Catholic Explorer Article

August 6th, 1999

Itasca man brings hope to Hopkins Park

Romeoville

Despite years of being lapped economically by its neighboring communities in Illinois, perhaps Hopkins Park’s most glaring problem is that the village, now a distant speck in the rear-view mirror, has been overlooked by many who could have made a difference. There is one man, however, who has been quietly making a difference in Pembroke Township for more than 10 years in an attempt to get the community back on track by offering impoverished residents a fresh start.
Itasca resident Sal Dimiceli, 48, a parishioner at St. Peter the Apostle Parish since 1966, is considered by many Hopkins Park residents as one of a few individuals whose action rivals his sympathy. In a few short years, Dimiceli has donated well over $600,000 in food, clothing and shelter to needy Hopkins Park residents, particularly to the elderly and children.
Though his philanthropy in Pembroke Township is unmatched, Dimiceli says his gifts do little to meet the needs of the people. “It takes almost $100,000 each year to provide for (their) basic necessities for survival,” he said. “There are people down there suffering and they need help from their fellow Christians. We don’t take time out to walk through those areas. We don’t go to places where (people) are hurting.”
As a testament to the town’s obscurity, Dimiceli discovered it accidentally while driving through Pembroke Township more than a decade ago. As his car rolled along the sandy roads, past dilapidated shacks and rusted trailers, Dimiceli “slowed down and saw little eyes peering out at me,” he said.
In one of the poorest areas in the country, Dimiceli found hundreds of children and elderly living in squalor. “I found children that were nine or ten years old sleeping on rags, “ he said. The philanthropist added that it is common that an elderly individual is forced to raise several grandchildren on a welfare budget as low as $265 per month. “It is an area that’s been forgotten, neglected and abused.”
Having grown up poor, Dimiceli could not ignore the people of Hopkins Park. “I made a vow to God as I grew up in poverty to help out and to not forget my roots,” he said. After 19 successful years in the telecommunications business, he established a nonprofit organization, “The Time is Now,” which donates annually to dozens of charitable organizations.
With help from Hopkins Park families, Dimiceli began by delivering hundreds of mattresses and pillows door to door in Pembroke Township. In addition to truckloads of coats and shoes, every three weeks Dimiceli’s organization donates 20,000 pounds of food to the Pembroke Township Food Pantry.
By employing individuals from the community, he has refurbished dozens of homes with new roofs, windows, doors and furnaces. Last year, he donated six fully-furnished prefabricated homes to senior citizens in desperate need of adequate shelter. At around $65,000 each, which includes air conditioning, television and the plot of land underneath, Dimiceli didn’t ask for a penny in return. By the end of this year, he plans to bring the total number of new homes close to 20.
“I live comfortably but everything else I give to the poor,” said Dimiceli, who said the next step forward for the township is for community leaders to work together to help the poor. “My goal is to get the agencies to provide as they’re supposed to be - to get roads and natural gas out there.”
Dimiceli continued, “I’ve won their trust over. Now it’s a matter of getting them all together to work together.
“(Hopkins Park) needs the Christian community to lend an ear with an open heart to these elderly and children. When people speak out, (the situation) will change abruptly. Right now, there’s too few of us asking for help. God would not turn a deaf ear to them and neither should we.”