Hermes Elementary Says Thanks!

They say the world is quickly becoming paperless, with email and other things (like this blog for example) paperless-ly bringing you information you might have gotten via paper ten years ago. However, people who work in an office (like us here at the HSP office) know that there is still plenty of room for paper, and some of the most important documents still come primarily in paper form. In fact we just got some very interesting papers delivered to us here at the Humanitarian Service Project that we thought we should share with you. The papers are thank you cards from 26 grateful students from Hermes Elementary School in Aurora. These young paper savvy students sure know their way around markers and crayons, having hand written some very colorful thank you letters.

These students from Hermes sent these letters thanking us for sending them some of the school supplies from our School Supply Drive. Over the summer, Humanitarian Service Project was able to get school supplies to hundreds of students who needed them directly through their families, and managed to reach many more needy students by sending more supplies directly to schools, like Hermes Elementary. Since HSP could not have done any of this without all of the wonderful school supply donations we received from our supporters, we figured these thank you letters were as much yours as they are ours.

One of the students writes, “I am a student at Hermes Elementary School. Thank you for donating all those school supplies that we needed. I really appreciate it. We are doing something called bucket fillers. Each of us have an invisible bucket, and you just filled my bucket.” We want to thank all of the generous supporters that helped HSP “fill the buckets” of so many students in need this year. With your help, we succeeded in equipping those students who needed our help this school year.

Thank you, St. Athanasios Church!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend our deepest gratitude to St Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church in Aurora for donating a large amount of non-perishable food through a food drive. The drive was picked up at the church, and delivered to our center in Carol Stream yesterday. The generous amount donated from the church was even more than they had estimated, totaling a whopping 387 pounds! The food donated will go to help the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. Every month, the needy seniors in the program receive over 90 pounds of groceries of every major food group to help alleviate the financial burden they are under. We want to thank everyone at St. Athanasios for their generous assistance in helping HSP provide for our seniors.

The generous people at St. Athanasios Greek Orthodox church have been helping HSP reach out to those affected by hunger in the area for over eight years. Without support like theirs, HSP would not be able to make an impact in the lives of the needy people we support. As the holiday season begins to approach, HSP begins looking for more and more food drives like this one from St. Athanasios, because we look to provide food to not only the seniors in our project, but also to needy families around the holidays. If you have any interest in running a food drive to help HSP reach these needy people, you can learn more at our website: http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/fooddrive.html, or call us at 630-221-8340.

Speaking Up

At the Humanitarian Service Project we like to make sure those who put time and effort into helping us, get thanked properly. Another thing we also like to do (on the rare occasions that time permits) is unwind. So when we have an opportunity to do both at the same time, it really is a fun time for us. We were able to do just that last night, as we hosted several members of our fantastic speaker team for our Community Outreach/Speaker Appreciation Dinner. Several members of the team; Christine Potthoff, Julie Michael, Anne Henriksen, Jan Yong, Marilyn Sweeny, and Beth D’Anna were able to attend, and joined us to celebrate the wonderful fruit that their work has produced for the HSP. We want to thank all members of our speaker team, both those who attended the dinner and those who could not, for utilizing their talents to help HSP serve needy children and seniors in the area.

Our speaker team represents HSP in front of large groups, helping spread the word about us in the community. The speakers on the team really are excellent advocates, because their support has generated not only lots of sponsorships for both children and senior citizens in our projects but also; food drives, toy drives, school supplies, new volunteers, new wrappers, many “Party in a box” boxes, and donations to our general fund. We had a great time with our speakers last night, and we want them all to know just how big of a difference they make. If you want to know more about being a speaker for HSP, you can check out our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/speakers.html.

UPS lends a hand (or 24)

Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank a group of 12 volunteers from everybody’s favorite brown-clad delivery people, UPS, for volunteering in our warehouse yesterday. The volunteers came from the Carol Stream UPS center, the UPS in Bensenville, and from the UPS in Elk Grove Village. For more than two hours, the twelve volunteers helped us unload and organize the food we received from the food drive from Congregation Etz Chaim this weekend. We want to thank all twelve of the volunteers for the fantastic help they provided for us.

The food donated from Etz Chaim and organized by the volunteers from UPS, will go to help the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. Every month the seniors in our program get over 90 lbs of groceries in order to make sure their basic needs are met. It is thanks to volunteers, like these great helpers from UPS, that HSP is able to reach these needy seniors. Again, we want to thank the volunteers from UPS and all of the other great volunteers that make all that HSP does possible. If you are interested in volunteering with our Senior Citizen Project, you can learn more about the project and volunteer opportunities at our website here: http://humanitarianservice.org/whatwedo/seniorproject.html.

HSP welcomes Service Learning Interns from College of DuPage

The Humanitarian Service Project is excited to welcome several students from nearby College of DuPage who will be helping out around the HSP office as part of the school’s Service Learning Program. As Service Learning Interns, the students will be helping HSP in a number of ways; primarily assisting us get a leg up on the fast approaching Christmas season (which can get a little hectic here at HSP.) We are glad to see so many students eager to make a positive impact in the community. In fact, some of them are so eager, like Rebecca who came in Friday and Jill who is in today, that they responded to calls last week asking if they wanted to come in earlier than they previously expected to. There will be a few more Service Learning students starting their hours in the next few days. We are happy to have you all here!

College of DuPage says the goal of their Service Learning Program is to “offer students a chance to master coursework content, while making a real difference in their community.” Students in the program accomplish this by volunteering for one of the program’s “Community Partners,” like the HSP. If you, like the Service Learning Interns from College of DuPage, want to make a positive impact in the community by volunteering at the HSP, you can learn more about our volunteer opportunities from our website here: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/volunteers.html.

Another Fantastic Food Drive!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend a huge thank you to Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard, for donating a large amount of food through a food drive on Saturday. We received two vans full of non-perishable food (an estimated three hundred grocery bags) for the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. Etz Chaim conducted the food drive for Yom Kippur. Etz Chaim has been assisting HSP in our mission to reach out to needy senior citizens in the area, through food drives like this one, for more than seven years. We want to thank the congregation for their fantastic support in helping us make a difference in the lives of senior citizens who must look to the kindness of those who support HSP, like Etz Chaim, for food every month. You can learn more about Etz Chaim here: http://www.congetzchaim.org/index.aspx.

Humanitarian Service Project provides over 90 pounds of groceries for the 120 needy senior citizens in our Senior Citizen Project, to help them meet their basic needs, every month. Through the deliveries, the seniors receive fresh produce, several kinds of meat, fresh bread, and bags full of non-perishables, as well as, paper products, and personal care items. Humanitarian Service Project could not provide all of these things to our seniors who desperately need them without the wonderful support of our donors, like Etz Chaim, and our volunteers. If you are interested in assisting with the project, follow this link to the Senior Citizen Project section of our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/whatwedo/seniorproject.html.

HSP Welcomes a New Intern!

Humanitarian Service Project is very excited to welcome our new marketing intern, Vanessa. Vanessa is studying finance at Lewis University, and is considering a major in marketing. She will be testing the waters of marketing here, where she hopes her experience will let her know more about the field. Vanessa says she was drawn to HSP because she was interested in gaining new experiences. She says she was inspired to explore the non-profit world because of her mother, who is always helping people.

Vanessa’s biggest hobby is dancing. She loves to salsa, but says she really enjoys all different types of dancing. We’re sure Vanessa’s skills on the dance floor will transfer well to working here at HSP, which also requires a certain amount of grace. We at HSP are thrilled to have Vanessa here! We still have room for more interns, who are looking for experiencing what the non-profit world has to offer. For more information you can call us at 630-221-8340.