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Logan Square Couple Skis Through Blizzard To Help Neighbors

By Darryl Holliday | February 2, 2015 8:27am
 Two cross-country skiers and a rescue dog helped neighbors dig out of the blizzard in Logan Square Sunday.
Cross-Country Logan Square
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LOGAN SQUARE — While most people tried to stay inside during Sunday's massive snowstorm (yes, New York — this is what an actual snowstorm looks like), two Logan Square residents headed out on skis to help folks around the neighborhood.

Kristen Kaza and her partner Moll Nye set out Sunday morning on cross-country skis to spend the afternoon traveling the streets around Logan Boulevard. And, in the true “spirit of Chicago” they managed to help their neighbors dig out of more than a foot of fresh snow.

Kaza is a 10th-generation Vermont native, a former Andersonville resident and no stranger to “really serious snow,” she said — so the 19 inches dumped on the city was a chance to explore her new neighborhood.

For their trip through Logan Square, Kaza, owner of No Small Plans Productions, and Nye had help from their 1½-year-old rescue husky, Demi.

“I always want to be out when it snows,” Kaza said, commenting on the various people she passed throughout the day, like other skiers, parents pulling kids on sleds and neighbors shoveling snow, a few of whom she and her partner helped along the way.

“It’s a great way to work up a good sweat when you’re cold, and it’s a fun and fast way to see the city … but it’s also an example of the spirit of Chicago. It’s just really cool to see all these Chicagoans who are up and want to be out,” Kaza said.

She said a small group of Logan Square residents banded together to rescue a woman who had gotten her motorized wheelchair lodged in a snowdrift.

“Another gentleman, Mollie and I were trying to help get her unstuck, then another couple came and helped us as well — then we found out she didn’t really have anyone to call,” Kaza said.

The story could have ended there, but Kaza decided to keep paying it forward — she offered to pick up a list of groceries for the woman. And when she was short on money for that list, a stranger in line at the grocery store offered to chip in and cover the rest, she said.

“It’s just human kindness,” she said. “Especially here in Chicago where there are so many generous people who have that sense of hospitality.”

By 2 p.m. Kaza said she and Nye had hung up her mother’s pair of 1970s skis after a 7-hour trip in the snow.

“It was a fun outing and a way to do something together,” she said. “And it’s just the right thing to do.”

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