Volunteer with HSP and Have a Blast at the Ribfest!

              Come out and volunteer for HSP at the Exchange Club of Naperville’s Ribfest. This is a community fundraiser, which benefits local agencies working towards the elimination of child abuse, domestic violence, and the affects of poverty on children.  Over the years, the Exchange Club of Naperville has raised millions of dollars that were given back to the Naperville and the surrounding communities.  

            The Ribfest is right around the corner, starting on July 3^rd and ending on July 7^th. This annual event raises funds for a number of local charities, including our very own Humanitarian Service Project! A portion of the money given to HSP will be determined by the amount of volunteers who sign up for the event to represent HSP. The more volunteers we get, the more money we receive to serve the needy children and families in our summertime Feed the Kids program!

            For a successful Ribfest this year, they are looking for a great number of volunteers to come out and help. Ribfest will need up to 1,000 people each day.

            Volunteers can sign up to work six hour shifts either serving in the beverage tent, manning the event’s entrance gates, helping in the children’s play area, and much more! There are many opportunities for all ages and volunteers should plan to work an entire shift. Volunteer shifts are 11:00am-5:00pm and 4:00pm-10:00pm everyday except on July 3^rd with only one shift 3:00pm-10:00pm. Volunteer sign up is now open, so sign up as soon as possible because selective positions and time slots go fast. If you wish to sign up, call HSP at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org Go out there and represent our HSP at this exciting and fun event.

            Along with that, all the volunteers receive a free volunteer T-shirt and free admission into the park the day they are volunteering. In addition, get to enjoy some of the great bands that will be performing like STYX, Casey James, Love & Theft, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators, Rick Springfield and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

             

Pleasantdale Middle School 8th Graders and US Cellular

         Today, the Humanitarian Service Project was grateful to host two very hardworking groups. We had 11 volunteers from Pleasantdale Middle School and 14 volunteers from US Cellular. Both of these groups worked on putting together non-perishable food and boxed them up for our Feed the Kids program. Kristin Dixon, one of our amazing HSP volunteers helped us out by working with these two groups today.

          Pleasantdale Middle School brought us 9 students and two adults this morning. We had such a passionate group of 8^th graders from Kay Lewellyan’s homeroom class sort and box non-perishable food. This food will be distributed to the 100 needy families served by our Feed the Kids program, as part of the 175 lb grocery package they will receive in June. Pleasantdale Middle School has their 8^th and 7^th graders volunteer twice a year with different organization and this would be their second volunteer day this year. They've been coming to HSP for quite a few years now and love the idea of kids helping other kids.

          Along with the middle school, we had a big group of volunteers for US Cellular in Schaumburg join us today. Karl Reinbolt, at US Cellular, organized this group of 14 volunteers, to come in and sort food for our Feed the Kids program.  All of the volunteers were very enthusiastic about the work they did.

          Through our Feed the Kids program HSP provides 100 impoverished families with a 175 lb grocery package during the months of June, July, and August. This supplements the diet of children when federally subsidized lunches they rely on for their nutrition is not available. If you are interested in volunteering with at the Humanitarian Service Project – Feed the Kids, call us at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org

Edison Middle School Donates $1,200

Edison Middle School Students

Edison Middle School donated more than $1,200 to Humanitarian Service Project this week! The money was raised through an event called “Money Madness” which is similar to Penny Wars where each class receives a jar to collect coins and the class that collects the most, wins. Grades sixth through eighth participated in this event, making it a huge success. Money Madness was sponsored by the Student Council and the advisers Virginia Jones and Heather Gordon helped make this great event possible! The money raised by Edison Middle School will be used towards the Children’s Birthday Project.

Kristin with Edison Middle School Student

Kristin, our Assistant Executive Director, and Karole’s successor, represented HSP at the school yesterday afternoon and was overwhelmed by how generous the students were! The Middle School has done many fundraisers for us before with equally generous results.  Everyone at HSP is extremely grateful to the students at Edison Middle School. Thank you!

The Children’s Birthday Project provides birthday gifts for more than 900 children ages 3 to 11 living in poverty in DuPage and Kane County. Through the Project, we give the children a Birthday Box that weighs 20-25 pounds and contains 6-10 new toys, 6 new books, a game or activity kit; plush animals; several smaller gifts, and a “Party-in-a-Bag” that contains cake mix, frosting, candles, balloons, plates, cups, hats, party favors, streamers and more! If you or your organization would like to volunteer or donate, send us an email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Generous Gift from DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church

HSP received a very generous gift from the DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church yesterday. This gift was 62 party-in-a-box kits. These party-in-a-box kits will provide 62 out of the 900 birthdays included in the Children’s Birthday Project. The Unitarian Universalist Church middle school youth accomplished this project by first raising money for the party-in-a-box gifts, buying new supplies for the kits, and finally assembling and wrapping all of the kits. The Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located in Naperville, does its very best to serve the community to fulfill the church’s goals.

What is a party-in-a-box specifically? The kit includes items such as cake mix, frosting, candles, balloons, streamers, cups, napkins, and plates. The party-in-a-box is only a portion of the Birthday Box that each child receives. These items in the party-in-a-box are necessary for children to have a happy birthday. If you wish to become involved in the Children’s Birthday Project, visit our website at http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/donations.html.

HSP Says Farewell to Three Interns

There have been many bittersweet moments this past week at HSP as we bid farewell to three of our wonderful spring interns. These interns have been working with HSP for the past couple months and have greatly contributed to the success of many of HSP’s programs.

Emma is front row, third from left

Emma Ewing was an accounting intern while at HSP, and a majority of her work was done with Floyd Kettering, the CFO and co-founder of HSP. On her last day, Floyd mentioned that Emma’s assistance was incredibly helpful and that she was very professional. Emma will be starting another internship in order to receive enough hours to take her CPA exam.

David is front row, fourth from right

David Patterson worked with the senior updates while he was interning with HSP. The senior updates are given to the supporters of our Senior Citizen Project, and it gives a brief update on how the individual senior’s lives have been changed with the help and support of our donors. David will be graduating from Elmhurst College and will be entering a program to become a paralegal.

Karima is front row, sitting

Karima Daboub was working on a project with the HSP team in order to complete her Master of Public Health degree at Benedictine University. With her degree, Karima plans to return to Libya and help provide nutrition to those in need. Today was Karima’s last day, so she provided authentic Libyan food for lunch so that HSP could experience a small part of Libya’s culture.  

It is very hard to say goodbye to these hardworking interns, but HSP in excited to see how they succeed in their next stage of life and hope the very best for them. 

Thank you Sabre Holdings and Kohl’s (Wheaton) volunteers!

Every month the Humanitarian Service Project distributes over six tons of groceries to 121 needy seniors enrolled in the Senior Citizen Project. Each senior is provided with over 100 lbs of groceries. Seniors are given an assortment of food including a variety of frozen meats, vegetables, fresh fruits, paper products, and items for personal care. On May 17^th, 2013 volunteers from Kohl’s (Wheaton) and Sabre Holdings came to help sort bread, produce, and canned goods to help the Humanitarian Service Project sort the large amount of food provided by the National Association of Letter Carriers annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

The Chicago employees of Sabre Holdings provided ten volunteers for the morning shift and eight volunteers for the afternoon hours. Sabre holdings is a global technology company that provides services for people all around the world to plan, book and get to their destination for an appropriate price and time. The volunteers from Sabre Holdings came prepared to work diligently. The employees of the Humanitarian Service Project had the chance to work with the volunteers from Sabre Holdings. We noticed that they were kind, fun individuals looking to give back to the community.

The other group of volunteers came from Kohl’s department store in Wheaton, Illinois. Kohl’s of Wheaton regularly sends volunteers to help us here at the Humanitarian Service Project. As always the volunteers from Kohl’s worked hard and brought good attitudes to the Humanitarian Service Project. The five volunteers helped sort produce for our delivery day tomorrow for the seniors of DuPage County.

The Humanitarian Service Project wants to thank the volunteers of both Kohl’s and Sabre Holdings for their hard work so that we may provide much needed groceries to the impoverished seniors in our Senior Citizen Project.  If you are interested in donating or volunteering your time with the Humanitarian Service Project, call us at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

FT Really Cares By Donating 50 “Party In a Bag” Kits for CBP!

Yesterday a very generous donation came through the doors of HSP’s office. FT Cares donated 50 “party in a bag” kits which are distributed through HSP’s Children’s Birthday Project.  FT Cares the charitable branch of First Trust, a financial services firm in Wheaton, a neighboring town of Carol Stream. 

The kits were dropped off by Lisa Weier, an associate of First Trust, and representative of the foundation.  FT Cares has recently gained 501(c) 3 charitable status, which means they are a viable charitable organization. Not only does FT Cares donate goods to non-profits around the area, they also have employees who volunteer their time to helping those in need. 

Lisa Weier with the 50 donated bags. 

When all of the boxes were gathered and put away, the bags filled our upstairs staging room. The bags were a wide assortment of colors, featuring themes that would be flashy and attractive to the children we serve.  Some of the deigns on the bags include: lions, parrots, sea creatures such as octopi, and sharks.  Other bags had fireworks with the words “happy birthday”.  Along with the 50 pre-packaged bags, Weier also dropped off two bags of extra birthday things that can be used for bags that may not have enough goodies.  All of the bags are made up for appropriate age or gender.

HSP would like to thank Lisa and everybody who donated to FT Cares for the CBP donation.  Your donations are what keep HSP up and running smoothly on a daily basis.  Without your generosity, HSP wouldn’t be able to provide the services to the neediest people in our area. 

Aside from donations HSP also appreciates volunteers who can spend their time in our warehouse in Carol Stream helping to sort food, or do other similar tasks as we get ready for our summer program, Feed the Kids.  If you are interested in donating or volunteering your time with HSP, call us at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org