Make a Difference Day Annual Challenge

For years USA Today has fostered a wonderful spirit of volunteerism with Make a Difference Day. Now, you can help your favorite cause (HSP, of course) when you
plan a project for Oct. 23 and submit it for awards consideration. HSP could be in the running for $10,000 from Newman's Own.



Follow this link for more details and call HSP for ideas about how you can Make a Difference!

The Joy of Your Very Own Bike

We love to see kids helping kids! Last week, Joseph and his family stopped by the Center to drop off a really awesome bike, pictured here. Joseph trusts HSP to find the perfect boy who will appreciate this bike. And we don't think we will have too much trouble finding that boy! Thanks so much Joseph (and Mom & Dad, and sister who came along) and to the Roselle Police Department for telling the family about the Humanitarian Service Project. Look for a photo of the recipient as soon as we find him!

Recycling at its Best

With a donation of 49 computers, community banking institution Republic Bank has jumpstarted a new program at Humanitarian Service Project which will put refurbished computers into the hands of low-income senior citizens and families with young children, making computer access a reality and saving landfill space.


We happen to think this is a win-win-win for everyone. While the computers are no longer state-of-the-art, they will work just fine for HSP's clients after we find monitors for them. Senior VP of Technology at Republic Bank Chris Gerrib said, "What struck a chord with me was that the bank usually has to pay to dispose of older PCs. Here we were able to avoid a cost, prevent the PCs from ending up in a landfill, and do good for the community."


Founder/Executive Director Karole Kettering foresees this donation opening a whole new world to the children enrolled in the Children's Birthday Project who don't have computers at home. Karole said, "We are so grateful to Chris and all the people at Republic Bank for their generous donation, which helps to seed our new program and get it off to a running start. These computers are in good working order, so we're ahead of schedule. We have a volunteer technician, so donations don't have to be working perfectly so long as they're not too old. Give us a call and we'll see if we can take a computer or monitor off your hands."


Please give us a call at 630-221-8340 if you have any questions.

Summer is for Helping

When HSP Founder/
Executive Director
Karole Kettering's granddaughter, Morganne came by recently, we put her to work helping us get a mailing out.

Morganne also was a great help too when we were selecting books for the 9 to 12 year olds in our Children's Birthday Project. We were completing a request for books from a First Books distribution and few of us in the center knew what would be good books for children this age. But Morganne, who loves to read, surely knew. Thanks, Morganne!

Happy Birthday, Emma!

 
 
Happy Birthday, Emma! Emma, her mom, and brothers came to HSP on Friday to pick up Emma's birthday present... a brand new BIKE!! Emma was so excited and grateful for her fun gift! We hope that she enjoys her gift for many years and gets a lot of use out of it!

HSP is in Need of Help!!!!!

By: Megan Sturomski, intern

HSP is urgent need of volunteers to help Saturday, May 8th for our annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, which is sponsored and performed by our local mail carriers. They will collect food from door to door and deliver it to their Post Offices. We are grateful to receive this food to help support our Feed the Kids which will serve 90 families(300 children) and Senior Citizen Project (serving 116 seniors each month). Volunteers at the post offices will load the food items and bring them to our center, and volunteers at our location will unload the vehicles and sort the non-perishable food.

POP AND PIZZA FOR ALL!!!!!!

This is a great project for students who need hours for NHS. Please let us know if you or your school may be interested in helping us. If so, please contact our facility at (630) 221-8340 or email at cbp@humanitarianservice.org.

Thank you so very much!!!

Sorority Women Give Back

By Stephanie Ferrini, Intern

What do college kids do on a Tuesday night? If they are members of the sororities Alpha Phi or Phi Mu, they volunteer and give back to their communities. The two Elmhurst College sororities teamed up for the college's annual Greek Week and decided that this year they would do a service event opened to the entire campus. Over sixty women piled into one room to wrap fifteen bags of toys for under privileged children in the area. Bright colored paper, plenty of rolls of ribbon, and many laughs were shared between the sorority women to get the presents ready to send back to the Humanitarian Service Project!

A Pretty Nice Present for the Children's Birthday Project

The latest issue of Naperville Magazine, containing a great story about the Children's Birthday Project, really wowed us. Karen Dix's two-page story takes readers from the genesis of the founding of the Humanitarian Service Project in Karole and Floyd Kettering's home to where we are today 30 years later. While focusing on the Children's Birthday Project, Dix highlighted how our other projects help needy children, families, and senior citizens.

Coming as we kick off our busiest season, the lead up to the Christmas Offering, we are grateful for this attention to our work. And grateful also for the continuing support from Naperville residents, civic groups, churches, schools, scouts, and businesses as well that from all of our many friends.

by Sheila Noblitt