National Night Out

Yesterday HSP hosted a visit from Officer Tom Eby and Ray Murch, representatives of the Carol Stream Police Department. The officers came to pick up school supplies which will be distributed amongst local families as part of the community’s celebration of the 32^nd annual National Night Out next Tuesday evening. During National Night Out, community members are encouraged to spend the evening outdoors, enjoying time with their neighbors on patios, front porches, or at block parties. The National Night Out celebration in Community Park begins at 6 pm on Tuesday, August 4^th, and will feature a barbeque, rides, exhibits, and music. This is HSP’s first year supporting the event, and we are excited for the opportunity to reach out to more local families with the school supplies they need. HSP would like to thank those who have helped make this possible by donating to our School Supply Drive.

Thank You, Paylocity Volunteers

Today, HSP had the pleasure of welcoming a group of volunteers from Paylocity. This was the first time Paylocity visited HSP, and these wonderful volunteers spent two hours wrapping gifts for our Children’s Birthday Project. The group was made up of people from several departments, and they were volunteering as part of Paylocity’s Engagement and Spirit commitment. This commitment ensures that, as a company, Paylocity reaches out and gives back to the community. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet these wonderful men and women, and for the time that they gave to help our Children’s Birthday Project and the needy children we serve. 

Thank You Giant Steps!

This week HSP was delighted to have two volunteer groups from our friends at Giant Steps. On Monday, the first group helped us prepare paper goods for needy seniors. Today, the second group helped us prepare school supplies to be passed out to impoverished children in the community. Giant Steps is a day school that is focused on providing education, therapeutic and recreational programs for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), their families, and the community. Giant Steps regularly comes in to help out or bring donations for the seniors and families we serve.  We cannot say thank you enough for the support we receive from Giant Steps and all our volunteer groups. With groups like these, we are able to help serve those in need in our community. Thank you Giant Steps and we hope to see you again soon!

School Supply Update

Yesterday, HSP received a generous donation of over 200 pounds of school supplies from our friends at Millward Brown in Lisle. The Millward Brown group has been supporters of the school supply drive for the past two summers. This is just one of the many wonderful donations of school supplies that have started to arrive at HSP in the recent weeks.  Because of everyone coming together, we are able to help put a smile on hundreds of children’s faces for their upcoming school year.  Today was our first distribution of school supplies to Kane County “Project Backpack”. Next week we will deliver to the DuPage County Board of Education Fair. HSP wishes to thank everyone who has donated items to our school supply drive thus far. We are incredibly blessed to have so many people support our program that is successful because of you!If you are interested in donating school supplies please contact us at 630-221-8340 or by emailing us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

 

Become a Secret Pal Today!

“I really appreciate your kind heart and thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and generosity”. “You are the definition of Christmas”. These are two Thank You card notes from seniors to their Secret Pals. Our seniors are so thankful for everything that their Secret Pals do for them. Secret Pals are a part of HSP’s Senior Citizen Project (SCP). The Secret Pal program is open to all 132 seniors in SCP. Currently there are 13 seniors still in need of a Secret Pal. A Secret Pal provides small gifts, such as blankets, puzzles, books, or personal care items, for seniors on a monthly basis, and will either drop these gifts off or mail to our facility in Carol Stream. The seniors receive their gifts on the monthly delivery days, along with their groceries. We want to say thank you to all the Secret Pals for everything they do for their seniors. If you are interested in becoming a Secret Pal, please contact us at 630-221-8340 or by email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Support HSP at the Naperville Jaycee’s Last Fling Event!

The Last Fling is only a month away and we are looking for a few more volunteers to help. Last Fling is an annual charity event sponsored by the Naperville Jaycees and will be hosted during Labor Day Weekend. At Last Fling there will be concerts, carnival rides, and other fun attractions for the whole family. The event is the Jaycees biggest annual fundraiser in order to raise money to support nonprofits in the community and throughout the Naperville area including HSP.  The funds from Last Fling will be put towards our Feed the Kids program. For more information on Last Fling, visit their website at lastfling.org.

The more volunteers who represent HSP at the event results in more funding to help serve and support low-income families. Volunteer shift times for Saturday and Sunday, 9/5 and 9/6 are: 9am-1pm, 1pm-6pm, and 5pm-11pm. On Monday, 9/7 the shifts are 8am-1pm, 1pm-5pm, and 5pm-8pm. Volunteer slots are filling up quick, make sure to sign up soon! If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions please contact HSP at 630-221-8340 or by email hsp@humanitarianservice.org. We look forward to hearing from you! Even if you can’t volunteer; we hope to see you at Last Fling on Labor Day weekend for some family fun!

Thank You Philadelphia Insurance!

Earlier this week HSP was blessed with a visit by 10 volunteers from Philadelphia Insurance. During the two hours they were here, these volunteers came in and wrapped birthday gifts for many of the underprivileged children in our Children’s Birthday Project. These fantastic volunteers even brought their own wrapping paper to wrap gifts with. Philadelphia Insurance has assisted HSP several times as volunteers in the past and we love having their support. With the help of these great volunteers, we were able to get a leg up as we prepare to deliver birthday boxes to our partner schools and get a head start for when school begins next month. Thank you Philadelphia Insurance and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank You Bloomingdale-Roselle Rotary Club!

Yesterday HSP received a very generous gift from our friends at the Bloomingdale-Roselle Rotary Club. Rotary members Tim Jarzemsky and Chuck Kinnaman delivered the  supplies to our center yesterday afternoon. They donated 30 of each specific item that is on our School Supply Drive list. The Rotary club has been huge supporters of HSP for many years supporting our seniors, Christmas Offering, and our School Supply Drive.

We wish to thank the Bloomingdale-Roselle Rotary Club for the amazing donation that will help many children and being such a huge supporter of our programs. HSP is still working on our goal of helping more than 3,000 children and you can help us get there!

The following items are still needed:

•  Backpacks
• Binders
• Pens & Pencils
• Calculators
•  Index Cards
•  Highlighters
• Rulers
•   Notebook
• Folders
• Paper 
• Crayons
• Glue 
• Markers
•  Colored Pencils

I   If you are interested in donating any school supplies or have any further questions please contact HSP by calling 630.221.8340 or by emailing hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Thank You Meadows!

Today HSP was delighted to have 6 volunteers from Meadows come in and help us get a leg up on our preparations for our August Senior Delivery Day. Meadows is an Intermediate Care Residential Home that creates a supportive living experience for disabled adults. Over the two hours, these fantastic volunteers helped sort paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissue) into distribution bags for our seniors. Thanks to great volunteer groups like Meadows, we are able to provide care and service to many people in need. We would like to say thank you to these volunteers for coming out and helping us with our preparations for our Senior Delivery Day and we look forward to seeing you again soon!

Update on School Supply Drive

 As we head into the last couple weeks of July, HSP’s School Supply Drive is in full swing. We have had a lot of wonderful donations come in already, but we are still in need of supplies to reach our goal of equipping at least 3,000 low-income children with supplies to start school in the fall. Each year, HSP collects supplies and distributes them through DuPage Regional Office of Educations’ “Back to School Fair” and Kane County’s “Project Backpack”, which will take place in just a few weeks. HSP will also distribute supplies to some local schools in DuPage and Kane counties that have a high population of low-income families and for the first time we will be supporting the Carol Stream Police Department’s “National Night Out”. In addition, school supplies will be included in birthday boxes for the children enrolled in our Children’s Birthday Project.

We are still in need of the following items:

	v  Backpacks v  Binders v  Pens & Pencils v  Calculators v Index Cards v  Highlighters v  Rulers		v      Notebooks v      Folders v      Paper v      Colored Pencils v      Crayons v      Glue v      Markers

 

If you are interested in donating or have any questions please contact HSP by calling 630-221-8340 or by emailing hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

July Delivery Day

HSP staff and volunteers have been busy this week preparing for the July Delivery Day, for our Senior Citizen Project, which is tomorrow. HSP would like to thank our friends from UPS Supply Chain Solutions for their help today, sorting produce and bread for Delivery Day. They graciously donate their time every month to help ensure we can provide these much needed items to the deserving seniors in our program. This program provides groceries on a monthly basis to seniors in need.  Each month, volunteers deliver 6.5 tons of fresh produce, meat, bread, non-perishables, and gifts from Secret Pals to 132 seniors. Delivery Days would not be possible without the help of the wonderful volunteers who help HSP to get all of the groceries set up, and those who take the time to deliver the groceries to these seniors in need. If you are interested in getting involved in our monthly Delivery Day, please contact us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org, or call us at 630-221-8340.

Thank you, Living out Loud and Sigler First Baptist Volunteers!

Today, HSP was delighted to host multiple volunteer groups. Two volunteer groups were from St. Petronille’s Living Out Loud program. This program is for youth at both St. Petronille and Resurrection Parish. They brought 14 volunteers in the morning and 5 volunteers in the afternoon to help sort meat and non-perishables for our August Feed the Kids Day. St. Petronille helps us every summer and we were happy to have them come in again. We look forward to seeing them again next year!

We also had our volunteer group from Sigler First Baptist of Sigler, OK. They spent their final day with us boxing non-perishables for FTK and wrapping presents for our Children’s Birthday Program. We cannot thank this group enough for spending three days with us and helping us complete an array of tasks. We wish them safe travels back to Oklahoma and hope to see them again next year!

Volunteer Spotlight: Gift Wrappers

This week, HSP has been blessed to have a number of groups who graciously gave their time to wrap gifts for the children in our Children’s Birthday Project. On Monday, seven volunteers from US Cellular came on site and wrapped gifts for 2 hours. Our friends at College of DuPage’s “COD Cares” hosted an un-birthday party and wrapped gifts for 25 children yesterday. Today, Journey Church in Elmhurst picked up gifts for 20 children that they will wrap for us. We at HSP would like to send out a huge thanks to these groups for all of their help. Thanks to their work in preparing us for upcoming birthdays, as well as all of the other wonderful wrappers, the children enrolled in our Children’s Birthday Project have a special Birthday Box waiting just for them.   

Thank you, Stigler First Baptist!

Today, HSP was privileged to have a wonderful volunteer group all the way from Stigler, Oklahoma. Students and their chaperones from Stigler First Baptist Church helped us prepare for the final Feed the Kids day, which is coming up in August. They boxed non-perishable items for the 100 low-income families enrolled in Feed the Kids and wrapped gifts for children, among other numerous tasks today. Other students from their group will be here tomorrow and Thursday as part of their Student Life mission trip to serve others. We at HSP would like to thank this fantastic group of volunteers for all of their hard work today and we look forward to working with them over the next few days. 

Volunteer Spotlight: Monday Sorters

Every month 132 seniors enrolled in our Senior Citizen Project receives nutritional groceries delivered to their home. With our monthly Delivery Day coming up this Saturday, HSP would like to take this time to acknowledge a group of people that help make our program successful: our food sorting volunteers.

Every Monday, volunteers come in to sort non-perishables, paper, and meat that get distributed to the seniors every month. A few other volunteers also regularly give their time on Wednesdays. We wish to thank the volunteers that start their week off by donating their time for the sake of the deserving seniors we serve. We could not run our program as smoothly without all the time you dedicate to HSP! 

Spread Love and Joy: Become a Secret Pal

All this week HSP has enjoyed seeing all the wonderful gifts Secret Pals have thoughtfully provided for the seniors in our Senior Citizen Project (SCP). This program is open to all seniors in SCP, and HSP currently has 11 seniors in need of a Secret Pal. Secret Pals provide small gifts, such as blankets, puzzles, or personal care items, for seniors on a monthly basis, and will either drop these gifts off or mail them to our facility in Carol Stream. The gifts are then delivered to the seniors in our Senior Citizen Project on delivery days, along with their monthly groceries. We are so thankful to those who give their time and funding to make the lives of these seniors a little bit brighter. Every month, HSP receives dozens of thank you notes from seniors wishing to express how grateful they are for the thoughtfulness and generosity of their Secret Pals. If you are interested in becoming a Secret Pal, please contact us at 630-221-8340, or by email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

School Supply Drive

School supply season is in full swing here at HSP and we need your help with school supply donations. Every year through the School Supply Drive, HSP provides supplies to thousands of low-income children. The supplies are distributed to the DuPage Regional Office of Educations’ “Back to School” and Kane County’s “Project Backpack”, which takes place in less than a month. HSP will continue the drive by sending supplies to a few schools with high populations of poverty in the DuPage and Kane counties. HSP also distributes school supplies to the children enrolled in our Children’s Birthday Project throughout the year.

We are in need of the following items:

v  Backpacks

v  Binders

v  Pens &Pencils

v  Calculators

v  Index Cards

v  Highlighters

v  Rulers

v  Notebooks

v  Folders

v  Paper

v  Colored Pencils

v  Crayons

v  Glue

v  Markers

If you are interested in donating or have any questions please contact HSP by calling 630-221-8340 or by emailing hsp@humanitarianservice.org. 

Feed the Kids’ Second Distribution

HSP was full of energy today as we conducted our second Feed the Kids distribution day of the year. HSP’s Feed the Kids program takes place during the summer months, serving 100 families whose children are enrolled in free/subsidized meal programs at school. These children do not receive this food during the summer, and this is where HSP comes in. Through Feed the Kids, we provide families with 175-200 pounds of non-perishable food, fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, and a variety of meat.

Our program would not be as successful as it is without the help of all of our wonderful volunteers. For this distribution, we had the pleasure of working with individual volunteers, as well as volunteers from the Carol Stream “Panther” chapter of the Young Men’s Service League and from the National Charity League. HSP would like to thank all of these men and women for giving their time to help those in need in our community, and for making our Feed the Kids program possible.

Thank You Produce Sorting Volunteers!

Tomorrow is HSP’s second distribution day of our Feed the Kids program this summer! 100 families will come and pick up over 10 tons of groceries to help feed and support them through the month of July. HSP is grateful for the returning volunteers from UPS supply chain solutions in Carol Stream and a number of other long-time volunteers who came in and helped with last minute preparations. The enthusiastic volunteers helped sort fresh produce as we finished getting ready for tomorrow.

Not only did the UPS group help with Feed the Kids today, they are also regular volunteers who come in and help in the preparation for our monthly Senior Citizen Project Delivery Days. With their help, HSP is able to support so many families and seniors in need. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Become a Delivery Day Driver!

Every month HSP distributes 100 pounds of groceries to 132 seniors. This wouldn’t be possible without the support of the dozens of volunteers who make our Senior Citizen Project delivery day happen each month. Due to several current volunteers moving away or retiring from being a delivery day driver we are in need of new drivers. We are asking you to volunteer as a driver in order to help make this program possible. You can help by signing up to become a regular driver or substitute driver.

A regular driver has the same route and delivers to the same senior(s) homes every month. If a regular driver is unable to make deliveries for the month HSP will send an email to the substitute drivers with the open routes. Substitute drivers then choose a route and time slot they are available to pick up and deliver the groceries.

The Following Routes are Available:

·         2 Seniors - Downers Grove

·         1 Seniors - Darien

·         1 Seniors - Warrenville

·         2 Seniors - Glendale Heights

·         3 Seniors- Willowbrook/Westmont/Woodridge

·         2 Seniors- Wheaton

·         2 Seniors- Naperville *Female Drivers only for this route*

·         2 Seniors-Glen Ellyn

If you are interested in becoming a delivery day driver or have any further questions please contact HSP by calling 630-221-8340 or by emailing us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Ribfest Is This Weekend

As summer is coming to its peak, HSP is getting ready for a fun weekend at the Naperville Exchange Club’s Ribfest, which is starting tonight in Naperville’s Knoch Park. This event, which runs from July 2^nd-July 5^th, is fun for the whole family, with many activities for everyone to enjoy. This event also benefits numerous charitable causes that serve children in need, including HSP’s Feed the Kids program. Our lovely HSP staff and volunteers will be giving their time and energy at the event this weekend.  There will be rides, games, shows, a petting zoo, food, and fireworks to celebrate the 4^th of July. We would love to see our supporters come out and enjoy this fun-filled event while helping out those in need in our community. We hope to see you there!

Senior Care Kits

Earlier this week, HSP received a generous donation of personal care kits from our friends at Volt in Lisle. Volt completes a service project to serve the community every month. This month they chose to work with HSP to help our Senior Citizen Project. The employees at Volt purchased shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, and other vital personal care products. They assembled the items into care packages for 12 of the seniors we serve.

Every 3 months HSP includes a personal care kit along with the monthly grocery delivery to all of the 132 seniors enrolled in our program. These kits ensure that these deserving seniors have the items they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. We wish to thank Volt for thinking of HSP and their wonderful donation that will help benefit so many seniors.

If you would like to make a personal care donation or have any further questions about how you can help support the Senior Citizen Project please call HSP at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.