E-mail sent out for this weekend's (6/1) workday in the yard

Dear NNA members,

It is with a heavy heart that we are writing. Our dear Elizabeth Wenscott is very ill.

You know Elizabeth, that lovely red haired girl with the big smile! Did you know she owns and is the master teacher at the Tai Chi Center of Chicago? She also started NNA’s Environmental Committee, the Greening of Northcenter blog, and along with her partner, Lisa Hish, championed and led us to establish Montrose Green, our first community garden as well as the Parkway Corner Initiative.

Elizabeth has worked so very hard to be of service to others and has inspired so many people along the way. Even though “E” is confined to bed, she wants her beautiful garden to be in this year’s NNA Garden Walk. So we are asking all neighbors, gardeners, and friends to help pitch in this Sunday June 1, from 2-4pm to plant the pots in her garden (2112 W. Grace) in anticipation of the NNA Garden Walk on June 22. If you would like to help, please let us know. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to call us at 773-497-2872.

Not only are we looking for worker bees, but we are also collecting donations to help buy the plants and establish future environmental projects in Elizabeth’s name to keep her passion for the environment alive and strong in Northcenter.

You can donate on our website Northcenter Neighborhood Association - Home (http://northcenterneighborhood.org/page-1380592) 

Let's join together to "give back" to Elizabeth for all the beauty and wonder she's inspired.

Julie Hobert, Karen Carter Lynch, and the entire board of NNA

Update from Lisa 5/26

It has been 2 weeks since Elizabeth's last diagnostic test and week long admission into hospice. E has slowed down the vomiting, stopped the tinnitus in her hears, cleared a lot of the brain fog, and reduced her pain (she is on NO Painkillers, not even hemp oil).

In the last 24 hours she sat up in bed for 5 hours and has been in the transport chair, on the front porch smelling our lilac bushes in bloom, not once but twice!

It's a good day…..

What can you do for E?

The only people who are in direct contact with her are family, teachers and friends who have been/continue to be active with the school. This team is used to working together on projects for the school and have now shifted their focus to act as caretakers in our home as they tend to Elizabeth and hopefully restore her health.

Please continue to carry Elixabeth in your thoughts. Her request of her tai chi students, past and present is twofold:

Do tai chi in your able-body as she currently cannot (dedicating a practice(s) of the form to her is a lovely way to send her energy). Do tai chi outdoors, near a tree, water, rock or with the horizon behind you. Have a photo taken of you doing Fair Maiden works the Shuttle and send this to her.

Find your way to support the school which supports her. As Elizabeth stated to her students when announcing her leave of absence from teaching:

"I am taking a leave of absence from teaching. This is a very serious diagnosis requiring that I focus my energy inward to heal. I have no "bucket list" of things to do. I love my life and am already doing them. My life is my family and my school, and I want to look up and see them thriving while I tend to myself."

Thank you.

- Lisa