Vol. VII No. 46 Westchester trustee announces mayoral run, PAGE 3
NOVEMBER 16, 2022 Maywood seeking to build pickleball courts, PAGE 8
vfpress.news
First Latina elected to th represent 77 District
After Nov. 8 victory, Proviso East, Melrose Park native Norma Hernandez will succeed outgoing state Rep. Kathleen Willis By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
The Congressional candidates who defied precedent by not getting trampled in a midterm election during a year in which their party controls the White House weren’t the only Democrats who made history on Nov. 8. Norma Hernandez, the 31-year-old Melrose Park native and Proviso East High School graduate, is the first Latina elected to represent the 77th District in the Illinois House of Representatives. Hernandez beat Republican Anthony Airdo 57% to 43% on Tuesday, several months after upsetting longtime Democratic incumbent Kathleen Willis in the June 28 primary election. The 77th District includes parts of Elmwood Park, River Grove, Melrose Park, Stone Park and Northlake, O’Hare International Airport, Bensenville and Addison, among other areas. After the district was redrawn in 2021, its eastern borders extended further into Elmwood Park and section of Melrose Park was removed. See HERNANDEZ on page 4
In Maywood, a place for veterans to heal through crafts Help Heal Veterans, a nonprofit with a Maywood location across the street from Hines VA Hospital, serves up to 60 vets a week, official says By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Anna Nothnagel, 38, said she was having some anxiety issues when she discovered a small storefront across the street from Hines VA Hospital, 5000 5th Ave. in Hines. A friend recommended the place to her. Nothnagel, who lives in Montgomery, has been returning ever
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since. That place is 615 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Maywood — the only Illinois location of Help Heal Veterans, a national nonprofit that provides veterans with free therapeutic craft kids. Nothnagel, who served in the Navy for nearly 12 years, was at Help Heal Veterans on Nov. 10, when the organization hosted a craft session and handed out grab-and-go lunches on the eve of Veterans Day. Rosanne Schmidt, the program manager, said the nonprofit opened the Maywood location in 2015. She said the organization, which has been around for more than 50 years, gets materials for its free craft kits from all across the country. Schmidt showed one finished product: a football crafted from the leather of old Southwest Airlines seats.
“We do repurposed stuff into kits,” she said. “All of this stuff is cut and made in our California warehouse.” Help Heal Veterans is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The location will be closed on Veterans Day. Schmidt said the Maywood location serves up to 60 veterans a week. In addition to crafts, Schmidt said Help Heal Veterans also facilitates workshops and a range of community outreach initiatives, which were more robust before the Covid-19 pandemic. “Because of Covid, we kind of cut back so usually vets will come in and they’ll get their kits and go to do the kits at home,” she said, adding that she and her team still hand out craft kits to veterans in the community. Nothnagel said she was eager to take See HEAL VETERANS on page 9