For nearly 70 years, the Chessmen Club of the North Shore has been a staple community organization focused on addressing issues of hunger, health and literacy in Evanston.
Founded in 1958 by late former Evanston Police Chief William Logan Jr. and late former Benton Harbor, Michigan Police Chief Andrew Rodez, the volunteer club is one of the nation’s oldest African American male organizations.
Whether members join because their fathers were Chessmen, they are involved with other volunteer work, or they’ve simply felt the club’s community presence, they are all dedicated to service.
“We are very focused on making an impact, and there’s not a member in the group that you would find that doesn’t have that kind of giving bone in their body,” President Reynold Martin said. “We’re all volunteers, we’re all African Americans that are somehow touched into this Evanston community, and all have these similar ideas or similar goals.”
Through the years, the organization has partnered with various local organizations to give back to the community.
It worked with C&W Market Foundation to provide food for community events and collaborated with Alpha Kappa Alpha members to serve Thanksgiving dinners at churches to those in need, Martin said.
Every holiday season, the Chessmen Club partners with Valli Produce to deliver hundreds of food baskets to families and seniors in need in Evanston, feeding up to 1,750 people.
“People are thankful for what we have to offer, and it warms your heart. It touches you,” Emeritus member Dudley Brown said. “It makes you want to cry when you see some of these people and how thankful they are.”
The Chessmen Club also supports the Books & Breakfast program, which promotes literacy at local elementary schools and offers students breakfast every morning.
They help fund the program, and members fill in to read to and connect with kids when student volunteers are on break, Vice President Jabari Porter said. Getting to know and interact with the children in this program has been a fruitful experience, he said.
The club’s other primary focus is its scholarship program. Every year, it awards around $40 to $50,000 in scholarships to at least ten local high schoolers, who engage in community service, to offset college costs, Martin said.
Secretary Keith Robinson also works as an associate principal at Evanston Township High School, which he said benefits the club’s scholarship program since he has direct connections with students and their community service work.
To support these initiatives, the club holds fundraisers including its annual gala.
This year’s gala will be on March 14. The gala serves not only as a fundraiser, but as a time to honor community members, recruit new members and celebrate community accomplishments. The event is like a “family reunion,” Robinson said.
Moving forward, members hope to grow their membership, increase their scholarship fund, and expand their hunger initiatives.
Treasurer Jermaine Nesbitt said he hopes to start providing food baskets year-round, since “people are hungry throughout the whole year.”
The club will also see a change in leadership soon. Following the gala, R. Scott Rochelle will assume the position of president, which Martin has held for the past six years.
“Although we’re different people, we have different ways of thinking, at the end of the day, we all have the same goal, and that’s to serve our community of Evanston,” Nesbitt said.
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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