of teaching, she wasn’t ready to be away from young people. Her volunteer time at The Bridge Teen Center gives her an opportunity to continue her work with them.
“Probably the biggest thrill is just seeing these kids change,” Aspan said. “From the first day they walked in the door and some of them being almost like wallflowers to now some of them being some of the most boisterous — and I’m not saying that negatively — and just to know that there’s a place for these kids and they want to be there … love it.”
