Discovery Preschool students sang out for an unsung hero on March 27. The kids all dressed in the signature orange T-shirt of the Irwin Community Center maintenance worker Jim Dineen, and at the appointed moment, marched in a parade through the halls and lobby chanting, “Thank you, Mr. Jim! Thank you, Mr. Jim.”
Some kids carried tools of the maintenance trade, and some carried signs expressing their appreciation for Mr. Jim. Devin Frendreis, recreation supervisor for the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, said the parade was a surprise for Dineen.
“We just really appreciate him, and March is National Maintenance Workers Appreciation Month,” she said. “He does all the maintenance for the building, but he goes above and beyond to make sure preschool has what they need. He’s doing all the renovations in the building. He does a lot.”
“We had one student, when we asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said ‘I want to be a worker man like Mr. Jim,'” Kristen Ryan said.
One very special student, Dineen’s granddaughter, Stella Karda, presented him with a sign that said, “You have all the right tools to be the best grandpa ever.”
Ryan said Dineen is popular with the adults, too, known for not only bringing them coffee, but taking the time to give it some froth.