Theme of the Day: Giving!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva for donating 35 Party in a Bag kits for the sake of the impoverished children in HSP’s Children’s Birthday Project. The Society has been involved in a number of different service projects here at HSP (including volunteering, making personal kits for the needy seniors we serve, and more) but this is the first time they have donated Party in a Bag kits. However, let us tell you, even though this was their first time, these kits seemed like they were done by pros. The Society put extreme care and detail in making these kits a fun birthday surprise for the needy children who will receive them! They even made several themed kits. These themes included football, basketball, baseball, flowers, and even Angry Birds! We again, wish to thank the members of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva for these putting so much effort and creativity into this donation.

Just in time for the big game on Sunday, a
football themed party bag from the UUSG!

These kits were packed full of all of the party supplies needed to throw a memorable birthday party, like; party favors, cake mix, streamers, a table cloth, balloons, cups, napkins, candles, and even some larger thematic decorations (like a football shaped center piece.) This donation has ensured that the 35 needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project, who receive them, will have a very special birthday!

Each of the 900 needy children in the project receives a Party in a Bag as part of the 20-25 birthday boxes HSP’s provides for them. If you too would like to help HSP reach needy children in this way, you can learn more at our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/donations.html. 

Thank You to G & M Die Casting

Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank G & M Die Casting for their continual and much appreciated support. This is not the first time the Wood Dale company has gone out of their way to make such a large contribution. Yesterday Mark Hirsch, the president of G & M, dropped off 480 boxes of tissues. They have been donating to HSP since early 2007. The frequency of their kindness has totaled to over 5000 boxes of tissues for our needy seniors.

Paper products are such an important part of our Senior Citizen Project. Each month, included in the 100lb monthly delivery, the needy seniors in the Senior Citizen Project receive:

• 6-8 rolls of toilet paper
• 2 rolls of paper towels
• and 2 boxes of tissues.           

There are 121 seniors involved with our Senior Citizen Project, which means there is a definite need for paper product donations. Once all of their necessary expenses are paid off, such as rent, utilities, and medicals costs, these needy seniors cannot afford everyday essentials. This is why HSP includes items such as paper products in their monthly deliveries. The generosity of G & M Die Casting goes such a long way here at HSP. If you would like help these needy seniors by running your own paper drive please call us at (630) 221-8340. 

A Donation Dream Come True!

Dean Senne (left) and Mike Tortorello (right)
also helped with veggie chip pickup donation!

The Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank a team of people who made it possible to get a comfy mattress, box spring, and bedding to one of the seniors involved with HSP. Thanks to this wonderful donation this senior will surely be having sweet dreams. We wish to thank Caroline Kos for her generous donation of the mattress, box spring, and bedding. We would also like to give a big thanks to the HSP volunteers Mike Tortorello and Dean Senne for delivering such a big donation. The senior was so excited to have her new mattress and could not wait to sleep on it tonight.

The seniors that are involved with our program constantly have to stretch their modest incomes between necessary expenses like rent, utilities, and medical bills. They cannot always afford items they may need to live comfortably.  Seniors are able to contact HSP and inform us of what “wish list” items they are in need of. We accept these donations, gently used or new, to make an impact in these seniors’ lives. Some commonly requested items are: 

·          furniture (particularly recliners, dressers, and tables)

·          food processors

·          microwaves

·          light weight vacuums

·         George Foreman grills

·          and commonly used kitchen and household items. 

We again want to thank Caroline, Mike and Dean for their thoughtfulness. Please call HSP if you have a potential donation as they are greatly appreciated, our phone number is (630) 221-8340.  

Fun Run That Helps a Ton!

HSP volunteer Ginna Eriksen (second from right) with family
and HSP staff member Alex Gordy (far right) 

The Humanitarian Service Project is excited to announce that registration is now open for the second annual DuPage County Human Race! This race is a community wide event that will benefit various non-profits. HSP is one of the charities that you can support by entering the race. There are two great ways you can help out HSP. You can either sign up and join in on the 5k run/fitness walk or donate to those that are participating. HSP had an awesome time at last year’s event, and are looking forward to it again this year.

The Human Race will take place at The Esplanade at Locust Point in Downers Grove on April 27^th of this year. You may register for a 5k or a fitness walk. Dogs, strollers, and wheelchairs are permitted on the walk, so bring the whole family if you want!

For more information and registration the Human Race official website is: www.dupagehumanrace.org. Also to log on directly to HSP’S fund raising page go to: http://www.active.com/donate/dupagehumanrace2013/humanitarianserviceproject. We hope to see you there! 

Thank You First Presbyterian Church Middle Schoolers!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank the Middle School Youth of First Presbyterian Church in Wheaton for assembling and donating 40 “Party-in-a-bag” kits for needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project. These bags were dropped off at HSP yesterday by Mary Kinsey, the Middle School Ministry Leader at First Presbyterian. The group assembled the kits as service project on Wednesday night, with party supplies they collected from their friends and families. The group also wrapped the birthday gifts for four of the needy children served by our project.

These kits will be used to provide a memorable birthday party for 40 needy children. All 900 served by HSP’s Children’s Birthday Project receive a Party-in-a-bag kit, as part of their 20-25 lb “Birthday Box.” These kits contain all the necessary items to throw a birthday party that will make these children feel special on their birthdays. These wonderful kits made by the First Presbyterian Middle School students included cake mix, frosting, candles, plates, cups, streamers, and tons of great party favors. Again, we wish to thank this wonderful group of young people for helping us reach out to needy children. 

Birthday Boxes to Needy Children at Lake Park Elementary School

Last week, Humanitarian Service Project wrote about delivering bread to the needy students at Lake Park Elementary School in Addison. Yesterday, HSP had the pleasure of going to Lake Park again, this time delivering the Birthday Boxes for all the needy children at the school with February birthdays. The boxes were dropped off at the school yesterday by HSP volunteers, Jeff Marker and Dean Senne. Jeff has delivered our birthday boxes to Lake Park Elementary numerous times now, and yesterday he was commenting on the continued gratitude of Lake Park’s principal Deb Martello, and the office staff. Through working with Deb, and the rest of the staff at Lake Park Elementary, we have come to know them not just as educators, but as people whole-heartedly committed to serving the needs of children. We wish to thank our supporters that have made it possible for us to partner with Lake Park Elementary school, to continue to serve the very needy children there. Of course, we also wish to thank Dean and Jeff for making the delivery yesterday.

Birthdays are a particularly important time in a child’s life, as they are an opportunity for those around them to show him or her how special they are. However, families living under poverty are often not able to provide their children with gifts or birthday parties, because they are already struggling to make ends meet. For this reason, HSP’s Children’s Birthday Project provides a 20-25 birthday box to 900 needy children (including all of the needy children at Lake Park Elementary) from ages 3-11 which contains 6-10 new gifts, 6 books, numerous “filler” gifts, and a “party in a bag” which includes all the supplies necessary for a memorable birthday party. If you would like to assist HSP in serving these needy children, there are a number of ways you can help out. Our greatest need is always new gifts for older children (ages 8-11,) or you can learn other ways to help on our website: http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/donations.html

Exchange Club of Naperville Extends Kindness

We at the Humanitarian Service Project wish to thank The Exchange Club of Naperville for making a generous donation to benefit our Feed the Kids program. Yesterday, Anna Zimmerman, a member of this wonderful club, stopped by HSP and contributed an extremely charitable donation. The Exchange Club of Naperville, is incredibly active in serving those in need, and support not only HSP but dozens of other worthy local nonprofit organizations, primarily through the funds they raise from Naperville’s Ribfest that occurs around the 4^th of July. Each year HSP is able to experience this great annual festival by joining in on the fun and volunteering.

HSP's Assistant Director, Kristin Maxwell (left) meeting with
Anna Zimmerman of the Exchange Club of Naperville

The money that has been donated by The Exchange Club of Naperville will help to fund our Feed the Kids Program.  Through Feed the Kids program HSP supplies 100 families (approximately 400 children) with 175 lbs of nutritious groceries during the summer months of June, July, and August. During the school year many of these families rely on the subsidized lunch programs, leaving them in great need of nutritious food the summer months. Each family receives 15 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables, 3-6 25lb boxes of non-perishables, 7 frozen meats, 4-6 loaves of frozen bread, and nutritious snacks that will surely appeal to children. The Exchange Club of Naperville has been a huge supporter of Feed the Kids since 2006.

Once again we are extremely grateful for the support and generosity that The Exchange Club of Naperville has shown us. It is through the wonderful supporters and volunteers of the project that allow us to provide the needs of those served by our programs. 

HSP is Now LinkedIn

Today at HSP, we have officially become LinkedIn! In the past HSP has been able to share our experiences and news through multiple media sources such as Facebook, Youtube, and of course this blog, but we are very excited to add a new media source, LinkedIn. Our page is now spruced up and ready to go in order to showcase what HSP is all about. The website allows for us to keep in touch with our supporters while also keeping them up-to-date. Our LinkedIn page contains a variety of important information from the services that HSP provides to the many opportunities to volunteer with us. Filled with pictures and links to our domain website, there is surely something for everyone.

If any of our supporters have a LinkedIn account or know someone who does we greatly encourage that you become an HSP follower! Being an HSP follower with allow you to learn of the exciting opportunities and crucial projects we will be carrying out in the year 2013! You can connect with our account at http://www.linkedin.com/company/the-humanitarian-service-project. 

Welcome Shawn and Rosie!

Last week, Humanitarian Service Project introduced you to our first group of new interns for 2013. Today, HSP has the pleasure of introducing you to two more additions to the HSP intern team, Shawn Lawton and Rosie Bruns.

Shawn graduated from North Central College in Naperville with his Bachelor’s degree in International Business. Shawn says he was motivated to apply for an internship at HSP because of his desire to help others, and because he feels HSP will also be a good environment to learn and cultivate new skills. Shawn will be assisting HSP with the annual task of interviewing and writing “updates” for the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. This very important project allows HSP to update our knowledge on the needs of the 121 seniors in the program, as well as to show the sponsors of the program just how big of an impact their generous donations have on the seniors. Shawn says that his previous experience serving as a caretaker for his grandmother, has played a major role in his desire to help out needy senior citizens. In his spare time, Shawn studies Portuguese and Computer Programming.

Secondly, we would like to introduce you to Rosie Bruns, who had her first day at HSP today. Rosie will be graduating from Northern Michigan University with a degree in Communication Studies, after completing her internship. Rosie joins us as a Marketing Intern, and, in this capacity, will be helping HSP get the word out to the community about our programs. Throughout college, Rosie has been very active in volunteering and service, which is one of the factors that inspired her to seek out an internship with HSP. One of her favorite volunteer projects is an event called “Make a Difference Day” in which she and her classmates would go out and do chores and service projects for needy seniors in the community. When not volunteering her time, or in school, Rosie’s interest include snowboarding, wakeboarding, and disc golf.

We at HSP are very excited to have both Shawn and Rosie here completing internships with us. Please join us in welcoming them to HSP!

Bread goes to Needy Students

Every so often, the Humanitarian Service Project is given opportunities to serve needy members of our community, in addition to the ways we have already committed to serving them with our programs. Today HSP had such an opportunity as we were happy to donate a cargo van full of bread to the families of needy students at Lake Park Elementary School in Addison. HSP is excited to have been able to give this bread to the school, because we know there is such great need there. Almost 90% of the students at Lake Park come from families with low enough incomes to qualify for free, or subsidized, school lunches. With so many families at Lake Park struggling to make ends meet, we are glad to have been able to provide them with this bread. 

The bread was dropped off at Lake Park by HSP volunteers Jeff Marker and Dean Senne. According to Jeff, when he and Dean arrived, the school staff was very grateful and excited. He said they assured him that this bread would bread would be of great help to these needy families. We wish to thank Jeff and Dean for delivering the bread to the school. 

 

HSP’s relationship with Lake Park Elementary School began in Christmas 2011 and all of the needy children in the school were officially adopted into our Children’s Birthday Project in February of last year. Since then, HSP has been able to coordinate with Lake Park Elementary to help them fulfill the needs of the children there, not only through providing each child a birthday box and Christmas gifts via our programs, but also donations of school supplies and, of course, this bread. We wish to thank all of our supporters who have empowered HSP to serve these very needy children.

Thank You USDA Volunteers

Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank a group of 5 volunteers from the USDA office in Lombard who volunteered their time this past Tuesday afternoon to help us sort paper products for the needy senior citizens served by our Senior Citizen Project. It’s always great to see a group of volunteers with enthusiasm, and let us tell you, these five had enthusiasm in spades. It was impossible to pull them away from the task until they had finished sorting the paper products for each of the 121 seniors in our program. We wish to thank these five volunteers, especially Wendy Ferguson who organized the event.

Paper products are a vital part of the 100 lb., grocery deliveries that HSP provides every month to each of the seniors served by the Senior Citizen Project. Receiving paper towels, Kleenex, and toilet paper allows the needy seniors to spend their modest incomes on more pressing matters like rent and medical supplies. Of course, with the monthly deliveries also including 15 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables, 7 frozen meats, 3 loaves of Pepperidge Farm bread, 6 bags of non-perishables, and personal care products, there is a lot to prepare for the Senior Delivery Day each month. For this reason, we want to again thank these volunteers from the USDA who took time out of their day, to help us get a leg up on next month’s delivery, by getting the paper products handled.

If you too would like to help HSP serve 121 needy seniors, donations of paper products, like those sorted by this wonderful volunteer group, are always greatly needed. If you are interested, learn more by calling HSP at 630-221-8340 or checking out our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/.