HSP Thanks Some Great Volunteers!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend a big thank you to Heather Kobzarev, Laura Van Dame, and Norma Villasenor, who volunteered time in our warehouse yesterday to help us prepare for the upcoming senior delivery day, and Christmas Offering. The three came in as part of a course they are taking at Elmhurst College. They spent over two hours sorting food non-perishable food that had been donated through a number of fantastic food drives. We want to thank these three for their hard work. We would also like to thank our volunteers Tom Hogan, who helped this group from Elmhurst get acclimated to our warehouse, and Karyn Rizzo, who joined up with the group and sorted onions for the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project.

The work done by these wonderful volunteers will help HSP reach out to the needy families and senior citizens we serve. At Christmas time we will be providing gifts for an estimated 1200 needy children and the 120 needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. 250 of the families in our Children’s Birthday Project will also receive food for Christmas. Considering all of this, on top of the monthly delivery of 90 pounds of groceries to the needy seniors in the Senior Citizen Project, we rely a lot on the heartfelt support of volunteers like these. If you are interested in volunteering on weekdays in the month of December to help out, like these fine volunteers, please call us at 630-221-8340 so that we can reserve you a spot.

The Spirit of Giving!

Every so often the Humanitarian Service Project receives an exciting donation consisting of something other than food, personal care items, or birthday gifts. HSP would like to thank Ecumenical Support Services for the Elderly (ESSE), Adult Care Center of Faith Lutheran Church in Glen Ellyn, for their recent donation of two recliners. These recliners will be delivered to seniors in our Senior Care Program. The recliners were added to last month’s “items donated” list that each senior in the program receives in the mail. The seniors can then call in and request these bigger items if they are in need of them. The recliners are both maroon and in very good condition. One of them has an electric lift that helps you to stand back up after sitting in it. The recliners will be delivered by some of our wonderful volunteers Bud Newman and Larry Erven, this afternoon to seniors George and Rhonda Fox and Della Robinson. Hopefully this donation will make our senior’s lives a little easier and more relaxing for the holidays!

‘Tis the Season

Thanksgiving is in our rear view mirrors, and Thanksgiving leftovers are surrendering more and more space in our refrigerators that they captured late last week, there in no denying that we have entered the rush of the Christmas Season. Christmas is a very busy time here at the Humanitarian Service Project. For Christmas we will be supplying gifts for an estimated 1200 needy children, as well as the120 seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. We will also be supplying food to 250 of the families enrolled in our Children’s Birthday Project on top of the monthly delivery of 90 pounds of groceries to the seniors we serve. So many wonderful volunteers and donors have stepped up to help HSP make this all possible. We would like to thank them all for helping us make an impact in the lives of the needy people we serve, through the myriad of ways in which they support us.

One such group that we would like to thank is the Daisy Troop of Briar Glen School, who conducted a food drive for the sake of the needy seniors and families we serve. They brought the food to our facility in Carol Stream yesterday, packed into the trunks of several cars. The troop got a tour around our facility, so they got a first hand look at how their food drive would help us reach out to those in need. We want to thank these great Daisies for their thoughtfulness and hard work.

If you, like this Daisy Troop, would like to help HSP make Christmas a little more special for the needy people we serve, there are a number of ways you can help out. We particularly have a need for volunteers, high school age or up, to come in during the month of December to help us sort and organize the food and gifts going out as part of our Christmas Offering. However, there are a number of other ways you can help as well, such as providing a giving tree for a needy child, donating toys or food, etc. You can learn more at our website here: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html, or, if you are interested in volunteering, please call us at 630-221-8340 to reserve a spot.

What We’re Thankful For

We at HSP want to issue a huge thank you to Elk Grove High School, for donating a large amount of food and personal care items through a food drive. Everyone at the school went above and beyond to help the needy senior citizens and families that we serve. The two cargo vans sent to pick up what they had collected came back packed to the brim. With all that Elk Grove High School collected, we at HSP will be able to do so much to make a difference in the lives of those in the area under the burden of poverty. We want to, again, thank everyone at Elk Grove High School so much for such an overwhelming display of compassion. We also want to thank our volunteer drivers Dick Adamo and Joe Dooley for driving to Elk Grove to pick up and deliver the food. Thanks guys!

In this time of giving thanks we at Humanitarian Service Project want to let all of our donors and volunteers know that we are truly thankful for all of the wonderful things they do to help us reach out to the needy senior citizens and families in our programs. With your fantastic support, HSP has managed to make a positive impact in the lives of countless people in need.

Thanks Again to our Long Time Friend: The Rotary Club of Bloomingdale-Roselle!

The Rotary Club of Bloomingdale-Roselle has been great friends with the Humanitarian Service Project (HSP) for 12 years and has made another outstanding donation of $800 to sponsor a senior in our Senior Citizen Project (SCP).

The club has consistently sponsored Betty S. in our SCP. This afternoon, the club presented HSP with the check for $800 to continue to support their adopted senior with 90 pounds of nutritious food each month along with paper products, cleaning products and personal hygiene items that are donated by volunteers.

Paul Yambrovich, HSP’s community outreach coordinator, was invited to speak at a joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Bloomingdale-Roselle and the Rotary Club of Schaumberg. In total, 45 members were in attendance as Paul gave updates on the good works that have been provided by their funding. Paul also talked about specific information on how Betty’s life has improved with their generous help.

Additionally, one of the members of the club, Tim Jarzemsky, donated $60 to our Christmas Offering. This money will sponsor 1 family and provide them with 2-3 weeks worth of groceries and at least 5 gifts for each child under the tree.

The monetary donations are not the only way that this group helps the needy in their community; the Rotary Club will be coming in on December 9^th to volunteer and help sort gifts that will be distributed to families in the area.

Thanks again to our great friends from the Rotary Club of Bloomingdale-Roselle. Your continued support is truly inspiring and makes a difference in many needy children, seniors, and families in our own community!

Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts Making a Difference!

Every day here at the Humanitarian Service Project brings in new and different groups that want to help, especially around the holidays. This week we have seen multiple Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops bring in items from toy drives and food drives that they held.

We would like to thank Cub Scouts Pack 151 from Fairview School and Daisy Troop 41159 from Westbrook School, both in Mount Prospect, for their generous contribution. Together these 2 groups brought in over 80 toys! These toys will be wrapped and given to needy children in the Dupage and Kane counties. Your thoughtfulness to think of others will be much appreciated this Christmas.

We would also like to give a big thanks to a Daisy Troop from Lowell Elementary School in Wheaton and Cub Scout Pack 191 from Carol Stream. The Daisy Troop was able to collect 55 boxes of non-perishable items and also made beautiful Thanksgiving placemats. The Cub Scout Pack had 2 SUV’s full of food that they were able to collect over the course of the food drive. This food will be delivered to seniors also in the Dupage and Kane county area just in time for the holidays.

Thank you again to everyone who helped out with these drives. Your kind donations will make the lives of needy children, seniors and families a lot brighter and filled with joy this season!

Thank You OCC and Glenbard South Key Club

We at Humanitarian Service Project have been blessed with the friendship of numerous wonderful individuals and organizations, who have been fantastic partners in our efforts to reach out to needy families and senior citizens in the area. We want to take this time to thank two specific groups who came to our center in Carol Stream to help out on Friday of last week. The first group we’d like to thank is a group of 10 volunteers from OCC in Chicago who came in to sort the fresh produce that went out to the seniors in our Senior Citizen Project as part of our delivery day this past Saturday. The employees of OCC have been fantastic friends of HSP. They have, to date, raised over $18,000 for our Senior Citizen Project through employee “jeans days,” employee raffles, and other charitable giving. This group of 10 came, for the second time this year, to volunteer in order to get a hands on understanding of what their generous giving allows us to do for the needy seniors we serve. We want to extend our deepest thanks to these volunteers, Karen, Jon, Ty, Denise, Joe, Carmen, Steve, David, and Valerie and all of the other employees at OCC, for all the support they have given to HSP.

The second group we would like to thank is a group of six students from Glenbard South High School’s Key Club, for also assisting in our warehouse on Friday. The club at Glenbard South has been regularly coming in on the day before our delivery days for years to help sort produce, and do other jobs in our warehouse. All of the wonderful young people who volunteered here at HSP through the Glenbard South Key Club have helped us make a difference in the lives of countless people in need. We want to thank this group of six, and all of those who have come before from the club, for all their heartfelt work. At this time of year, our need for volunteer groups like these really increases. If you, either as an individual or in a group, would like to volunteer some time helping out here at HSP, please call us at 630-221-8340 to reserve a time for the month of December.

Thanks for a Great Delivery Day!

We at the Humanitarian Service Project want to thank everyone involved in our monthly delivery day to the seniors in our Senior Citizen Project this past Saturday, the 19^th. Thanks to the wonderful support of both our many veteran volunteers and some fantastic new helpers, our deliveries to the 120 needy seniors in the project went off without a hitch. We wanted to thank everyone involved for making the deliveries to our seniors a continued success. This Saturday was the first delivery day for our Senior Citizen Project Coordinator Tierney Hogan, and she wanted to thank all of the volunteers for helping make it a success while she is learning the ropes.

Every month, the 120 needy senior citizens in our program receive 90 pounds of groceries including fresh produce, bread, 7 frozen meats, non-perishables, paper products, personal care items, and a gift from their “secret pal.” In order to make this a possibility, a number of fantastic volunteers and donors help out by doing a myriad of different tasks like sorting food, loading cars, delivery to the seniors, being a seniors “secret pal” etc. If you would like to be involved in HSP’s delivery days to help us make a difference in the lives of these needy seniors, please call us at 630-221-8340. Our next delivery day is on December 10^th.

Food Drives Galore!

In the past few days the Humanitarian Service Project has seen a wonderful effort by numerous groups who have put together food drives and brought in generous donations of non-perishable items. These donations were contributed by a group of 8^th grade girls with St. John the Baptist Parish in Winfield, Gregory Middle School in Naperville, and Giant Steps Jr. High in Lisle. The food donated to HSP is used in our Senior Citizen Project. This project delivers over 90 pounds of nutritious food to over 120 needy seniors in the DuPage and Kane county area every month. This is especially important and appreciated around the holiday season!

· The girls from St. John the Baptist Parish organized a service project to collect food to be donated to HSP for needy seniors in time for Thanksgiving. The girls reached out to friends and neighbors of Winfield Estates with flyers and empty grocery bags. The flier said “we are passing out these grocery bags with the hope that your generous hearts will be touched by those truly in need,” in anticipation that their friends and neighbors would fill them with food to be donated. The young girls received a tremendous response and brought in dozens of bags of donated food! The girls were so enthusiastic to help that they immediately started unloading and sorting the food in the warehouse.

· In addition, Gregory Middle School made their food drive a school wide effort! All staff and students were asked to bring in any non-perishable items that they could between November 3^rd and 17^th. HSP’s volunteer driver, Pete Laabs, picked up the donation from the school yesterday and the end result was an entire van full of food!

· Last but certainly not least is the Giant Steps Jr. High Group. These special needs students came in this afternoon with a very personal donation. Each student was able to individually put their contribution in the warehouse and see where a donation actually goes and how it is sorted to be delivered. The students also got a tour of HSP’s building and were able to see all the different projects that go on under our roof.

HSP would like to thank all 3 of these groups for their generous and hard work! Your kindness will make a difference in many people lives, especially during this holiday season!

HSP Welcomes a New Intern!

Humanitarian Service Project is excited to introduce you to our new intern, Kelsey Rhoney. Kelsey recently graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in communications, and will be helping us out with public relations and marketing. Kelsey says she applied for the internship here at HSP, because she thought it would offer her both an opportunity to gain worthwhile experiences as well as to help others. Kelsey is very involved in service; she works with Operation Support Our Troops on weekends and was active with Big Brothers Big Sisters in college.

Kelsey says she became very involved in service in college. When she entered college she was considering a future in teaching, so she became very involved volunteering with children. As far as some other facts about Kelsey, she is in the Illinois Army Reserves and she often competes in triathlons. We’re sure Kelsey’s fondness for service and fast paced activities will serve her well here at HSP. We are happy to have Kelsey on the team! Please join us in welcoming her.

Thank you Girl Scout Troop 157 and Max Hyman!

With the holidays fast approaching, the Humanitarian Service Project is seeing many generous donations from groups and individuals in the surrounding area. HSP would like to recognize the 17 girls from Girl Scout Troop 157 for their outstanding donation of 20 senior care kits that will be delivered to the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project this Saturday, November 19^th. The girls were eager to donate and spent their free time putting the kits together. These special packages come in decorated shoeboxes, gift bags or baskets, and include items such as facial tissues, tea packets, chapstick, coffee, hot chocolate, and numerous other items. The girls were very excited to help out and enjoyed working on this project together. In addition to putting together the kits, the Girl Scouts included personal notes into each package for a special touch. HSP would like to give a big thanks to all the girls that contributed and let them know that their kind donation will be greatly appreciated this holiday season!

The Humanitarian Service Project not only aids needy senior citizens but needy children as well! Recently, Max Hyman of Highland Park, IL dedicated part of his Bar Mitzvah to helping serve these underprivileged children. Rather than the guests bringing a gift for him, Max asked everyone that attended to bring an item of sports equipment to donate. By the end of his celebration, Max was able to collect six bags of equipment from his guests that he then donated to HSP to be used as gifts for needy children. The donation consisted of soccer balls, volleyballs, basketballs and various other items is sure to bring a smile to children’s faces during the holiday months. This thoughtful donation is an admirable example of how one person can make a difference in our community. If you are interested in donating or volunteering in any way, please call 630-221-8340 or check out our website at humanitarianservice.org for more information. Every donation and volunteer makes a difference!

Thank You St. Petronille and Favia!

These days we at the Humanitarian Service Project are getting busier and busier. With our Christmas Offering fast approaching, the needy senior citizens and families that we serve rely on us to not slow down. For this reason we would like to extend a big thank you to a group of ten youth and their chaperones from St. Petronille Parish in Glen Ellyn and a very youthful at heart group of 15 from the Favia group, a financial planning firm in Villa Park, for volunteering their time and youthful vigor in our warehouse this past Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. These groups donated hours of their time sorting food for the needy families we reach out to out Christmas time. We want to thank these fantastic volunteers from St. Petronille and the Favia Group for the hard work they did. We also want to thank our faithful volunteers Tom Hogan and Larry Erven for supervising them in our warehouse. The generous, “can do” spirit we have seen reflected in this group, and our other volunteers and donors, is what makes all that HSP does to make a positive impact in the lives of the needy seniors and families we serve possible.

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, we at HSP are always so thrilled with the wonderful support we receive from our volunteers and donors. This Christmas, HSP will be providing gifts for an estimated 1200 needy children and the 120 seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. We also provide 3 weeks worth of groceries, including fresh produce, frozen meats and non-perishables, for 100 of the families in our Children’s Birthday Project and a turkey with all of the makings of a holiday meal to 150 more of the families in the project. This is all on top of the normal, monthly delivery of 90 pounds of groceries to the seniors we serve. Without the support of our wonderful volunteers and donors, we at HSP would not be able to do all of this for the needy people we serve. We still have room for volunteers in the month of December. If you are interested in participating, please call us at 630-221-8340 to reserve a spot.

Thank You NNNC

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend our deepest thanks to the Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors Club (NNNC.) HSP was the club’s chosen charity of the month, and they donated a trunk full of toys to benefit the needy children we serve through our Children’s Birthday Project and Christmas Offering. HSP was represented yesterday at the club’s yearly “Make, Bake, and Buy Luncheon,” the club’s largest annual fundraiser, but out Community Outreach Coordinator Paul Yambrovich and speaker team member Anne Henricksen. Paul and Anne got the opportunity to speak to the group to discuss how the group’s fantastic support has allowed HSP to make an impact in the lives of the needy seniors and families we serve.

Paul said he was happy to be able to speak with the group because they have been such a wonderful friend of HSP. The NNNC has been helping HSP reach out to needy children in the area by sponsoring children, and providing toy drives (like the one they just donated) for sixteen years. We want to thank everyone in the Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors Club for all of their heartfelt support over the years.

Helping Us Get a Leg Up

Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank a group of six volunteers from McDonald’s corporate office in Oakbrook for coming to our center in Carol Stream on Monday. The group of six helped us out by wrapping gifts for the children in our Children’s Birthday Project. We were impressed by what fantastic wrappers all of them were, and we most certainly appreciated all of them taking time out of their schedules to help us make birthdays a little more special for the needy children we serve. We at HSP have received a lot of great support from McDonald’s corporate office over the past several years; most recently by participating in school supply drive this summer. We want to thank these fantastic volunteers for the terrific job they did, as well as everyone at McDonald’s corporate office for being such good friends of HSP.

At this time of year, we at HSP are constantly thinking about Christmas because of all the extra things we do to reach out to the needy seniors and families we serve. That is one of the reason’s we were so delighted to have this group from McDonald’s come in and help out with our Children’s Birthday Project, a very important year round service we do around here. With the heartfelt work done by this group of volunteers from McDonald’s they provided us with an extra leg up on the Project so we that we can give our upcoming Christmas Offering the attention it deserves.

If you are interested in helping HSP reach out to the needy senior citizens and families we serve through our programs (like this fantastic group from McDonald’s did) you can learn more about volunteer opportunities at our website here: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html.

Thank you St. Walter Church!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to issue a big thank you to the confirmation group at St. Walter Church in Roselle, for conducting a large food drive to benefit the needy senior citizens and families in our programs. Parents of the children in St Walter’s confirmation class have been swinging by our center in Carol Stream all day with food collected for the drive. A total of ten cars with trunks full of food have been by already, and the Youth Minister at St. Walter, Karen Campe who organized the drive, says even more are on the way. We at HSP are so excited to receive this drive, as it will allow us to provide for so many senior citizens and families in the area that desperately need it. We want to thank all everyone from St. Walter Church who participated, especially the confirmation children who ran it and the parents who have taken time out of their day to deliver the food. It is this sort of heartfelt service that allows HSP to continue to make a big impact in the lives of the truly needy in our community. Thank you so much.

This food drive has come in at a very important time for Humanitarian Service Project. Humanitarian Service Project provides around 90 pounds of groceries to the 120 needy senior citizens in our Senior Citizen Program every month and, around the holidays, we also provide much needed food to 250 of the needy families with children in our Children’s Birthday Project as well. As you can imagine, we at HSP rely a lot on the help from donations, like this great food drive from St. Walter Church, to make it all possible. If you would like to learn ways you can help HSP reach out to the needy people we serve, you can learn more at this link: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html.

It’s a New Record

We at the Humanitarian Service Project are not really in the business of judging world records, but we think we may have just witnessed one. When we opened up today, Rich Knecht from the Give Back Club of Wheaton and Warrenville came in to pick up eight bags full of gifts for the needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project for the group to wrap and return to us. Considering this was only at 9 this morning, we were all a little confused when Rich was already back a little before 11am. The Give Back Club had wrapped eight bags, which have anywhere from 6-15 toys and four books each, in less than two hours! We want to thank the Give Back Club for helping us reach out to the needy children we serve by wrapping the gifts for us, and we are still in shock at the speed in which they did this. We especially want to thank Rich from the club for picking up and dropping the bags off, as well as Lori Belha, from the group, for spearheading, what we assume is, the world’s fastest wrapping party.

At the Humanitarian Service Project our donors and volunteers help us make birthdays and Christmas special for needy children whose families are under the poverty line. For their birthday, each child receives a 20-25 pound box full of gifts and party supplies, to help give them a fantastic birthday. Of course, we at HSP would probably have to win the lottery to pay for the wrapping paper necessary for all 700 children in the program. Thankfully we have wonderful groups and individuals, like the Give Back Club of Wheaton and Warrenville, who donate their time, wrapping paper, and ribbon to help us reach out to these needy children. If you think wrapping gifts for the children in our program sounds like a fun volunteer opportunity, please call us at 630-221-8340 to let us know.

Huge Thanks to District 88’s Transition Group & Citra of Downer’s Grove Park District

Here at the Humanitarian Service Project we are chugging along at a decent pace for our Christmas Food sorting! We would like to extend a huge thank you to the DuPage High School District 88’s Transition Group for playing an important part in our process! The did great work earlier today in helping us sort out the food donations that we had received earlier in the week from the Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors group that we featured in our previous blog post as well as food that they brought in as their own donation! The Transition Group did a wonderful job, and we at HSP greatly appreciate all the effort that they put into sorting the food as well as the donation of food!

DuPage High School District 88’s Transition Group

We would also like to extend our thanks to the Citra service group from the Downer’s Grove Park District. These five young adults helped build one-hundred new boxes and sort a variety of food into them for one-hundred families that HSP will be distributing food to this Christmas season. The Citra group did a fantastic job, and we thank them for taking time out of their week to lend a helping hand.

Citra service group of the Downers Grove Park District

A third huge thank you goes to Tom Hogan for volunteering all day in order to supervise the two other volunteer groups! He did a wonderful job in keeping track of the sorting process! Thank you again, Tom.

Finally, we would also like to thank Pete Laabs, Bud Newman, and Larry Erven for the work delivering food to us and the effort they put into helping HSP keep everything moving forward.

Thanks again to everyone that came in today to volunteer. HSP would not be able to provide our services without your continued support! If you, or anyone you know, would like to help make a difference in the surrounding community by volunteering here at HSP, you can learn more by visiting this link: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html

Thank You Joint Commission!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the Joint Commission of Oakbrook Terrace. A group of 8 volunteers from the Joint Commission came to our office in Carol Stream today to help out in our warehouse. Not only did the group sort non-perishable food in our warehouse for over three hours, but they actually donated the food they were sorting. They brought twenty two boxes full of non-perishable food to go out to the needy families we serve at Christmas time, and went right to work sorting it. We want to thank the Joint Commission for the donation of the 22 boxes of food, and the group of eight that came to sort it. This type of overflowing, heartfelt support is what enables HSP to reach out to the needy families and senior citizens that we serve. We also want to issue a big thank you to our longtime volunteer Kristin Maxwell for helping this group from the Joint Commission out in the warehouse.

The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies healthcare organizations and programs based on the quality of care they provide. Their “vision statement” is for “all people [to] always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value healthcare across all settings.” You can learn more about the group at their website: http://www.jointcommission.org/.

The Joint Commission’s donation of both time and food will help HSP accomplish the goal of providing food to 250 families this Christmas. On top of the food for the families, Humanitarian Service Project is also provides Christmas gifts for 1200 needy children, as well as the 120 needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. Our wonderful donors and fantastic volunteer groups, like this one from the Joint Commission, are what make this all possible. We still have plenty of need for volunteer groups in the month of December. Please call us at 630-221-8340 if you are interested in reserving a spot.

Thank You Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to issue a huge thank you to the Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors Club (NNNC.) A group of 13 women from the club came to work in our warehouse to help us sort non-perishable food items for our upcoming Christmas Offering. According to Larry Erven, a regular volunteer of ours who graciously came in to help acclimate the group to our warehouse “these ladies were among the fastest, most efficient volunteers that [he had] ever seen.” We are inclined to agree with Larry; these women from the NNNC even helped unload a shipment from the food bank that was picked by our volunteer driver John Jaska. The hard work put in by this group has really helped us at HSP prepare to serve all of the needy families and seniors we serve at Christmas, and we want to thank them for their help. We, of course, also want to thank Larry for coming in to help with the group and John for being our volunteer driver. Thanks guys!

The Naperville Newcomers and Neighbors Club has been an important friend of HSP for a while now. They’ve helped HSP reach out to countless needy children through multiple sponsorships of children in our Children’s Birthday Project every year since 1995. They have also run toy drives to help benefit the needy children we serve at Christmas for 16 years, and also will be doing so this year. Of course, this group of gung-ho women from the club provided fantastic service as well. If you are interested in helping out in our warehouse for our Christmas Offering, like this great group, we still have many slots for groups, or individuals, to come in during the month of December. Call us to reserve a spot at 630-221-8340.

Philanthropy out of the Mists

Last night our Community Outreach Coordinator, Paul Yambrovich, was a visitor at the meeting of the DuPage County chapter of the 100+ Women Who Care to express Humanitarian Service Project’s gratitude for the donation of over $11,000 that we received from them recently. Paul was impressed with how the group operated calling them the “100+ Women of Brigadoon.” For those unfamiliar with that classic Gene Kelly film, Brigadoon is the name of a town the magically appears out of the mists for one day once every hundred years. The 100+ Women Who Care group is reminiscent of Brigadoon, because of their unique fundraising method. They meet only four times a year and only for about 45 minutes each time, but at each meeting they raise over $10,000 for a worthy local charity. They then "magically appear out of the mists" to bestow this amazing donation on the unsuspecting, but very grateful, organization!

Paul said it was “an amazing experience to see the women raise over $10,000 for another worthwhile non-profit,” and he described the method which the 100+ Women Who Care use as “the most effective, efficient, and fun philanthropic endeavor” he has witnessed. In less than five years, the group has donated over $220,000 to local charities. As the HSP can attest, this money makes an immense difference in the lives of our neighbors in need that are served by these organizations!

Humanitarian Service Project was the recipient of the funds raised at the 100+ Women Who Care’s August meeting. The money they donated has allowed HSP to sponsor 100 needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project and 8 impoverished seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. We want to thank the group for helping us reach out to those in the area who are burdened by poverty. You can learn more about the DuPage Chapter of the 100+ Women Who Care at this link: http://100wwc.weebly.com/index.html or, if you are interested in helping HSP reach out the needy families and senior citizens we serve, you can learn more at this link: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html.

Thanks (Again) Willowbrook High School

It seems that yesterday was Willowbrook High School day at Humanitarian Service Project. Not only did we receive the food the School’s Key Club collected for the needy people in our programs, which we posted about earlier today, but we also had a group of nine students from the school’s special education program come in to help out in our warehouse. The students spent two hours with our volunteer Tom Hogan sorting food for the needy senior citizens and families in our projects. These nine students and their chaperones sure put their all into helping us organize our warehouse and getting prepared for our busy holiday season. We want to thank the students, their chaperones Margaret Wealton and Anthony Lucas, and our volunteer Tom, for all their hard work.

With our Christmas Offering Project getting ever closer, November and December are months where activity really picks up around HSP. Not only do we have the normal monthly deliveries of 90 pounds of groceries for the needy senior citizens in our Senior Citizen Project for the months of November and December, but we also have food to sort for 250 of the needy families in our Children’s Birthday Project, Christmas gifts for 1200 needy children, and gifts for the 120 seniors in our program coming in and going out in the next couple of months. Suffice it to say, we depend a lot on volunteer groups, like these fantastic students from Willowbrook High School, to make this all possible. We still have a lot of room for groups, or other volunteers, to come in for a few hours any time from 9:30-5:30 on weekdays in December to help us make an impact in the lives of the needy seniors and families we serve. If you are interested in volunteering, please call us at 630-221-8340 to reserve a time.

Thank You Willowbrook High School

After having discussed the generous donation by a group of high school students from Downers Grove North yesterday, we at the Humanitarian Service Project are happy to continue with that theme today. HSP would like to thank the Key Club at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park for donating a large amount of food for the needy people in our programs through their annual food drive. The food was picked up at Willowbrook by our volunteer drivers Bud Newman, Joe Dooley, and Mike Reich yesterday, and the food donated filled an entire van. We at HSP want to thank everyone involved with the Willowbrook High School Key Club for their continued assistance in helping us reach out to those who are affected by poverty. The club has been assisting HSP through its annual food drive since 1997.

The food collected by Willowbrook High School’s Key Club will go directly to the needy seniors and families that we at HSP serve. Every month, the 120 needy senior citizens in our program receive over 90 pounds of groceries, including food from all food groups, to make sure their basic dietary needs are met. This is also the time of year in which HSP takes on the extra goal of providing a large amount of food to many of the needy families in our Children’s Birthday Project for the holidays. We want to thank the Willowbrook High School Key Club and all of our other donors, for helping make this possible. We would also like to thank our drivers Bud, Joe, and Mike, and all of our other great volunteers, who help keep things moving at HSP. If you are interested in helping HSP make a difference in the lives of those in the area affected by poverty, you can learn more at this link: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html.

Not a Trick, but a Real Treat

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend our deepest thanks to the Direct Action Club at Downers Grove North High School, for donating ten boxes full of non-perishable food for the needy seniors and families in our programs. The club went door to door on Halloween trick or treating, not for candy, but canned goods. The club even delivered all of the food they had collected to our center in Carol Stream. We at HSP are thrilled to have the support of these fantastic high school students, who have shown real dedication in helping others. We want to thank everyone in the club for their wonderful support.

The food donated by these thoughtful students will help HSP reach out to needy senior citizens and families in the area. Every month, the 120 needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project receive 90 pounds of groceries to help alleviate the burden poverty has placed on them. We are also entering the time of year in which we take on the task of providing food for 250 needy families that are enrolled in our Children’s Birthday Project. If you are interested in supporting HSP with a food drive, like this one from Downers Grove North’s Direct Action Club, you can learn more at this link: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/fooddrive.html or call us at 630-221-8340.

Putting Students on the Trail to Success

We may be far removed from the season of “back-to-school” shopping, but we at the Humanitarian Service Project know that students do not suddenly stop needing school supplies after the beginning of the school year. We at HSP hope to have chalk meeting chalkboards and pens meeting paper throughout the entire school year. However, there are a lot of needy students in the area whose families have a hard time affording all of the supplies necessary for a successful school year. That is why HSP is happy to announce that last week, a large amount of school supplies were picked up from our center for needy students at Army Trail School in Addison. The supplies were picked up by Linda, an employee at Army Trail School, who said that there are a number of needy students at her school who desperately needed the supplies. Linda also said the school would be working with Army Trail’s sister school, and the other schools in the same district, to make sure some of the supplies got into the hands of students in need at those schools as well.

The supplies were donated to HSP by a number of donors as part of our School Supply Drive. Thanks to the generosity of these donors, Humanitarian Service Project was able to get school supplies out to over two thousand needy children this year, both directly through their families and through donations to schools like this one. We at HSP want to thank everyone who participated in the drive, and we want you to know that your generosity has made an impact in the lives of many needy children.

HSP Welcomes a New Intern

Continuing the trend of introducing new faces, we have another new member of our team we’d like to officially welcome to the Humanitarian Service Project, Joel our new Grant Writing intern. Joel recently received his bachelor’s degree in history from DePaul University, and he will be start working towards a master’s degree in writing at DePaul, in a few months. Joel was interested in interning at HSP because he thought the internship would be a good way to practice writing for his education, and he wanted to learn more about the non-profit world.

Joel has been involved in service since he was in Junior High. Prior to coming to work for us, most of his service experience has come through being active in his church, where he often helped pack up boxes of food for the needy. Joel has many talents and interests. Joel is a recreational runner, and he plays drums. In the future, he would like to be a college professor. We at HSP are excited to have Joel here, and we look forward to working with him.

Welcome Tierney!

You may be familiar with the expression, “change is the only constant.” It is an expression that gets said a lot here at the Humanitarian Service Project. We look at this as a positive thing, and it certainly has proven to be positive in this case. Right as we are welcoming Bridget our new receptionist, we are welcoming another new member to the HSP team as well. We are very excited to welcome Tierney, the new coordinator for our Senior Citizen Project. Tierney is recently out of Loyola University, where she double majored in environmental studies and anthropology. Tierney says that becoming very involved in outreach in college inspired her to pursue a career in the non-profit world. We at HSP are excited to have her!

Tierney has been involved in service throughout her life. Her father, who is a regular volunteer here at HSP, is a large influence in her life, and she even attended some of the delivery days for our Senior Citizen Project with him when she was younger. Outside of service, Tierney loves music and crafts. She plays the piano and is teaching herself accordion. She loves to knit and is looking into quilting. Tierney is looking forward to working with the seniors in our project, and making sure we at HSP do all that is in our power to reach out to them. Please join us in welcoming Tierney onto the HSP team.

HSP Welcomes Bridget

Humanitarian Service Project is excited to introduce all of you to Bridget, our new receptionist. As the new receptionist Bridget will be the face of HSP, so to speak, so we’re sure she will be getting to know a lot of you. Bridget only started yesterday, but she’s already proven to be a quite the quick learner. Bridget says she felt the desire to work at HSP because of her desire to serve and interact with people, as well as all the great things she heard about us from her father, who often volunteers his time here at HSP. Prior to coming to work for us, Bridget was a fourth grade teacher for fifteen years.

Bridget says service has been a big part of her life ever since she was a child. She’s been involved in a number of service projects throughout her life, so we know she’ll fit right in working here. Bridget also loves to travel, and loves to read. We at HSP are thrilled to have Bridget here working for us. We want to welcome her to our team, and if you come by our center in Carol Stream, please be sure to welcome her as well.