Prentice Butler, TNB Executive Director, and Mary Darnall, TNB Volunteer, at a community presentation.
The Neighborhood Bridge is mourning the passing of Mary Andree Darnall, who died in October. She was the personification of The Neighborhood Bridge. In 2023, when she learned that the Oak Park Catholic community envisioned turning the St. Catherine-St. Lucy rectory into a base for outreach to the West Side, Mary was the first to reach out to Catholic Communities Pastor Carl Morello about transforming that vision into reality.
Mary helped create two foundational projects that launched in 2023 — a study to determine the feasibility of remaking the former rectory into an outreach center for the West Side and a community engagement process to promote that effort through approximately 60 public forums in Austin, Oak Park, and River Forest.
She was an active member of the Community Outreach team that reached out to schools and organizations in Austin and Oak Park to determine the needs of the community — and presented what they learned at several of the public forums.
In 2023, our organization functioned without a name. Mary was a vital member of the small team charged with divining a title that succinctly distilled our aspirations. By the time we incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in November of 2023, we agreed that our name would also describe our mission: The Neighborhood Bridge.
Mary’s commitment to service also played out in the classroom, reflecting her professional training as an occupational therapist. As a volunteer teacher at St. Angela School, she taught cursive writing to first- and second-graders and was much loved by students and staff. She advocated strongly to include St. Angela as one of The Neighborhood Bridge’s five partner schools.
During this time, while pursuing a doctorate in Community Psychology, she used the organization’s early work as a case study in how to discern the needs of communities as well as the systems that shape their well-being.
At her home parish, St. Edmund, her example encouraged other parish members to donate time or money to The Neighborhood Bridge. Thanks in part to her advocacy, St. Edmund’s Murphy Hall served as a center for our programs. Mary and her husband Jack have been faithful supporters of The Neighborhood Bridge since our inception.
About 16 months ago, Mary was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She underwent aggressive treatments that weakened her physically but never diminished her indefatigable spirit and grace, which will continue to animate the work of all who are engaged in carrying the mission of The Neighborhood Bridge forward.
We wouldn’t be where we are today without her.
To explore how you can volunteer at the The Neighborhood Bridge, go to our Volunteer page.