Sunday, February 08, 2026

Giving Needed Weekly (4 WEEKS) $350 - 

The end of the month difference is -$295

***Notes

A. Approved to pay via Board group text

B. Auto deduction with card on file.


Our bills are listed for the month of January 2026.

Your generosity helps us pay the bills. Any amount helps us meet our obligations.

If you would like to pay one of the bills,

please designate that in your donation. 

STANLEY ANN DUNHAM

1963.

At twenty-two, divorced, with a biracial child, people looked at Stanley Ann Dunham and whispered poor girl.

She heard something else entirely:

Free woman.

Her marriage to Barack Obama Sr.—brilliant, charismatic, complicated—had ended quickly. He left for Harvard, then Kenya. Ann stayed behind with a toddler in a country where interracial marriage was still illegal in twenty-two states.


The labels came fast.

Divorced.

Single mother.

Mixed-race child.

Too young.

Too reckless.


Ann translated every one of them into possibility.

She worked as a waitress while continuing her studies, refusing the idea that her life had narrowed. Instead, it was opening. Soon she met Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian graduate student. When he returned home in 1967, Ann made a decision that stunned everyone around her.


She was moving to Indonesia. And she was taking six-year-old Barack with her.

Indonesia was not an easy choice. The country was reeling from political violence that had killed hundreds of thousands. Electricity was unreliable. Poverty was everywhere. Friends warned her she was throwing her life away. Ann saw something different.


While Barack attended local schools and learned Indonesian, Ann traveled into rural villages outside Jakarta. She became fascinated by blacksmiths and artisans—people producing intricate work with centuries-old techniques.Western economists called these communities backward. Ann saw disciplined entrepreneurs running complex micro-economies without access to capital. She noticed what experts missed: these people weren’t poor because they lacked skill or ambition. They were poor because banks refused to lend to them. Markets excluded them. Systems erased them.That insight would quietly change the world.

In 1971, Ann made the hardest decision of her life. She sent ten-year-old Barack back to Hawaii to live with her parents—better schools, more stability. It broke her heart, but she believed his future mattered more than her comfort. She stayed in Indonesia and went all in.


Ann pursued a PhD in anthropology, producing a massive dissertation that dismantled one of the most damaging assumptions in development economics—that poverty was cultural, caused by laziness or backward values. Her research proved the opposite.

Rural artisans were sophisticated managers of labor, finance, and family networks. The failure wasn’t theirs. It was structural. And Ann didn’t stop at theory.


She helped design early microfinance programs—small loans of $50 or $100 for people banks ignored. Those amounts were transformative. Raw materials. Expanded production. School fees. Independence. The results were undeniable. Repayment rates above 95%. Women becoming business owners. Children attending college. Communities stabilizing. Her principles became foundational: Respect local knowledge

Work within existing systems. Treat people as partners, not charity cases. The models she helped refine spread globally, eventually reaching hundreds of millions of people.


Ann lived her work. She didn’t study poverty from conference hotels. She lived in villages without running water. She raised her daughter Maya immersed in Indonesian culture. When Barack visited as a college student, she made sure he understood the dignity of the people she worked beside.


Years later, Barack Obama would credit her with shaping his deepest beliefs: that dignity is universal, that systems—not individuals—create poverty, and that real change begins with listening.


In 1994, Ann was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She continued working through chemotherapy. She died on November 7, 1995, at just fifty-two.


She never saw her son elected to the Senate. Never witnessed his presidency. Never saw the global impact of the microfinance movement she helped build—or the Nobel Prize awarded to work rooted in ideas she advanced decades earlier. For years, history reduced her to a footnote: Barack Obama’s mother. That erased who she truly was.


Ann Dunham was a pioneering economic anthropologist who reshaped how the world understands poverty. She proved that marginalized communities don’t need saving—they need access. She navigated divorce, single motherhood, and institutional barriers while quietly changing global development.


Her dissertation is still cited. Her methods are now standard practice.

Obama keeps her photograph in every office he’s occupied. Even he has said it took years to fully grasp her impact.


She wasn’t just his mother. She was his example. A feminist who lived her beliefs.

A scholar who challenged power. A woman who saw freedom where others saw failure.

Maybe it’s finally time we remember her—not for who she raised, but for what she changed.

Stanley Ann Dunham (1942–1995)

VIRTUAL COMMUNITY 
ROUND TABLES

FOR LGBTQ+ and ALLIED OLDER ADULTS RESIDING IN SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY, IL

What does thriving as you age mean to you? Share your needs, wants and ideas for affirming aging experiences, programs and services during one of these structured listening sessions. We hope you will join us and be a part of the changes you wish to see in your community!

Wednesday, February 25 from 6-7pm on Zoom – Session 1

Friday, February 27 from 11am-12pm on Zoom – Session 2

Pre-registration is required. Participants may choose their preferred date/time. Click on the image to download the PDF.

Building Networks for Change

Thursday, Feb. 26 | 9-11am | Zoom

Join Pride Action Tank for the annual Building Networks for Change webinar! 

Building Networks for Change focuses on enhancing knowledge and skills to advocate for safe and inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ older adults. Through this webinar, participants will learn how to advocate for oneself and loved ones, how to incorporate person-centered care into their own practice with an LGBTQ+ health lens, as well as receive updates on state and federal policies impacting LGBTQ+ older adult communities such as Medicaid and SNAP. 

Register by February 20th at this link! (CEUs will be offered.)

MEDICARE & TRANSGENDER OLDER ADULTS: WHAT ADVOCATES NEED TO KNOW: SAGE AND JUSTICE IN AGING

Transgender older adults are navigating health systems that can be complex. This resource explains what to expect from Medicare coverage. 
Click here to download the fact sheet in PDF.

POTLUCK FEBRUARY 22nd

"SOUL FOOD"

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Soul food is the traditional cuisine of African Americans, originating from the dishes made by enslaved people in the American South using available resources, evolving into a celebrated part of Black culture, known for its rich, flavorful, and hearty dishes like fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and cornbread, often featuring pork and cornmeal. It's a flavorful legacy of ingenuity and survival, distinct from general Southern food by its deep connection to Black heritage, with the term gaining prominence during the Black Power movement of the 1960.

We celebrate Black History Month by sharing the food that is the traditional cuisine of African Americans.

Key Characteristics & Origins

• Slavery Roots: Developed from ingredients enslaved Africans were given (like "leftover" pork cuts, cornmeal) and adapted with West African and Indigenous ingredients. 
• Cultural Identity: Became a symbol of pride and identity, celebrated during the Black Power movement when the word "soul" was used to describe Black culture. 
• Ingredients: Staples include cornmeal (for cornbread, hush puppies), pork (chops, ham hocks, chitlins), beans, greens (collards, mustard, turnip), and sweet potatoes. 
• Techniques: Features slow cooking, frying, and "smothering" (cooking in gravy) to create deep flavors from simple ingredients. 

Typical Dishes

• Entrees: Fried Chicken, Smothered Pork Chops, Fried Fish, Chitterlings (Chitlins).
• Sides: Macaroni and Cheese, Collard Greens, Black-Eyed Peas, Candied Yams, Cornbread, Okra.
• Desserts: Peach Cobbler, Sweet Potato Pie, Banana Pudding, Pound Cake.
• Drinks: Often includes sweet, red-colored beverages. 

Soul Food vs. Southern Food

• While soul food is a form of Southern cooking, not all Southern food is soul food; soul food specifically signifies the culinary traditions and heritage of African Americans, emphasizing flavor and resourcefulness from historical scarcity. 
  

Are you looking for a more healthier soul food, well here is a link for some recipes. So put your soul into your cooking and bring some of that food to church to share with everyone else. 


FEBRUARY SIGN UP HERE

Attention all members of the Holy Covenant community! We've heard your voices loud and clear - birthdays and anniversaries deserve to be celebrated and recognized. That's why we're excited to announce that we will begin posting these special occasions in the upcoming weeks, using the records we have at hand. If you want your milestone to be included, 
simply drop us an email at socialmedia@holycovenantmcc.org with your name, the details you want to share, and the important dates. Remember, years are optional for birthdays. Let's make every celebration count!

WEEKLY SERVICE INFORMATION

Join us all month long for informative seminars, health programs, fitness, entertainment, and more!

Hello Neighbors! Below is our January 2026 schedule. Join us all month long for informative seminars, brain health programs, fitness, history, entertainment, and more online and in person! Just click here for the list of classes.Click here to download the calendar.

We encourage you to share our class schedule with friends, family, and neighbors, near & far, of any age – everyone is welcome to join us! All of our classes are free & no advance registration is required. We hope to see you soon on Zoom!

Thank you all for being a part of the Aging Well Neighborhood!

For questions about the programs listed, please email AWN@agingcareconnections.org.

We mourn and pray for all the families who have suffered personal losses from gun violence at our schools, churches, hospitals, public venues and other places.

Prayers for Mary who was in a serious car accident.₁
Prayers for all who are ill.₁

Prayers for all who are traveling.₁

Prayers for continued healing for Andrews granddad from an inflammation of his heart and that they find the cause.₁

Prayers for Michelle P. and her family as her mother has peacefully transitioned.₃

Prayers safety for Jim, peace and comfort for Barbara.₃

Prayers that Jeni's VISA gets approved.₃

Prayers for internal peace and happiness for Colin.₃

Prayers for Tony and for Jim's mom.₃

Prayers for peace in Minneapolis and other cities where ICE is invading homes.₃

Prayers that all that are unemployed or underemployed find gainful employment.

Prayers for those with harden hearts that feel the need to deface places of worship.

Prayers and strength for Ukraine, for those who are relocating, and to end the war and unnecessary deaths.

Prayers for all our first responders that they stay safe while helping others.

Prayers that God will provide for those who are hungry, unemployed, and homeless,

or in financial difficulties.

All those affected by HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, COVID-19, and other life-threatening illnesses.

All communities of faith.