St. Raphael Church Provides Saintly Support to HSP

Yesterday, Humanitarian Service Project received a very exciting visit from our friends at St. Raphael Catholic Church in Naperville. Over the weekend, the members of the church engaged in a Parish-wide “Day of Service” in which they would participate in a number of different service projects at different stations. We at HSP were thrilled to have one of the areas of service devoted to wrapping the gifts for twenty five of the needy children served in our Children’s Birthday Project. With each of the children receiving 6 new books and 6-10 new toys, this means that the Parishioners at St. Raphael wrapped between 300 and 400 gifts through this project alone.

However, this was not the only wonderful service St. Raphael provided for the impoverished children and seniors we serve. When the wrapped gifts were dropped off at our Carol Stream Center yesterday, we were pleasantly surprised that HSP was the focus of not one, but two of the areas of service for the Day of Service.  St. Raphael members created 40 personal care packages for needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. They clearly had fun in making these nice, handy kits, as all of them were individually decorated and included lotions, conditioner, shower gel, soap, and shampoo. Other great items dropped off by St. Raphael Church included a donation of wrapping paper, some much needed toilet paper for the seniors, and even new gifts for needy children.

This outpouring of support from St. Raphael will help HSP fulfill a number of different needs of the impoverished seniors and children in our programs. We wish to thank everyone at St. Raphael, who participated, particularly Anne Hillebrand, Director of Service Ministry at St. Raphael, who coordinated the event.

Volunteers Wrap Up a Great Day!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to give a huge thanks to the Chamberlain College of Nursing for helping HSP wrap an extremely generous amount of gifts yesterday for the Children’s Birthday Project! This uniquely large group of 18 volunteers arrived yesterday ready to go and rearing to wrap! Also thanks to Kenya Truman, an employee of Chamberlain College of Nursing, for organizing this event!

This volunteer bunch was certainly a joy to have here at HSP, they brought great attitudes to the task. Not only was it fun because they were helping out a good cause, but to spice things up the group decided to make a friendly competition out of the wrapping extravaganza. All in good fun, this game sincerely helped out HSP and all of the children who will be receiving the wrapped gifts for their birthdays. With two hours of hard work, this group wrapped all the gifts for 16 needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project. In each bag there are now 6 new books and 6-10 new toys beautifully wrapped, so these volunteers were certainly busy. We really want to thank this awesome group for doing such a great job wrapping these presents and helping make more birthday wishes come true!  

Caring and Generous: The Whole Kit and Caboodle

Lisa Gades & Kevin Breyer

Humanitarian Service Project would like to send out a warm thank you to our friends at Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva. Lisa Gades, a member of the congregation, was kind enough to drop off the Unitarian Universalist Society’s donation of 121 Senior Care Kits today at HSP. Every 3 months HSP delivers Senior Care Kits to the 121 needy seniors enrolled in our Senior Citizen Project; this is to assure that the seniors have the basic necessities needed in order to live comfortably. Thanks to this donation, plus recent past donations HSP is ready to supply our seniors with Senior Care Kits for the first half of this year. We wish to thank the UUSG, for helping us get this much needed leg up, to fulfill the needs of these very deserving seniors.

Each of the Care Kits provided by UUSG contained:

·        Envelopes

·        Paper

·        Eye drops

·        Baby powder

·        Hand wash

·        Tupperware

·        A Picture frame

·        Puzzle book

·        And, to sweeten the deal, a variety of candies.

Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva has continues to help and support HSP. Just last month they also gave several “Party In a Bag” donations, for the needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project. Thank you again Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva for your continued generosity and support, it is greatly appreciated. 

Happy Birthday Jan!

Today at the Humanitarian Service Project we had the pleasure of celebrating something very special, the birthday of Jan Thompson, HSP’s toy room supervisor. Jan’s birthday was actually yesterday (what an appropriate birthday for such a loving lady!) Jan works so hard upstairs in our toy room, to make sure all of the needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project have a memorable birthday, so we thought it was only appropriate to give Jan the recognition she deserves on her special day!

All of HSP’s staff and interns got together to celebrate with Jan for lunch today. With our café decked out with pink and purple decorations, and the guest of honor even receiving a wand and a tiara, it was quite the fun event. Through her work here, Jan has made not only a positive impact in the lives of the needy children we serve, but in the lives of HSP’s staff as well. We know that Jan has also forged special bonds and friendships with HSP’s supporters (i.e. many of you,) so please join us in wishing Jan a fantastic birthday!

A Heartfelt, V-day Donation

It’s Valentine’s Day, and everyone here at the Humanitarian Service Project is happy to see our generous supporters getting into the spirit. On top of the wonderful Valentine’s Day themed gifts we have already shared with you on this blog previously, we wanted to take this opportunity to recognize another group who has taken the time out this holiday, to spread love to the needy seniors in our program. HSP would like to thank the Ambassador Club of Forest Glen Elementary School, for making 30 “care kits” for our seniors, including special handmade Valentine’s for each one. This wonderful club seems to be making this loving project a tradition, as this is the second year in a row they have made these kits for the needy seniors HSP serves.

Each of these kits contains a special message to a senior from one of the students in the club, via a handmade Valentine. An example of the heart-warming notes inside these cards cays, “Everyone has a life story. That is what you are loved for. I hope you have a special Valentine’s Day. I will be thinking of you.” On top of these lovely valentines, each of the kits contains both health items, and special treats for the seniors. These items include; Kleenex, lotion, Chap Stick, tea, hot chocolate, health supplements, pain relievers, and candy. Again, we wish to thank the Forest Glen Elementary Ambassador Club for these beautiful care kits. They will surely both warm the hearts of the impoverished seniors who receive them, while also providing for their needs.

Paper Products Needed!

Here at the Humanitarian Service Project we are always looking for more support to help us better fulfill the needs of the impoverished seniors we serve. One of our biggest needs at the moment is Paper Products. These items consist of Toilet Paper, Paper Towels,  and Facial Tissues to assist in making the daily lives of the needy seniors in DuPage and Kane Counties better.

 With the small amount of money that these seniors receive each month, once they have taken care of their major bills, there is not always enough money left for them to purchase basic necessities such as Paper Products. This is where HSP comes in! We are constantly trying to rally different Groups like Schools, Churches, and Businesses to participate in things such as Paper Drives.

As of right now, in April of 2013 we will have run out of all Paper Products to give out to our Needy Seniors. This Is Where You Come In! We are looking for as many People or Groups as we can to Conduct and Participate in Paper Drives so we can make sure that these Low Income Seniors will not go without these Basic Necessities. With the collaboration of HSP and Volunteers we can make it possible to Alleviate the Suffering of these Needy Seniors.

If you would like to run a paper drive to help out HSP and needy seniors of DuPage and Kane Counties please contact us at (630)-221-8340 or by email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org. Thank you and we really hope to hear from you soon!

Wish Granted!

Humanitarian Service Project would greatly like to thank an extremely kind woman, Gail Hudgins, for going above and beyond granting 5 of our needy senior’s wishes. This past Friday, Gail donated 5 grocery carts to 5 of the seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. These carts had just been placed on the Senior Citizen’s Wish List and without hesitation Gail fulfilled those wishes. This was such a sensational surprise for these seniors not only because the carts are so useful but because of how quickly they received them. Tish Jensen, Gail’s sister who is also no stranger to HSP, dropped off the grocery carts this past Friday, and they were delivered the very next day! It had worked out perfectly that this Saturday was our scheduled monthly delivery day for the seniors. These shopping carts will surely make life easier, especially since some seniors have mobility problems and have difficulty carrying their belongings. Donations like this really go such a long way, so another big thanks to Gail Hudgins from HSP!

If you are looking to donate, any donation, whether big or small equals a big help.  Some of the items most often requested by the seniors are food processors, microwaves, coffee pots, toasters, bathroom towels, electric blankets, and small area rugs. If you only have a couple of dollars to spare other great donations include detergent, stamps, and rolls of quarters. If you would like to donate any of these items please contact us at (630)-221-8340 or by email HSP@humanitarianservice.org.