by BRIAN NADIG
Chicago Pride and POW/MIA flags were vandalized around 6:20 p. m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, at Olive’s Neighborhood Garden for the Hungry in Jefferson Park, and this isn’t the first time vandals have had the flagpole.
The 3,000-square-foot garden, located on the southwest corner of Ainslie Street and Laramie Avenue, was installed 18 years ago as part of an Eagle Scout mission and supplies a total of three hundred pounds of new produce each week to the pantries. at the Church of Sainte-Elisabeth-de-la-Trinité and the Church of Christ of the North West.
“Thank God for community surveillance cameras,” said Bill Zelenka, volunteer lawn curator. Images of the alleged vandals are being shown to neighbors, and Zalenka hopes the men can be met so she can contact them and ask, “Why?”
“This lawn is for them. It’s for the community,” Zalenka said, adding that there is an area at the front of the lawn where passersby can bring spices grown there.
Surveillance footage shows an organization of men pulling the flagpole rope, and in the process ripping off the Pride flag and tearing up the POW flag.
One of them then throws the pride flag over the fence and the flag lands on the roof of the garden greenhouse before falling to the ground.
The organization of about 8 men, who appear to be in their 20s and many dressed in Chicago Cubs jerseys, then head west for Ainslie.
The American flag is intact and flies from the flagpole with a replacement POW flag, while a new Chicago Pride flag will be obtained, the previous one donated through a local business, Zalenka said.
The garden volunteers are currently disseminating the photographs. Nadig newspapers won a copy.
This is the third time a Pride flag has been vandalized on the lawn since the pole was installed there in 2018, Zalenka said. A Ukrainian flag also flew there on the other side until vandals tore it down, she said.
The lawn’s Facebook page posted the following: “Once again, the flags on the lawn have been vandalized. Personally, I’d love to catch them red-handed. But unfortunately, I know it may not matter. People who are brought in with hatred will hate it. Those who find it amusing are other people you can’t reason with. Bill will raise someone else and keep painting every hour he does.
Meanwhile, a windmill is planned to be installed in the garden, which already has solar panels. The energy sources will keep the greenhouse above 50 degrees in February, when tomatoes and peppers will be grown, Zalenka said.
Trees were also planted in a new 3500-square-foot park that volunteers helped identify on state-owned land near Gunnison Street and Laramie.
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