BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO;
SECTION L Pursuant to an ordinance heretofore passed by the City Council which allows erection of honorary street-name signs, the Commissioner of Transportation shall take the necessary action for standardization of South Kilbourn Avenue, between West Gladys Avenue and West Van Buren Street as "Reverend Homer Gardner Way".
SECTION 2. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and publication.
Jason C. Ervin Alderman, 28,h Ward
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Mr. Jason Ervin, 28th Ward Alderman 2622 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60612
Alderman Ervin,
In this life, only a very few people are worthy of the honor of having the street on which they worked and served memorialized. I present the name Rev. Homer Gardner as such a person and the comer of Kilbourn Street and Van Buren Avenue, in Chicago's 28,h Ward, as such a street.
Tne Sun Rise Missionary Baptist church moved to this comer in 1969. The late Rev. A. T. Tilly was our pastor and Homer Gardner was on our Deacon Board at the time. A few years later, Homer was elected Chairman of the Deacon Board. In 1978, Homer was called to the ministry and a year later, he was elected pastorof our congregation. Rev. Gardner served as our pastorfrom then until 2017, at which time he resigned due to illness. Even at the time of his death in March 2019, he was serving as our Pastor, Emeritus.
In each of these positions Rev. Gardner worked inside and outside of the four walls on Kilbourn and Van Buren. Under his leadership, the church served free meals to the community; held back to school rallies forthe children of the area at which food was served and school supplies were distributed; a tutoring program was operated and children from the community attended; a boys basketball team ea...
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