Welcome Shawn and Rosie!

Last week, Humanitarian Service Project introduced you to our first group of new interns for 2013. Today, HSP has the pleasure of introducing you to two more additions to the HSP intern team, Shawn Lawton and Rosie Bruns.

Shawn graduated from North Central College in Naperville with his Bachelor’s degree in International Business. Shawn says he was motivated to apply for an internship at HSP because of his desire to help others, and because he feels HSP will also be a good environment to learn and cultivate new skills. Shawn will be assisting HSP with the annual task of interviewing and writing “updates” for the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. This very important project allows HSP to update our knowledge on the needs of the 121 seniors in the program, as well as to show the sponsors of the program just how big of an impact their generous donations have on the seniors. Shawn says that his previous experience serving as a caretaker for his grandmother, has played a major role in his desire to help out needy senior citizens. In his spare time, Shawn studies Portuguese and Computer Programming.

Secondly, we would like to introduce you to Rosie Bruns, who had her first day at HSP today. Rosie will be graduating from Northern Michigan University with a degree in Communication Studies, after completing her internship. Rosie joins us as a Marketing Intern, and, in this capacity, will be helping HSP get the word out to the community about our programs. Throughout college, Rosie has been very active in volunteering and service, which is one of the factors that inspired her to seek out an internship with HSP. One of her favorite volunteer projects is an event called “Make a Difference Day” in which she and her classmates would go out and do chores and service projects for needy seniors in the community. When not volunteering her time, or in school, Rosie’s interest include snowboarding, wakeboarding, and disc golf.

We at HSP are very excited to have both Shawn and Rosie here completing internships with us. Please join us in welcoming them to HSP!

Bread goes to Needy Students

Every so often, the Humanitarian Service Project is given opportunities to serve needy members of our community, in addition to the ways we have already committed to serving them with our programs. Today HSP had such an opportunity as we were happy to donate a cargo van full of bread to the families of needy students at Lake Park Elementary School in Addison. HSP is excited to have been able to give this bread to the school, because we know there is such great need there. Almost 90% of the students at Lake Park come from families with low enough incomes to qualify for free, or subsidized, school lunches. With so many families at Lake Park struggling to make ends meet, we are glad to have been able to provide them with this bread. 

The bread was dropped off at Lake Park by HSP volunteers Jeff Marker and Dean Senne. According to Jeff, when he and Dean arrived, the school staff was very grateful and excited. He said they assured him that this bread would bread would be of great help to these needy families. We wish to thank Jeff and Dean for delivering the bread to the school. 

 

HSP’s relationship with Lake Park Elementary School began in Christmas 2011 and all of the needy children in the school were officially adopted into our Children’s Birthday Project in February of last year. Since then, HSP has been able to coordinate with Lake Park Elementary to help them fulfill the needs of the children there, not only through providing each child a birthday box and Christmas gifts via our programs, but also donations of school supplies and, of course, this bread. We wish to thank all of our supporters who have empowered HSP to serve these very needy children.

Thank You USDA Volunteers

Humanitarian Service Project would like to thank a group of 5 volunteers from the USDA office in Lombard who volunteered their time this past Tuesday afternoon to help us sort paper products for the needy senior citizens served by our Senior Citizen Project. It’s always great to see a group of volunteers with enthusiasm, and let us tell you, these five had enthusiasm in spades. It was impossible to pull them away from the task until they had finished sorting the paper products for each of the 121 seniors in our program. We wish to thank these five volunteers, especially Wendy Ferguson who organized the event.

Paper products are a vital part of the 100 lb., grocery deliveries that HSP provides every month to each of the seniors served by the Senior Citizen Project. Receiving paper towels, Kleenex, and toilet paper allows the needy seniors to spend their modest incomes on more pressing matters like rent and medical supplies. Of course, with the monthly deliveries also including 15 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables, 7 frozen meats, 3 loaves of Pepperidge Farm bread, 6 bags of non-perishables, and personal care products, there is a lot to prepare for the Senior Delivery Day each month. For this reason, we want to again thank these volunteers from the USDA who took time out of their day, to help us get a leg up on next month’s delivery, by getting the paper products handled.

If you too would like to help HSP serve 121 needy seniors, donations of paper products, like those sorted by this wonderful volunteer group, are always greatly needed. If you are interested, learn more by calling HSP at 630-221-8340 or checking out our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/.

 

Thank You Republic Bank!

Chris and Rick from Republic Bank with
HSP's Assistant Director Kristin Maxwell

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend our deepest thanks to Republic Bank in Oak Brook for the donation of 19 computer towers. These computers will be paired with donated monitors and keyboards, and given to needy senior citizens served by our Senior Citizen Project. Many of the seniors in HSP’s program not only suffer under poverty, but from ailments that make leaving the house difficult. For these seniors, the donated computers are not only tools to make their lives easier, but also a means breaking the social isolation they have been thrust in by their living situations. HSP again wishes to thank everyone at Republic Bank especially Chris Gerrib, the bank’s Senior VP of Technology, who organized the donation.

            These days, computers have such an impact on our daily lives that it is hard for most to imagine living without one. We at HSP don’t feel the need to tell you (after all, you’re reading this on a computer,) that computers play a key role in communication, acquiring information, and recreation. However, for most of the needy seniors served by HSP’s Senior Citizen Project, computers are a luxury that they are forced to live without. With their modest incomes being stretched between necessary expenses like rent and medical costs, computers are simply not affordable for these seniors. For this reason, these computers graciously donated by Republic Bank represent a huge increase in the quality of life for these very needy seniors.

          If you too would like to help HSP reach seniors in need, you can learn more at HSP’s website: http://humanitarianservice.org/whatwedo/seniorproject.html.

HSP Welcomes Three New Interns

With 2013 now in full swing, HSP would like to take the time to introduce you to three new interns who have joined the HSP team. All three of these interns will be assisting HSP in the annual process of interviewing and writing “Senior Updates” for all of the needy seniors served by our Senior Citizen Project. This assignment is an extremely important one, as it not only allows HSP to keep up to date on the individual needs of each senior, but also allows HSP the opportunity to show the supporters of the project just how big of an impact their generosity is having in the lives of the seniors. HSP is excited to have these three, bright, new interns on this assignment.

First up, we would like to introduce Tom McCann who began his internship last Wednesday. Tom is completing his internship with HSP to fulfill his Community Service Practicum for the Adler School of Professional Psychology where he studies Gerontological Counseling (counseling for the elderly.) Tom says he selected HSP as the site of his practicum because of the passion he has for serving the elderly.

Also coming to HSP from Adler is Colleen Finnegan, who just started her internship at HSP today. Colleen is at Adler training to be a Marriage/Family Counselor. Like Tom, Colleen says she was drawn to HSP because of her desire to help the elderly. She previously worked serving needy seniors as an intern at non-profit that assists adults with disabilities.

Last, but not least, HSP would like to introduce you to Ulupi Bodiwala, who also began with HSP today. Ulupi attends University of Illinois Chicago, where she is majoring in English with a focus on Creative Writing. After college, Ulupi hopes to get into editing and publishing, but also dreams of being an author. Ulupi says she is very excited at the opportunity to use her love of writing to help HSP best serve the needy seniors in our project.

We at HSP are delighted to have Tom, Colleen, and Ulupi here completing their internships. Please join us in welcoming them to HSP.

HSP Starts Off 2013 with Another Great Delivery Day

This past Saturday, HSP held the first Delivery Day of 2013 for the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. Thanks to the help of numerous volunteers, the 121 needy seniors in the project each received 100 lbs. of greatly needed, nutritious groceries. These 100 lb. packages include 15 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables, 3 loaves of Pepperidge Farm bread, 6 bags of non-perishables, 7 frozen meats, and a gift from their “secret pal.” Delivery Day went off without a hitch, and we at HSP are looking forward to another year full of successful deliveries to provide these seniors with the nutritious food they so desperately need to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

There are a myriad of volunteers who lend their time and talents to HSP, to help make our Delivery Days successful each month, and we want to take this opportunity to recognize them. On the day of Delivery Day itself, we are blessed with the assistance of our volunteer loaders and drivers, who help load up and deliver the groceries to the seniors respectively. In the days leading up to Delivery Day, there are many more volunteers who have a hand in making them successful. There are the Monday Food Sorting Volunteers who volunteer every Monday morning to sort non-perishables and other groceries for the seniors to receive on delivery day, and produce sorting volunteers who sort the fresh fruits and vegetables the day before delivery. Not to mention the Secret Pals who provide a special $5-$25 gift for a senior each month, and volunteers who organize all of these Secret Pal gifts.

The impact that all of these volunteers have is plain to see. Each month, over six tons of food is distributed to the needy seniors in our program. One senior recently wrote to HSP, acknowledging the hard work of all these volunteers saying, “To all of the people who help make the Humanitarian Project work. You have been so good to me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You do so much good for all of us I can’t thank you enough. You make my days so livable, and your drivers are so great too. Bless you all. Thank you all so much!” The staff of HSP, would like to echo the sentiment of this grateful senior, thanking everyone who has contributed to making our Senior Citizen Project a success for so many seniors in need.

If you too would like to help HSP reach the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project, you can learn more at: http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html. 

Thank You Produce Sorters

 

HSP would like to extend a big Thank You to everyone who responded to our call for volunteers, to help us sort fresh produce today for the 121 needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. We had several friends of the Project graciously take time out of their day to sort out the 15 varieties of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, as well as the Pepperidge Farm bread that will be delivered to each senior tomorrow. One of the major goals of the Senior Citizen Project is to provide impoverished seniors access to vitamin-rich food that they cannot afford to purchase for themselves. However, in order to do this, it is important to deliver them the freshest produce possible; which HSP is only able to provide thanks to the generosity of volunteers like these who took time out of their day to help us get all this produce organized.


The produce will be delivered to the Needy Seniors tomorrow during HSP’s first, monthly Delivery Day of the year. On these Delivery Days, each senior receives a 100 lb. Grocery Package which includes not only the 15 varieties of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, but also 3 loaves of Pepperidge Farm bread, 7 frozen meats, 6 bags of Non-Perishables, 2 bags of Paper Products, Personal Care Items, and a Gift from their “Secret Pal.” In addition to Volunteer Produce Sorters, there are many other volunteers who contribute to the success of these monthly events including, Volunteer Drivers, Car Loaders, our weekly Monday Morning Food Sorting Team, and many more. If you too would like to help HSP make an impact in the lives of 121 needy, local seniors, check out our website for more info: http://humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/volunteers.html