SAVOY, Ill. (WCIA) – Ask anyone in Savoy, and they probably said the same thing.
“I’m so proud to be from Savoy. It’s really blossomed the last few years. It’s really flourished,” Jordan Neal, a Savoy Ambassador, said.
They’re proud to be from or live there, and for Neal, it means even more.
“Savoy is very near and dear to my family,” she said.
It’s the town she grew up in, and now the town she’s raising her kids in.
Even before that, she said it’s a town her parents needed.
“My parents arrived in Savoy as refugee status, and so, of course, they were seeking things like safety and stability, but they were also trying to find a community that was reflective of the community they had in their homeland,” she said. “And they found that in Savoy and so much more.”
That’s why she took her role in Savoy to the next level. She became an ambassador for the Chambana Welcome Crew.
Meeting new faces, showing them around, and helping them feel welcome. Like family did all those years ago.
“I was raised in Savoy. I live in Savoy, so I was hoping to be a bridge between the two communities working here in Champaign and living in Savoy,” she said. “Growing up in Savoy, we didn’t just have our neighbors, but we met people from all over the world, we learned about different cultures, we formed lifelong friendships.”
And those friendships and that community continue to grow.
Now that Neal is older, she realizes all the fun things they did have really been amplified by the people in Our Town Savoy.
“What my parents found all those years ago is the community. So of course, you know, growing up we were excited about the movie theater or Skateland or Old Orchard, but again the gathering spaces, you can go to any of those spaces and you’re going to find your neighbor there. You’re going to find community there,” she said.
If you’re new to the area, or you just want to learn more about Savoy, it’s neighbors like Neal you’ll want to go to first.