Salvation Army officer instrumental in bringing teen center to Blue Island
October 22, 2007
By Jim Hook, Staff writer
It wasn’t until years after he started working for the Salvation Army that Josh Polanco realized the charitable organization best known for its thrift stores and Christmas bell kettles had helped furnish his childhood home.
“I remember seeing my mom throw money into those red Salvation Army kettles,” said Polanco, a lieutenant with the Salvation Army.
“She said she supported the organization because they helped us out when we immigrated to the U.S. from Puerto Rico 21 years ago,” he said. “I had no idea. But I wasn’t surprised. That’s what they do.”
Polanco continues to serve the Salvation Army by providing programs and services to kids in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community out of a building at 113th Street and Central Park Avenue.
The Salvation Army bought a building on 127th Street and Kedzie Avenue in Blue Island, which it plans to rehab and turn into a center for at-risk teens. That project is expected to begin in three months and take about a year to complete.
Salvation Army officials will hold a free community cookout in Blue Island to celebrate the agency’s move to the city.
“We want people in the area to know that we are having a presence in the city,” Polanco said. “We’re getting things ready to serve the Blue Island community.”
Meanwhile, Polanco, 31, will continue working with teens through community outreach and youth ministry from the Mount Greenwood office.
“There are so many kids out there who need direction and guidance in their lives,” he said. “There are so many single-parent homes where moms are working one or two jobs and kids are raising themselves.”
Polanco, of Evergreen Park, knows about broken homes firsthand.
Both his mother and father are twice married – and divorced. Between them, Polanco has seven siblings and half-siblings.
His mother, Marines, left Puerto Rico in 1986 with Polanco and his three siblings.
Things were tough when they first arrived. Polanco was 10. His family moved to Arlington Heights where being the only Hispanics in the local school forced officials to start an English as a second language program.
“My brother was 9, and I remember he would get beaten up on his way home from school because he dressed and spoke differently than everyone else,” Polanco said. “I remember telling myself that I would learn the language so I’d never be put in a second-class category.
“I wanted to fit in. I made it a goal to work harder and make it,” he said. “I learned English in six months.”
He said he never used coming from a single-parent home as an excuse in life, and he’s determined to make sure others don’t either.
“It’s tough out there,” Polanco said. “But we’re here to help those who need it through holistic teachings.”
“Our motto has always been: Soup, soap and salvation,” he said.
A married father of two young daughters, Polanco said he is “energized by working with teens.”
“And there are a lot of teens who need our help in Blue Island,” he said. “If we don’t help them, they run the risk of helping themselves to drugs and gangs. And then we all pay the price.”
(Original article from DailySouthtown.Com)
Youth Department