Dear Near Eastside Community,

The story about the Near Eastside is a story about heroes. It's about teens planting trees in our neighborhoods; elementary school educators working weekends and evenings with us to place computers in the homes of their students; and parents who, in their youth, participated in programs offered at the John H. Boner Center, and as adults, give back to neighborhood children as volunteers. It's also a story about the heroes that are members of our community groups that work to make our neighborhoods better and safer, and hundreds of heroes that have committed untold acts of kindness, compassion, and dignity, as they help our neighbors in quiet but meaningful ways.

While building this website, we were fortunate to be able to meet some of the Near Eastside's heroes as we talked with dozens of community leaders. And we wanted to pay tribute to one of the heroes that we met, who has worked as an agent of change in our community for many years.

Sheila Jenkins first volunteered at the Near Eastside's Westminster Presbyterian Church in the 1980's as a neighborhood coordinator and in its afterschool ministry. She was an advocate for school-age childcare, supporting Representative John J. Day's legislation for Indiana's statewide “latchkey” program—the first one ever funded by the General Assembly. Jenkins also helped start an interdenominational nonprofit where various congregations and ministries collaborated to provide emergency relief for people who “fell through the safety net” of social services. In the 1990's, Jenkins joined what is now the Community Development Law Center, a nonprofit law firm that has provided legal services to hundreds of nonprofits, some of which are our Near Eastside community organizations and neighborhood associations. At CDLC, she and her colleagues have mobilized law firms and individual lawyers to provide us with pro bono legal and business services. Ms. Jenkins has dedicated her life to making a difference and has directly helped and impacted many of the Near Eastside heroes that we have met.

When we asked Ms. Jenkins what sustained her through her life's journey of civic and social engagement, she said, “The people I serve--they inspire me with their courage and sheer guts to hang in and continue to battle for their community, year after year. I am humbled by their character, determination and their commitment to building a community known for its caring spirit.”

Ms. Jenkins, we are humbled by your guts, your character, and your determination. Thank you for being one of our heroes and a hero to the Near Eastside community.

Respectfully,

The Net Literacy student volunteers