Packaging Senior Care Kits

            Through the Senior Citizen Project, HSP distributes a lot of nutritious food every month to the seniors enrolled in the program. Every three months, HSP provides all of the seniors with a “Personal Care Kit” alongside this delivery. These packages contain all the products to meet the personal hygiene needs of the seniors, and including one bottle of shampoo, one bottle of conditioner, one tube of lip balm, one toothbrush, two tubes of toothpaste, one roll of dental floss, three bottles of lotion, four bars of soap or two body wash containers, and one bottle of hand sanitizer.

            For the rest of 2014, we still need to assemble 246 more care kits for the seniors. HSP gratefully accepts either donations of whole kits or donations of items that will be included in the kits. Items that we need the most are shampoo, conditioner, and lotion (medium size is preferred). With these Personal Care Kits, we are able to meet many of the basic needs of the impoverished seniors enrolled in our program.

            If you, or anyone you know, would like to donate items for our Personal Care Kits, please drop them off at our center at 465 Randy Rd. in Carol Stream or call us at (630) 221-8340.

School Supply Drive

With summer in full swing HSP is kicking off its annual School Supply Drive. During this time HSP collects new school supplies for kids in need. Last year at HSP we served an estimated 3200 needy kids in the area. HSP distributes these supplies by donating them to the DuPage Regional Office of Education’s back to school fair for needy kids. On top of that, this year HSP will also be supporting Kane County’s Project Backpack and local schools with a high percentage of impoverished children.

All of these programs are important in making sure children have the supplies they need to succeed in school. Nearly 660,000 children in Illinois live in poverty, so it is key that we here at HSP do everything we can to make sure these kids have the proper school supplies in order to receive a proper education. It is heartbreaking when a teacher asks the children to take out their crayons and one student does not have them.

Any and all help is welcome in making a child’s educational experience successful. HSP collects school supplies year round. Moreover, this year we set a goal of reaching over 4,000 children in need; which mean we need all the help we can get. We collect supplies such as; backpacks, binders, note cards, pens and pencils, notebooks, art supplies, and the like. The children need our help, please join us in making a difference.

If you or anyone you know is interested in donating or looking for more information about our school supply drive, feel free to contact the Humanitarian Service Project by phone at 630-221-8340, or by email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Outreach Community Center: Stretches out multiple hands

The Humanitarian Service Project always warmly welcomes volunteers; but when those volunteers also happen to be middle schoolers trying to better their community, we feel an extra sense of pride.

    This week, we had the pleasure of working with two different volunteer groups from the Outreach Community Center. On Monday, ten kids and two adult leaders from the Outreach Community Center spent almost three hours in the HSP’s warehouse sorting non-perishable foods for the needy families in our Feed the Kids program. Today a second group came in that also consisted of ten kids and two adults, who sorted meat and paper for the seniors in our Senior Citizen Project.

    The help that volunteers like the Outreach Community Center gives us is amazing. Their support and dedication these volunteer groups have, we is what enables HSP to make such an impact in our community. We appreciate the time they give, especially from these specific middle schoolers who have all summer to lay back and have fun. A special thanks for the support from the Outreach Community Center.

     Humanitarian Service Project depends significantly on volunteers such as, Outreach Community Center to help us better serve the needs of seniors and families in DuPage and Kane counties. If you or your group is interested in learning more about Humanitarian Service Project or getting involved, please contact us at (630) 221-8340, or by email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org

SEAL is Back to Help the Seniors!

            After only three months, volunteers from the School of Expressive Arts and Learning (SEAL) in Lisle were back again today! They started helping HSP in 2012 and have become familiar faces since then. Every time they visit, they are a huge helping hand. We are extremely grateful to have SEAL as a group of regular volunteers to help us make a difference.

            Today, the volunteers from SEAL spent about two hours sorting paper products for the needy seniors served by HSP. These products include toilet paper, facial tissue and paper towels.

            The students at SEAL are dedicated volunteers. Along with observing and experiencing work, they assist local communities every single Wednesday! We’re thankful that they spent this Wednesday with HSP. Assisting the neediest members of our communities would not be possible without the help of our wonderful volunteers, so thank you, SEAL, and we’re sure we will see you again soon!

            If you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering their time to help make a difference in the lives of needy children and seniors, feel free to contact the Humanitarian Service Project by phone at 630-221-8340, or by email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Roll Call for Ribfest!

There is no better way to go out with a bang this Fourth of July than by eating some of your favorite foods. Now, imagine doing that while simultaneously helping to raise money for local organizations dedicated to combating child abuse and domestic violence. Sounds pretty rewarding, huh?

Shot of Ribfest's typical turnout.

Well, from July 3-6, you can do just that at the Naperville Exchange Club’s annual Ribfest. With the event only a short week and a half away, we here at HSP are looking for a final group of volunteers who can help fill the remaining timeslots of July 4, 5 and 6 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

During these hours, you can personally choose to represent us either through distributing programs and checking people in at the entrance gates or by working the beverage tent. Please keep in mind that the latter can only be done by those over 21 years of age.

If you, or anyone you know, is interested in going all hands this holiday weekend, please contact us as soon as you can at (630) 221-8340.

With music, fireworks, food, an appearance by the Chicago White Sox and the knowledge that you will be helping out a very worthy cause in your community, Ribfest is surely the place to be. So, come on down and enjoy the barbeque! 

Farewell to Abe and Lydia

Last week, HSP had to bid a sad but fond goodbye to two of the members of our intern team. Friday was the final day for our interns Abe and Lydia. They have contributed a great deal to HSP and they will be greatly missed!

            Abe began at HSP in early March and participated in a variety of projects. He created videos about HSP events, reached out to the community and asked for donations of food for needy seniors, and contributed to our blog as well as other on-going projects. Abe brought a can-do spirit to the many tasks he helped with at HSP, and we will definitely miss his personality around the office.  

            Lydia began her internship in January to complete her community service practicum for the Adler School for Professional Psychology. She aided HSP’s Senior Citizen Project by writing Senior Updates. She interviewed the seniors in our program and wrote updates on their current situation including their needs, how the program helps them, and a little bit about their background, allowing us to better serve them. Lydia is currently pursuing her master’s degree to be an art therapist and the bright, caring nature she brought to reaching out to our seniors makes us certain that she will do great!     

            Through their hard work, ambition and positive attitudes, Abe and Lydia have made a tremendous difference in the lives of many. We are grateful to have had them at HSP and we know they will be very successful in the future. We wish them the best of luck with their future endeavors!   

Helping Hands at HSP

            Today was a very exciting day at HSP. The back of the warehouse was filled with a group of outstanding volunteers sorting fresh produce and bread for tomorrow’s delivery day. All of the produce and bread along with paper goods, and nonperishables will be delivered to the seniors enrolled in our Senior Citizen Project. Due to the amazing volunteers giving up part of their day to help HSP, we are able to reach the 123 needy seniors tomorrow with their monthly delivery. We’d like to thank the 10 friends of HSP for responding to our call and sorting the produce and bread for our seniors today. They did an outstanding job!

           

        Also today at HSP two of our interns, Matthew and Nicole, ventured to Oakbrook to the McDonald's campus to help a group of spirited children help pack “Party in a Bag” for the Children’s Birthday Project.  A group of 24 children of McDonald’s employees through the help and support of McDonalds were able to pack 24 Parties in a Bag. These bags go towards giving a child of an impoverished home a birthday party they deserve. The bags along with gifts are given to needy children to alleviate the stress of their parents having to spend what little they have on making their children’s birthdays fantastic. The children were dedicated and worked at a quick pace to complete the bags to be taken back to HSP and be given to a deserving child. We here at HSP would like to thank McDonalds and the volunteers for doing an amazing thing today and producing phenomenal results! Every helping hand can make a difference to those in need.

If you or a group you are a part of would like to volunteer with Humanitarian Service Project, we welcome you to call us at 630-221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org