Thanks to Syracuse High SOS and BMW!

Today was a very exciting day here at HSP, as we had two wonderful volunteer groups helping us end the week on a strong note.

The first group made its way to us all the way from Syracuse, Nebraska. This group of 43 students and chaperones from Syracuse High School, was one of, if not the largest single volunteer groups HSP has ever had. These students volunteered with HSP as part of their SOS (Students of Service) Club’s service trip. The SOS club branched off of the school’s former FCCLA club with the mission of getting students directly involved in community service. Allison Beers, the FACS teacher at Syracuse High, said that the purpose of the trip was to allow the students to get out of their familiar surroundings and experience how giving service can do so much for those in need. On top of spending two hours making Christmas gift packages for needy children, organizing meat packages for hungry families, and organizing paper products for impoverished seniors, while they are in the area, these students will also be volunteering with Feed My Starving Children, as well as the Mike Hike Charitable 5k in Homer Glen tomorrow.

The second set of volunteers who graciously gave their time today was a group of 10 from the Central Region of BMW North America in Schaumburg. BMW encourages its employees to spend a day serving the community, so these volunteers generously spent nearly the entire day at HSP assisting with a number of tasks including the sorting of non-perishables to be distributed to needy families during Christmas, organizing bread for needy seniors and families, and even helping send letters to the families in our Christmas Offering! These employees of BMW were really gung-ho volunteers, and even brought a donation of non-perishable food as well!

Both of these groups were full of enthusiasm and took to the tasks we had for them with great attitudes. We wish to thank both of them for the invaluable support they provided today to benefit the needy children, families and seniors we serve. With the first distribution of our Christmas Offering less than a month away, it takes the heartfelt support of many groups like these in order for us to reach the over 1,600 children and 123 seniors served through the program. We still have a few open volunteer spots in the month of December, so if you are interested in lending a hand, like these two magnificent groups, please call HSP at 630-221-8340.