Collections from Paper Drives Donated to Humanitarian Service Project

On Tuesday, UPS-Supply Chain Solutions donated a pick-up truck full of paper goods.  UPS-Supply Chain Solutions have a long history with Humanitarian Service Project.  They have given HSP many donations, along with having their employees volunteer to help out in the warehouse.

Not only did HSP receive a donation from UPS-SCS, we also received a donation from St. John Preschool in Naperville.  St. John school donated 12 large bags of paper products which included: paper towels, toilet paper and facial tissues.  These paper products will go to our seniors in the Senior Citizen Project.  The paper products help our seniors maintain a healthy hygiene.  The absence of paper products in the seniors’ lives could be detrimental to their health.  The seniors cannot afford to buy these paper products; thus the donations are greatly appreciated by the seniors. 

Once again, Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank UPS-Supply Chain Systems and St. John Preschool for hosting and donating the collected items from their paper drives. Along with donations, volunteers’ time is always appreciated at the Humanitarian Service Project.  If you are interested in volunteering or donating to Humanitarian Service Project, call us at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org

Trinity Lutheran 8th Graders Volunteer at HSP

Today, the Humanitarian Service Project was very grateful to host a total of 44 volunteers.  There were 35 student volunteers, and 9 parents and teachers from Trinity Lutheran in Roselle. Luckily, with such a big group, we had plenty of work for them to do.  The eighth graders, teacher and parent chaperones, split up into three groups. One group was sorting paper, one was sorting our non-perishable foods, one was in the freezer sorting meats, and bread.  These are all very necessary tasks for our warehouse because in order to run our Feed the Kids program and Senior Citizen Project smoothly, food must be sorted. The bread is sorted to be distributed to our seniors in the Senior Citizen Project.  The left over bread is then given to Lake Park Elementary. The group spent about two hours on their various tasks. 

            Trinity Lutheran found HSP through Jessica Becker, an 8^th grade teacher. One of the mothers of a student told Becker of HSP. Becker then contacted HSP for volunteering opportunities. HSP booked the 8^th graders for the volunteering and it was set. It is a yearly tradition for Trinity students to work a service project during their last year at the school.  The group worked very hard and quickly, sorting all of the food and non-perishables in just about two hours. In the end, multiple pallets full of paper products, and non-perishable foods were all ready to be shrink-wrapped and put away in their correct places in the warehouse. The freezer was re-organized and is now ready for a large meat delivery, arriving to our warehouse this Friday.

            All of the young adults were very enthusiastic about the work.  Smiles and laughter were abundant with their time volunteering in the warehouse. It is always a good thing to see young adults be so enthusiastic towards helping those who are less fortunate. If you are interested in volunteering at the Humanitarian Service Project warehouse, call us at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org

Albright Middle School Donates $900 and 15 Boxes of Food

Yesterday, the Humanitarian Service Project received a very generous donation from Albright Middle School in Villa Park.  Albright donated 15 boxes of food to be sorted and distributed in our warehouse. Albright’s Principal, Scott Jackson came from the school to Humanitarian Service Project to drop off the 15 boxes.  Not only were the boxes of food donated, the school also gathered $900.  The $900 will be put towards HSP’s purchasing of food for needy families and seniors in the Feed the Kids program and the Senior Citizen Project. This isn’t the first time in 2013 that Albright has donated to the Humanitarian Service Project.  Albright Middle School also gathered paper products for the Senior Citizen Project in March.

Scott Jackson, principal of Albright Middle School
with the 15 boxes of donated food

The timing of the food donation to HSP could not have been more perfect.  In June, we here at HSP will begin our Feed the Kids program.  Feed the Kids is a summer hunger relief program which provides groceries to 100 needy families (about 400 children) who would otherwise be malnourished during the summer months.  Feed the Kids runs during the months of June, July and August.  HSP gives many thanks to Albright Middle School and their willingness to donate towards Feed the Kids and the Senior Citizen Project.  The food and the monetary donation will go towards Feed the Kids program, and also the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project.

With so much on the horizon as Feed the Kids starts up, HSP needs volunteers to help us organize all the food we are preparing to send out. Any volunteers who can donate their time will be greatly appreciated.  If you are interested in volunteering at HSP, give us a call at 630-221-8340, or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org

“Stamp Out Hunger” Gathers Food For Families in Need

Volunteers in HSP's warehouse, helping to sort food
from Stamp Out Hunger, last year.

This Saturday, May 11^th, is the National Association of Letter Carriers’ (NALC) 21^st annual “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive! 1,400 NALC branches from every state in America will be participating in this nationwide food drive. Food donated through the event is distributed to several different charities that are committed to ending hunger, including HSP.

            Our volunteers, along with other groups, help at the post offices by organizing the thousands of pounds of food that comes in from all over the area. We move the food into central areas where they are divided amongst several local organizations. Our food is then taken to the HSP warehouse where it is organized and distributed by our volunteers through our Senior Citizen Program and Feed The Kids Program. The food donated from “Stamp Out Hunger” is a critical part of our own initiative to combat food shortages in poor families and seniors, and we can’t thank the NALC enough for their generosity.

            This Saturday, make sure to leave a bag with non-perishable food by your mailbox, and your mail carrier will collect it when they deliver your mail. As men and women who visit neighborhoods all over our country, letter carriers far too often see the effects of poverty and hunger. “We do all of this because we know how important it is” Said NALC president Fredric Rolando. Last year, the NALC picked up more than 70 million pounds of non-perishable food, making the event one of the largest one day food drives.

            The NALC can’t collect without your generosity though. This Saturday, May 11^th, make sure to leave a bag with non-perishables by your mailbox. Remember that every item counts. No donation is too small, and every item is appreciated.

Every month HSP distributes over 6 tons of groceries to 121 needy seniors. It is food drives like “Stamp out Hunger” that allows HSP to continue to provide these life changing services to those in need. If you too would like to help out, you can learn more at our website: http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/FoodItemNeeded.pdf

A Truck Load of Food from Medinah Baptist Church!

Dean (left) and Dave (right) dropping off the the food drive
from Medinah Baptist Church.

Yesterday, Humanitarian Service Project received a large donation of food from the Medinah Baptist Church of Medinah, Illinois. The Church recently ran food drive and donated the collected food for the needy seniors we serve. The large donation filled up the whole back of a pick-up truck and the inside of a car, and ended up filling four whole pallets in the HSP warehouse! This large donation will be distributed to needy seniors enrolled in our Senior Citizen Program. Poverty brings challenges to all of those living under it, but the effects of poverty are intensified for seniors who have to deal with health issues and a lack the income to purchase enough groceries. These seniors don’t have access to regular healthy foods and rely on donations such as these to get the nutrition they need.

The food collected by the church was dropped off by Executive Director of Ministries Dean Scott and Director of Children's Ministry Dave Pearson from Medinah Baptist. HSP is very grateful for the hard work and dedication to all the people who participated in the food drive, as well as the generosity to those who donated food. Our organization relies on the donations of others and the hard work of volunteers. We at HSP, as well as the people we serve, are truly grateful for all the food that was donated and send out a big “Thanks You” to The Medinah Baptist Church for all their hard work.

Every month HSP distributes over 6 tons of groceries to 121 needy seniors. It is food drives, like this wonderful one from The Medinah Baptist Church, that allows HSP to continue to provide these life changing services to those in need. If you too would like to help out, you can learn more at our website: http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/FoodItemNeeded.pdf

HSP Says Goodbye to Our Fantastic Intern, Ulupi!

As another school semester comes to a close, we here at the Humanitarian Service Project say goodbye to another excellent intern, Ulupi Bodiwala. Ulupi is a student at University of Illinois Chicago, where she majors in English with an emphasis in creative writing. Throughout her 4 month internship, Ulupi utilized the passion she has for writing by creating written updates on the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project.

HSP wishes Ulupi (seated) success in her future endeavors!

Ulupi’s creativity was seen here in her time at HSP.  Her internship was to work with Tierney, our Senior Citizen Project Coordinator on the senior updates.  Ulupi interviewed our seniors on the phone. After that, Ulupi wrote the senior updates that give current information to our sponsors on how the seniors are doing.  All of our seniors who reported back to us said that Ulupi was very nice to talk to. Ulupi always put the care and consideration our seniors deserve into the task. Her work with the SCP updates has been greatly appreciated.

Ulupi brought cheer to the office. There wasn't a moment where she wasn't smiling. Her very positive attitude was appreciated here at HSP, and helped brighten the office with her presence.  We here at HSP appreciate Ulupi’s contributions to HSP, in both writing the updates, and providing a positive attitude for the office. We wish her the best of luck and many successes in her future.

Local Retail Stores Find HSP to be a Perfect "Target" for Volunteer Opportunities

                

JCPenney Volunteers

The past two days here have been a frenzy of volunteerism thanks to two local retail stores.  JCPenney in Chicago and Target employees volunteered to help out HSP.  HSP would like to recognize the hard work and energy the volunteers put into sorting and organizing the food that was purchased by HSP from the Northern Illinois Food Bank.  On April 30^th, volunteers from JCPenney were here for two and a half hours; they generously sorted five huge pallets of food.  The food they sorted will be distributed to the needy children and families enrolled in our Feed the Kids program.  The program provides one hundred families with 175 lbs of nutritious food each month of summer in June, July and August. The purpose of this program is to ensure that needy children are able to receive adequate nutrition during the summer months when they are not participating in the government subsidized school lunch program.

Target's Volunteers

            The second group of volunteers was just as appreciated in contributing their time to helping HSP.  Earlier today, Humanitarian Service Project had 16 volunteers come from the Target located in Glendale Heights.  These volunteers came to help sort and organize the food that was bought from the Northern Illinois Food Bank.  There were so many volunteers that half of them organized food for the Feed the Kids Program, while the other half helped to go through and organize food from numerous recent food drives donated to our Senior Citizen Project.  This food will be delivered as a part of our monthly delivery days. On top of donating their time, the Target in Glendale Heights donated a $150 gift card.  This will be used to purchase sports equipment and other gifts for the Children’s Birthday Project.

 Thanks to both groups of volunteers, we were able to get large amounts of food sorted out to be distributed to a number of families. If you or your organization is interested in volunteering for HSP, we have a lot of opportunities coming up this summer, after May 20^th, 2013. Call us at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org for more information.