Hi and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened.
The podcast that features folks from all walks
of life telling us of one childhood experience
and how that event has impacted who they are
today. I'm your host, Jay Reheck, and like you,
I've had my share of childhood experiences. Some
of them were beautiful and great, and some of
them were actually quite painful. But I'd like
to think that everything that happened to me
has impacted who I am today and hopefully made
me a better person. Tell Me What Happened is
sponsored by Sideline Ink Publishing, publishers
of quality books, including Susan Saldar's classic,
One Little Act of Kindness. Tell Me What Happened
is also sponsored by LaughSaver .com. Visit LaughSaver
.com and record your laughter. We'll keep it
for you now and forever. It's free and your children
and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren
will appreciate it. That's LaughSaver. BGW laughsaver
.com is going to become an app beginning in the
middle of June. So look for it on your phones
and download the app. All right. Well, today
I have as my guest, a friend of mine, a woman
I've known for many years, actually, I met her
through the Chicago teachers pension fund. She's
been helping out there for many, many years,
Michelle Holliman. Michelle is a grassroots community
organizer and volunteer currently serving her
second term as an elected councilwoman for the
city of Highland Park. She has 30 years of experience
in marketing communications with a focus on storytelling,
editing, and project management. She currently
serves as the director of communications for
the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. Welcome, my
friend. Michelle Holliman. Oh, Joey, thank you
so much for that introduction. I am rarely on
this side of the interview. I'm usually doing
the other side of the interview. So it was a
great honor and a special treat for me to be
here today. And I just want to thank you for
the opportunity. Thanks for coming on the show,
Michelle. I need you to keep the pension fund
flowing for us and going for us. So I don't want
to take up too much of your time. No, no, no,
I will only take a few moments. I'll be right
back to work. I promise. All right. Well, Michelle,
are you ready to tell your story? I am. I am.
OK, so I have to say that it was quite a path
to think of a single story that had an influence
on my childhood. You know, when you think back
after all these years, I'm in my 50s, it all
kind of runs together. But I thought about it
a lot and I appreciate the opportunity to do
that. And what I came to. was one day after my
first day of school in 1974 at Hickory Point
Elementary. And I came home from school that
day and I found my mom and I said, Mom, Mom,
I want to be a Brownie. I saw all the girls at
school wearing their Brownie uniforms and I'm
a first grader, but I want to be a Brownie. I
was so impressed with the hats and the uniforms
and the badges and all of that. And I just, I
wanted to be a part of that. And so my mom was
like, yeah, honey, you know, you're only a first
grader and there, there's no such thing as a
first grade Brownie troop. And I was like hysterical,
but I wanted to be a Brownie mom. I know, I know
I could do it. I know I'm only in first grade,
but so my mom did, but you know, all good moms
do is she settled me down and gave me a cookie
and said, okay, let me make some calls. And she
did. And she called the council of Girl Scouts
the next day and talked to all the people and
got a handle on it. And Ben came back to me and
said, well, honey, there is no Girl Scout troop,
but what I can do is I can start my own." And
I was like, really? She's like, yes, it would
be the first first grade troop in the nation
because they don't do first grade, but I think
you could handle it. And I was like, yeah, mom,
that would be awesome. And looking back, what
I didn't realize at the time is that my parents
really didn't have the means to go about starting
something like this. Like my dad was a mechanic
and my mom stayed home with us and they got by.
But, you know, it was going to be a little, she
had to make some investment in this Brownie troupe.
And so I remember distinctly her going out and
buying fabric and sewing uniforms for us because
she couldn't afford to buy them. And she recruited
a neighbor in the neighborhood and together they
convinced the school to give them free space
after school. And they, that was back in the
days and there was no internet. So there was
no email going out. So she wrote out little invitations
and gave them to all the girls in the first grade
class. and organized our first meeting. And I
showed up and was so proud of my mom and her
green uniform with Mrs. Weintraub, her co -leader.
And we kind of held our breath, hoping that people
would show because we didn't know what would
happen. And like 25 girls showed up for our first
meeting of the Brownie Trail. And I was so excited.
And every week we would go in our little brown
uniforms with our little brown caps and our stashes
and we would earn badges and we'd learn things.
It was a trip where we had to bring a quarter.
I think every week we had to pay a quarter. And
my mom kept very detailed lists, which I'm sure
she still has all of our attendance lists. But
it was that energy and enthusiasm that went on
for like five years. Like what she started then,
Brownie Trip 138, went on for years and years
and years. And when I had to think back about
this assignment, like think back about something
that was influential, it was that moment that
I realized And my parents set the example for
me that when you need something in a community
to be a part of a community, you have to raise
your hand sometimes. It's not enough to just
join and send your kid off to the event or the
occasion. When there are things that need to
be done that would enrich your community and
help build that sense of community, sometimes
you have to step up and do it. That was the first
example that I remember from my parents, but
that example continued to repeat itself throughout
my life, as both my mother and father became
very involved in the community from many different
aspects. My dad, you know, he worked two and
three jobs to support us, so he was less formal,
but he was always the person in the neighborhood
that When the blizzard of 76 hit, he was the
one out there with his Bronco plowing driveways
for the elderly folks and doing and helping.
When the electricity went out, he would run electrical
cords from his welder to power all the refrigerators
in the neighborhood so that our food didn't spoil.
My mom was the PTO person who volunteered and
helped and assisted with meals on wheels and
social chairs and did everything she could to
make sure that her kids were active and engaged
in our community. And that those lessons, that
example that they set for us of helping my sister
and I understand from a young age that to be
a part of a community, you have to contribute
to your community. really laid a foundation for
my future career service and the example that
I hope to set for our family going forward. That
was my story. I loved it. I was imagining you
as a little brownie, I don't know, first grader
or whatever. Right, with a beanie. But, you know,
fast forward now to being actually a council
woman in Highland Park and that you drew the
connection. You made it very clear about the
idea of service to a community. And sometimes,
as you said, sometimes it just means you have
to step up, not waiting around for somebody who
went, why doesn't somebody do something? And
your mother with her energy. Courage and willingness
to start something that didn't exist before that
moves me actually because like like you suggested
She wasn't like wealthy woman who goes. All right.
Well, let me just hire somebody to get this done
Exactly. And the whole idea for her is that it
was totally new. Now, my mom was a teacher, so
she obviously had skills, and she knew how to
manage a classroom, and that Brownie troop ran
like clockwork. But that idea that she was willing
to tackle something that she didn't know how
to do, and I get that a lot from people who are
saying, well, I want to... you know, I'm so upset
about X or Y, we should do something. It's like,
yeah, okay, you can do something, right? Take
an action, circulate a petition, make your voice
known, go to a council meeting, speak out. There's
so many things that you can do. Not knowing how
to do it isn't really an excuse. And that's kind
of that example that my mom set for me too. Like,
you know what? You can learn it as you go. You
can be a grassroots organizer by knocking on
doors and helping people understand what's important
to you and why. We can all learn to do that.
And I think that was the continuing example.
I've seen it with you. I've seen your activism
on many occasions. I don't know that you set
out to be an activist when you became a teacher,
but that evolved over time, right? And causes
that were important to you became easy to advocate
for. Yeah, I have to say though, I did become
an activist, but I constantly look around for
somebody else with somebody else, please do it
so that I don't have to do it. It's called children.
Children. You passed the torch, right? Passed
the torch, right. So Michelle, you have children
of your own, right? I do. We have three boys.
Did any of them ever become involved in Boy Scouts
or Cub Scouts or was that just something that
happened just to you? You know, I'm actually
the proud mom of an Eagle Scout. Our oldest Ethan
did complete when he became an Eagle Scout. And
all of them have been very involved in community
service and their volunteerism and that. So I
do feel like we have passed that along to them.
Our youngest was actually featured on the MSNBC
clip last fall for service during Hurricane Ida.
He worked for World Central Kitchen. And it was
with great pride. I was like, oh, look at that,
Matt, he's on TV. But the idea that when passed
out along, right? That when all of his classmates
evacuated from Tulane during the hurricane, he
stayed behind. And he lived without power and
electricity in 100 degree heat and served at
World Central Kitchen for a week, two weeks.
Yeah. So we're proud of him. That's a very impressive.
I know you sort of said offline before we got
on that. One of your children is also going off
to the Ukraine, is that right, to do some work
there? Yeah, he'll go to Poland, not quite Ukraine,
but right on the border. He's going to go back
to volunteer for World Central Kitchen to serve
at the border. They're doing amazing work, feeding
people, and they're just an incredible organization.
We're proud to support. Yes. Well, Michelle,
thank you for coming on the show. I really am
so happy to see you again. We reconnect after.
Our time, my time on the pension fund came to
an end a couple of years ago, but you're still
keeping it solvent, which I really appreciate.
And the communication side of it, you're keeping
everybody informed, which I really appreciate.
Thank you for your kindness for coming on the
show. Oh, thank you so much for having me. I
have to admit this is probably one of the most
intimidating things I've done, but you made it
delightful. And I really, really appreciated
the chance to go back and think through some
wonderful memories of my childhood and make this
connection. So thank you for that opportunity.
All right. Well, that's our show. I'd like to
thank my friend, Michelle Holliman, who from
now on I will be imagining as a councilwoman.
in Highland Park wearing a brown beanie cap.
I'll do that at my next meeting just for you.
Thank you so much. Thank you, Doug. Thanks, Michelle.
All right. Have a good evening. Thank you. Bye
bye. All right. Well, that's our show. I'd like
to thank Michelle Holliman again. I'd also like
to thank our sponsors, Sidelining Publishing,
publishers of quality books, as well as laughsaber
.com. Visit laughsaber .com. and record your
laughter. We'll keep it for you now and forever.
It's free and your children, your entire family
will appreciate it and thank you for it. So I'm
gonna end this show in honor of Michelle Holliman's
mother who took the step back in the day to help
out 25 young people who wanted to be part of
something that they otherwise couldn't have been
a part of. And so I'm going to end with one little
act of kindness. So until next time, this is
J Reac asking you all to please stay safe out
there and try not to hurt anybody. Three little
acts of kindness Can make a beautiful sound Many
acts of kindness Help the world go round One
little loving word Can go a long, long way Two
little loving words Can brighten any day Three
little loving words can make a beautiful sound.
Many loving words help the world go round. One
little seed sown can go a long, long way. Two
little seeds sown can brighten the sky. Many
seeds so help the world go around One little
child's laughter can go a long, long way Two
little children's laughter can brighten anyone's
Many children laughing Help the world go round
And many see its own Help the world go round
Many loving words Help the world go round And
many acts of kindness Help the world go round