From Barbara Bolsen: I first met Elvina in 1999 when she began volunteering on The Night Ministry’s Health Outreach Bus. In 2004, we honored her as our Volunteer of the Year. Elvina began volunteering with us when she was 81. For most of her 80s, she served coffee weekly from 7 pm to midnight on the Bus. She made each visitor’s coffee the way they liked it and served it with kindness and care. In fact, Elvina owned the coffee station, and woe to any new volunteers who tried to “help.” When she retired from volunteering, we installed a brass plaque honoring her next to the Bus’s coffee machine. Last week, when we learned of her passing, the staff attached a flower to the plaque in Elvina’s memory. Elvina loved the Pride Parade. Every year she would march beside Bus, waving to the crowd, who screamed and blew kisses to her. When she finally agreed it would be better for her to ride, she sat in the passenger seat and waved regally out the window – and the crowd screamed and blew kisses at her. Our Bus goes out rain, snow, or shine. One night, Elvina appeared at the office on a brutally cold winter night. She had on her puffy down parka and sturdy boots. I noticed, though, that she wasn’t wearing pants over her long underwear...… “Elvina,” I said, “Did you forget your pants?” She gave me a kind of hangdog look …... She said, “I laid them on the bed, but I was in such a hurry to get here on time that I forgot to put them on.” …. I said, “Here, put on a pair of my jeans.” They fell down to the ground. We scrounged around the office and found a rope to hold them up. We taped up the hem with duct tape. She was fine and raring to go! Elvina was intrepid. And she was also persistent. In 2006, she decided to crew for the AIDS Ride, a round-trip charity bike ride – of 170 miles – from Chicago to Lake Geneva, Wis. After weeks of noodging, she persuaded Kari McLean to ride and me to volunteer with her. Our job was to unload the food and water at each rest stop, serve the riders, clean up, reload the truck, and head to the next stop. Elvina and I were a team: I drove and did the lifting. She sat and inspired the riders with her enthusiasm and wide grin. Team Elvina was the 6th highest fund-raising group – coming in one dollar higher than the team fielded by the Center on Halsted. Elvina – with help from her beloved Annie Decker – raised almost half of it herself. We loved Elvina with all our hearts. She was family. Some of our Bus staff can’t be here tonight because they’re out with the Bus. Although they’re sad, I think that’s where Elvina would want them to be. In closing, I’d like to quote a former staff member, who said: “Elvina taught us how to lead an active life of caring, and she did so with honesty, bravery, and grace. Her body has retired, but her light and love burn ever brighter.” AMEN. Barbara Bolsen The Night Ministry barb@thenightministry.org