Get to Know Us

Are you new to ALDA Chicago or just curious about our organization? Attending a social event is a great way to meet people and learn what we're about. Visit our Events page for more information. Questions? Send an e-mail to ALDAChicago@gmail.com.

Our Fun Times Are Back!

For Our Members

We are always looking for items for our quarterly newsletter. If you have material to contribute, contact Linda Belice at LBelice@aol.com.

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Photo Gallery of Past Events

The ALDA Chicago 2025 Holiday Party was an absolute blast.  Donna Punzio knocked it out of the park putting this all together.  The food was delicious, the service was top-notch, and the guessing game kept everyone entertained - okay fine, I, Sue Collins the Webmaster, loved it because I won 😄.  Huge thank you to Brandy for the awesome trivia games, and the White Elephant grab bag was a hilarious hit as always.  What a great night.  

Our first Friendsgiving Potluck Celebration was a huge success.  There was nice variety of food and desserts to enjoy.  A huge thank you to our host Marsha Swetin for opening her home to all of us.  You could feel the warmth everywhere.  We in ALDA Chicago are truly a family.

ALDACON 2025 was great.  Karen Krull nominated Sue Collins the ALDA Chicago President for the Fearless Leader Award.  Sue Collins was totally shocked and extremely honored by this award.  (left: Diane McDonagh: ALDA President, Sue Collins: ALDA Chicago President and Karen Krull: ALDA Chicago Membership Chairperson).

A few of those who didn't go to ALDACON met for a Fall Get-together for lunch at Prime Time.  They had a nice time.  Looks like they celebrated Brandy's birthday.

Everyone at Pottery Painting was very quiet as they worked intently on their pottery.  We can't wait to see how they turned out after they are fired.  Afterwards Donna, Brandy and her hubby went to Hamburger Social for a good burger.  It was nice sitting outside in the covered area with tents.

The Backyard BBQ had a really nice turn out. Thank you Marsha Swetin for being a wonderful host.  It was a really hot day and your air conditioning was greatly appreciated.  Hats off to the Grill Master Bill Eich.  The food was good and it was so nice to see each other.  We had such a good time.

A big thank you to Cleo's family for setting up and working this year's Cleo's Pool Party.  The food was so good and a wide variety. The pool was very refreshing the water temperature was perfect.  Sweet John Garvey brought flowers for Cleo.  Sarah was glowing with excitement and joy about her retirement and move to Florida.  We will miss you, Sarah.  Sue Collins made the retirement cake.

The Fun Meetup brunch at Glen Oak Cafe was very nice.  Everyone enjoyed their meal, and our conversations were on a wide variety of topics.  

The Lunch Movie and Mingle was a success. The movie CODA had us all laughing and crying together. A big thank you to Tracy Taylor for figuring out how to get her Firestick to have captioning. The sandwiches, fruit tray, veggie tray and lemon bars were yummy. 

A few of us went to the first Open Captioning play at Drury Lanes in Oakbrook Terrance.  The play was The Da Vinci Code and it was great. The large monitors on the left and right side of the stage were easily readable with up to four or five lines of text which was extremely helpful for us with hearing loss to catch missed phrases and understand what the actors were saying.

ALDA Chicago 37th Birthday Party was a huge success. We had a big turnout which is wonderful.  The food was good, but the plating was a little weird.  Many happy winners on the raffle and the silent auction.  The Fundraiser was a success.   A big thank you to Howard A. Rosenblum, Esq. for his inspiring talk about his work on getting open captioning and ASL interpreters from businesses and government officials over the years.  So many things we take for granted now, wouldn't exist without Howard.

ALDA Chicago Goes Bowling was a fun time.  Tom was the top bowler with his three bowling balls :).  Several of us used the bumpers to do some nice bank shot bowling.  Dinner at Zazzo's was relaxing and the food was delicious.

The Social Get-Together was fun.  There was a nice variety of transfers to choose from: some were sweet, some inspirational and some smart-alecky.  Some of the gals got very creative adding sparkling decor to their pieces.  Afterwards we went to Anyways Pub for dinner.

The ALDA Chicago Holiday Gift Wrapping Fundraiser at Anderson's Bookstore was a success.  We raised $178.  A big thank you to Marsha Kopp for working with Anderson's bookstore and getting this all set up.  Thanks to Anderson's Bookstore for welcoming us and giving us tables, scissors and tape to use.  All the volunteers and LeAnn (Mrs. Claus) had a fun time.