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Give Light:
Honor Those Who Inspire

At the heart of The Selfhelp Home’s permanent historical installation, 540 Points of Light will glow in honor of the people who have helped shape our story. These lights will celebrate families, volunteers, founders, those who came before us, and those whose journeys continue today.

With a gift of $180, you can dedicate a Point of Light to someone important to you and add their name to this meaningful display. Each light will serve as a quiet, enduring reminder that someone came before us, and because they did, so much became possible.

Together, these names will be written, remembered, and carried forward, lighting the way for generations to come.

Sponsor a Point of Light

A Story Celebrated: Historical Installation

L’Dor V’Dor is just one section of The Selfhelp Home’s historical installation, the rest of the exhibit will include:

  • Entry Way – Welcome to our story, the entry introduces Selfhelp as a home built on refuge, shaped by tradition, and carried forward by every generation who has called this wonderful place home.
  • Our Story Unfolds – In 1938, Chicago’s German-Jewish community laid the foundation of a home for those who had lost everything. From the beginning, an open door offered refuge, dignity, and belonging — and around a welcoming table, strangers became family. Through Shabbat, holidays, and lifecycle moments, our family traditions have given this home its heartbeat ever since.
  • Selfhelp Through the Years – Nearly nine decades of community at a glance — with space for the chapters still to come. New milestones, new directions, new voices: every part of this installation is designed to grow and change, an open-ended story still being written.

If you are ready to make a larger contribution, please see the full array of sponsorship opportunities by clicking the button below.

Become a Sponsor

The History of The Selfhelp Home

The Selfhelp Home has a history unlike any other senior living community in Chicago. It was founded in 1938, in the shadow of the Holocaust, as a purely volunteer mutual aid society where refugees and survivors could find community and rebuild their lives.  It became a priority of the founders to provide a caring and comfortable home for them to live out their years with compassion, dignity and a high quality of life.

Today, it stands as a living, breathing testament to the human spirit and the name “Selfhelp” embodies the character, determination and fortitude of the founding men and woman who organized a volunteer network of European-Americans to care for the refugees fleeing Nazism and, later, the rare survivors.

It was Jewish people helping Jewish people.

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