“Good Night, Sleep Tight”

No good night’s sleep is complete without a pair of comfy pajamas, a warm blanket, a snuggly stuffed animal, and of course, a bedtime story. Thanks to a generous donation received yesterday, HSP will be able to provide all of these items to over 50 children! On Tuesday afternoon, 51 packages of pjs, books, blankets, and stuffed animals were donated to HSP by a local service project known as “Good Night, Sleep Tight.” This project was started last year by high school students Piper Winkler and Ana Powell. This year, due to Piper moving out of state, Ana was in charge of the donation process along with her friend Connie Linardos. Ann and Connie sought and received assistance from their friends and family in order to collect all the items for the packages. HSP will provide these donations to needy children through the Christmas Offering. It’s always so great to see young people giving back to the community. We are grateful for Ana and Connie’s hard work and generosity.

ChiTAG Toy Donation

          This past Sunday, HSP’s Executive Director, Kristin Maxwell, along with Sandy Bergeson and Nancy Dorsman, two wonderful HSP volunteers, went to Navy Pier in Chicago to pick up a generous donation of toys and games from the Chicago Toy & Game Fair (ChiTAG,) hosted by the Toy Industry Foundation. 

Toys and Games donated to HSP through ChiTAG vendors.

Various companies and individuals who were present at ChiTAG donated toys and games that did not sell at the event to three charities within the Chicago-land area; this year, along with HSP, the Toy Industry Foundation also donated to Kidz Korna and Big Brothers Big Sisters Chicago.  Because of the generous donation from the vendors at ChiTAG, HSP received around 200 new toys and games, which will be used for the Christmas Offering and the Children’s Birthday Project.  HSP would like to thank the Toy Industry Foundation, ChiTAG, and all of the various companies and individuals at the fair for all of their support and generosity; these toys and games will certainly make children’s birthdays and Christmases much brighter.

With Christmas quickly approaching, HSP is looking for donations of toys to give to the children we serve.  If you are interested in learning more about how you can donate toys and games, please feel free to call or email us!     

Wonderful Christmas Food Drives

Representatives from John L. Sipley school
dropping off a generous food drive.

Our Christmas Offering is quickly approaching, we have had many schools and other organizations drop of the food they have collected over the past few weeks. Thank you to the following schools and organizations for hosting food drives: Willowbrook High School, John L. Sipley School, Chesterbrook Academy Rollingridge, Four Winds Waldorf and Anne M. Jeans School. All of their food drives were a huge success. HSP will be able to serve many families and seniors with the food that was collected from these drives. 

Local Schools Give Back

Our Christmas Offering is quickly approaching, so to help us out we have had many volunteer groups from local schools come in this week. Some of the tasks that they helped with were sorting non- perishables, meat and paper products for families and seniors in need. These groups also helped with sorting toys for needy kids who will receive Christmas presents this holiday season. On Wednesday, we welcomed a group from District 204 Steps program who were very eager to help. Yesterday, we had three groups throughout the day and evening—Glendbard North’s AIM Program, the Rotolo Middle School Builders Club and the whole freshmen group from the Carol Stream Panther Chapter of the Young Men’s Service League (YMSL) along with their mothers. Last but not least, our monthly group from Ms. Heggen’s class at Glenbard South High School will be joining us today.

While we very much need the help of volunteers to keep HSP running smoothly, these students are also gaining different skills and learning the importance of giving back while working with us. Students have the opportunity to learn how to be a leader and gain teamwork skills from volunteering too. Thank you for choosing to spend your time volunteering with us and for all of your hard work!     

HSP Salutes our Friends at Fed Ex

On Saturday, November 15, HSP received a very generous donation from the FedEx Cares Delivery Hope campaign, an organization in which team members participate in volunteer events to benefit local communities and the United Way. On Saturday, FedEx team members delivered over 500 bags of paper products for HSP’s Senior Citizen Project. 125 seniors were provided with a 2-3 month supply of toilet paper, paper towels,  and facial tissue. This event occurred on the same day as HSP’s Senior Delivery Day in which over 70 volunteer drivers and loaders were present to distribute and deliver 100 pounds of groceries directly to the homes of those 125 seniors. The paper drive was coordinated through the Fleet Maintenance Shop in Chicago Heights, and FedEx team members from more than 10 locations helped contribute to the effort. The addition of these paper products to the monthly grocery deliveries helps the seniors maintain a healthy lifestyle. We would like to thank FedEx for their amazing support.

DuPage Woodworkers Club

Yesterday, the DuPage Woodworkers Club donated 500 handmade toys for HSP’s Christmas Offering. The members of the club make toys throughout the year to provide for impoverished children at Christmas time. HSP is grateful to be one of the recipient organizations of these wonderful toys year after year. Through our annual Christmas Offering, HSP serves 350 families with nutritious groceries and provides Christmas gifts to over 1,600 children. Donors like the DuPage Woodworkers Club make a big difference in the community through their service. If you too would like to be involved in any of our programs at HSP during our Christmas season, please give us a call at 630-221-8340.

Rick Ogren of the Woodworkers Club with HSP's
Executive Director Kristin Maxwell.

HSP Welcomes a New Intern

This week, we welcome a new intern, Stephanie Harding! Stephanie graduated this past Spring from Northern Illinois University with a major in English. She would like to work with the community and hopes to give back, which is why working at HSP interested her. One of the things she hopes to gain from her time here is experience with business writing. This is not her first experience with service though. While in high school, she did a lot of work with a youth group and with NHS. Her time at HSP will be spent helping with the Christmas Offering and interviewing our seniors for their annual “senior updates”. Stephanie loves to write and hopes to pursue a career where she gets to do so. Her other interests include a love of music and reading. She especially likes J.K. Rowling. Other fun fact about Stephanie is she recently wrote her first novel! We are excited to have Stephanie here with us and from all of us at HSP, welcome!