Philanthropy and public service are a big part of Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation Board Vice Chair Sarah Jolie’s family history. She was born in Park Ridge, and her father served as director of operations in Bolivia and Brazil for Catholic Relief Services. The family moved to Bolivia when she was just six months old. The family returned to the states in 1971 and lived in Chicago for a year before settling down in Oak Park, where she still resides.
Today Jolie is the owner and president of the Hensley Company, a customized fulfillment and mailing business, started by her grandfather in 1921. Hensley Company has been a certified Women Owned Business since 2017, and under her leadership it has been in the Inc. 5000 twice.
She remembers an early experience with philanthropy and service as a Girl Scout in Oak Park that had positive repercussions for the future.
“When I was in sixth grade at Beye School, my Girl Scout troop started a Thanksgiving and Christmas food basket project,” she recalls. “Years later, through many passionate leaders, it grew into Beyond Hunger. Our leader, Pat Funke, a visionary herself, helped us build the idea. We worked with our parents to deliver bags of food. We created a color coded 3”x5” card system based on family size. At the 40th Anniversary of Beyond Hunger we learned that the card system is still used. The lesson I learned from that, and that I tell people — especially current Girl Scouts — is that every service organization started as an idea to help change something.”
Jolie joined the Foundation’s Grants & Programs Committee as a community member in 2018, and in 2020 was asked to serve on the board. She is an advocate for many Foundation projects and programs, but is especially motivated by the mission behind them.
“Philanthropy, when you break down the word, is the love of humanity, and the responsibility to care for each other,” she says. “I am excited about our focus on racial equity and social justice, and that we state it as our defining mission. Especially right now. We have to state our values not just by our actions, but by our voices too.”
Want to get involved and make a difference in our community? Contact the Foundation at 708-848-1560 or visit oprfcf.org.