Wilk-cropped

Linda Wilk Share

Aug 1, 2016  |  Web Administrator

Lin­da Wilk came to Mar­i­on, IN from Nebras­ka in 1989 to pur­sue a career in jour­nal­ism after receiv­ing her Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence. She worked as a reporter for the Chron­i­cle Tri­bune until 1994 when she was hired by Fam­i­ly Ser­vice Soci­ety, Inc. as the Direc­tor of Pro­gram­ming for Hands of Hope dur­ing a time when domes­tic vio­lence was becom­ing preva­lent in the com­mu­ni­ty. Before accept­ing the new posi­tion, she had been serv­ing the orga­ni­za­tion as a vol­un­teer in her free time. Wilk is mar­ried and has three daughters.

Wilk over­sees the Hands of Hope pro­gram­ming includ­ing the shel­ter, the staff, edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams, parental pro­grams, and part­ner­ships with schools and neigh­bor­hood asso­ci­a­tions. Wilk serves as Chair of the Mayor’s Com­mis­sion Against Domes­tic Vio­lence, and is a mem­ber of the Governor’s Domes­tic Vio­lence Pre­ven­tion & Treat­ment Coun­cil as well as the Indi­ana Sex­u­al Vio­lence Pri­ma­ry Pre­ven­tion Council.

Wilk sees her work being ful­filled when she wit­ness­es peo­ple going good, car­ing things in the com­mu­ni­ty. ​“I real­ly believe it’s a rip­ple effect. If we can do our part, I believe oth­ers will see and do their part. Even the small things can be impact­ful.” – Wilk

Whether you are striv­ing for peace or you’re doing a sim­ple good deed in your com­mu­ni­ty, Wilk says you must take action some­how. ​“If you don’t, noth­ing is going to change, and things will even­tu­al­ly dete­ri­o­rate.” Wilk also asks the fol­low­ing ques­tion of the Mar­i­on com­mu­ni­ty: ​“If you are influ­enc­ing oth­ers, is it for the good, or for the bad?”

Wilk says she loves this com­mu­ni­ty and loves her neigh­bor­hood, but she says she is frus­trat­ed with the neg­a­tiv­i­ty. ​“When I decid­ed to relo­cate to Mar­i­on, I was asked ​‘Why would you want to live here?’ Mar­i­on can be its own worst ene­my. We have so many good things going on…..you just need to open your eyes.” – Wilk