Nancy Aardema

Nancy Aardema is one of the community heroes that works at Logan Square Neighborhood Association. She has worked at LSNA for more than 20 years. She enjoys helping people in the community. She started at Kelvyn College and then went to Western Michigan University. She has one son and two grandchildren that she loves.

Nancy has accomplished a lot of goals in her life. For example, being a community organizer was one of her goals. When she was in college she started learning more what organizing was about and then she joined something called Vista, where you basically volunteer time and work in a community that was poor. She also has obstacles that she has not overcome in her life. One of those obstacles is that she doesn’t speak Spanish very well and that makes her crazy.

Nancy defines social justice as that people are coming together and they're looking at what their fights are and how they can have their rights met without hurting another person. She sees social justice in a way that society can improve communication so that people’s interactions are more respectful and take the time to heal negative interactions. Nancy thinks that the biggest social justice issue in the community is good education because she says, “I think having opportunities for young people is really important.” Nancy says that a social justice issue in our community is when families are broken apart because of immigration and when the gangs are recruiting young people and young people feel that’s the best option they have. She also thinks that it’s an issue when schools don’t get every resource they could possibly get or when teachers or students are disrespected.

Nancy defines a hero as a person who speaks up for their rights. When asked if Nancy considered herself a hero, she responded, “No, I consider myself someone who truly believes in people and who enjoys and loves being with people.”  When Nancy was younger her hero was an African-American woman who became the first bishop in the Methodist Church and she was her hero because she spoke up for poor people and she would take time for the people.

What advice would you give about life in general? “Well, laugh. I think its very important to see the humor and the beauty so I would always say laugh. I would say have good friends and be honest with them. When you go outside notice the birds, the trees or something that might give you peace because this world isn’t very peaceful, so always have some things that give you peace, have some things that make you laugh and fight for your rights.” She thinks that you shouldn’t work or focus in just one thing your whole life, and you should try to learn new things.

Nancy is an important person. She enjoys helping people and youth and she loves her job. I think that she is a hero because she’s been helping the community for more than 20 years. She is a great role model for everyone and she has a lot of dedication for what she does. She has a lot of courage and doesn’t give up.

By:Abel Contreras