Hometown Commitment

When Good Hands^® People Do Good

It started early for the Owens girls, volunteering as teens to change bedspreads and bedpans at a hospital on Chicago's South Side. "It was just accepted and expected in our family that you would find a way to be of help to someone," remembers Marlene. "That was the example set by both Mother and Daddy."

"Daddy" was a national hero, an ambassador for justice, and the most iconic Olympian of all time. When Jesse Owens beat the world's best athletes and Hitler's boasts to win four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Games, he was just 23 years old. Back in America, his young family lived first in Ohio and later Detroit before moving to Chicago in 1949. "Daddy loved the city, and he especially loved working with young people here," says Gloria. "I think he saw something of himself in those little kids with big dreams." Owens served as Youth Commissioner, director of the South Side Boys Club, fund raiser and volunteer for children's programs of all kinds.

So it was natural when, after his death in 1980, a playground in the city's South Shore neighborhood was named in his honor. The Owens girls were there at the dedication. And 20 years later they were back again, this time with many of their own children, to help christen the "Little Hands" Olympic-themed playground at Jesse Owens Park. Funded by Allstate in a partnership with the City of Chicago, the playground lets kids-including those with special needs-jump, run, learn and play in a safe and fun environment.

Jesse Owens Park Opening

Little Hands, Big Dreams
The City of Chicago's Park District, Allstate and the United States Olympic Committee unveiled the Allstate Little Hands U.S. Olympic Playground...

But it's only one of many contributions to the place the company calls home. "Allstate has always been at the forefront in understanding the community they serve," Mayor Richard Daley said at the dedication. Other recent commitments include building another nine playgrounds in the city, funding major exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry and The Chicago Children's Museum, as well as supporting a citywide reading program. Helping sponsor organizations like the Goodman Theatre, The Chicago Urban League, the Mexican Fine Arts Museum-the list goes on. And it goes back a long way-more than 50 years, in fact.

That's because Allstate, like the Owens girls, knows that community involvement can't be a one-shot, sometime thing. As Beverly said at the playground dedication, "Now, we and our children have to take care of this park like it's our home. Because it is." Recently, she was happy to report that's exactly what's happened.

Somewhere, Daddy is smiling.