Mass Mutual Financial Group Volunteers at HSP

Today HSP was glad to host 17 volunteers from Mass Mutual Financial Group who came into HSP to help wrap gifts for our Children’s Birthday Project. This group of volunteers spent around two hours in our warehouse this afternoon wrapping gifts for the impoverished children served by the program. The group kindly even brought an assortment of wrapping paper to use while enthusiastically wrapping the gifts.  The volunteer group comes to as a part of a company-wide volunteering event. This month,  Mass Mutual volunteers from across the country are engaging in community service projects to serve the communities in which they work.

CBP provides 925 impoverished children between the ages of 3 and 11 with a 20-25 lb. “birthday box” full of new toys, books, party supplies and more. This project allows children in families who otherwise would not be able to afford celebrating birthdays to receive the special, memorable day all children deserve.

Within the next month, HSP will put wrapping birthday gifts on hold to focus on our Christmas Offering, so we are very grateful to these volunteers from Mass Mutual for helping us get birthday gifts wrapped for children with birthdays in the upcoming months wrapped ahead of time.  

Senior Endowment Campaign

          The Senior Endowment Campaign, a campaign in which we’ve partnered with Allured Business media, is still taking place to enroll a senior permanently into our Senior Citizen Project (SCP). SCP provides 100 pounds of groceries to 123 impoverished seniors every month to provide for seniors’ basic needs.  Every three months, the seniors enrolled in SCP also receive a personal care kit, complete with hygiene items, such as shampoo and toothpaste.  Seniors can also look forward to receiving gifts every month from their Secret Pals, who provide gifts ranging from the $20-$25 range, such as gift cards or other items on seniors’ wish lists, making their lives a little brighter.

            The Senior Endowment Campaign, run by Allured Business Media, is taking place until October 17.  The campaign is working to raise at least $7,500, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Allured Business Media, to enroll a new senior into SCP.  With the $7,500 matched by Allured Business Media, HSP will be able to permanently provide the services of SCP to a new senior, increasing the program’s enrollment from 123 needy seniors to 124.

            If you would like to donate, or if you have any questions about the Senior Endowment Campaign, please feel free to contact us at 630-221-8340, or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.  We are accepting donations of any dollar amount in our office and through the mail at 465 Randy Road, Carol Stream, IL 60188; or on Network for Goods (https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/hsp?code=Homepage).  Please consider donating so we can help one more senior living in poverty within Du

Page and Kane Counties!      

HSP Welcomes Another New Fall Intern

          HSP has another new, smiling face joining our team, making our Monday morning even brighter.  Today, we welcome Lisa Szilagyi to our HSP team as the new accounting intern. 

Lisa started her college career at COD, earning her Clerical Accounting Certificate; she then transferred to ISU for one year before finishing her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism at Roosevelt University.  Lisa would like to go into the accounting field, which is a large part of why she applied for the internship here at HSP.  Along with the experience Lisa hopes to gain while interning with HSP, she also said a large reason why she chose HSP is because she really liked that HSP is a charity organization and felt that it was a good match for her career goals and her personal values.  While here, Lisa will be working with our CFO, Floyd Kettering, assisting him with the financial work at HSP.  Lisa hopes to spend her time at HSP getting more comfortable with the software that is used in the accounting field so she can hone her own skills and education to advance in the field herself. 

Lisa has spent time in the past volunteering for Kenneth Young, a retail store that accepts donations and then sells them for lower prices, in Schaumburg.  There, Lisa helped sort clothing and other items that were donated to the store.  Outside of her internship, Lisa enjoys being outdoors, particularly riding her bike and taking nature walks.  Lisa also enjoys playing video games and reading, citing the Bioshock and Mass Effect series as some of her favorite video games; for reading, Lisa says that her favorite series is The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, but she also enjoys Lord of the Rings, and anything by Stephen King. 

            All of us here at HSP are thrilled to have Lisa join our team, and we look forward to all the wonderful work she will accomplish here.  Welcome!

Entertainment Books on Sale Now!

The 2015 Entertainment books are in! An Entertainment book is a coupon book filled with hundreds of offers for local restaurants, stores and attractions. This sale is run by HSP supporter, Sheri Kohout in efforts to raise funds for our Senior Citizen Project. The Senior Citizen Project provides 100 pounds of groceries, personal care and household items to seniors in need. The money raised by the sale of these books will enable HSP to provide nutritious groceries to a needy senior for a whole year. This year, the books also come with the option to download a mobile app which gives access to great deals nationwide. Books are $25 and you can buy one right here at HSP.      

HSP Welcomes 3 New Interns

With Summer reaching its end, we are excited for all of the exciting things that Fall brings.  Fall not only brings weather that’s perfect for a sweater and jeans, but it also brings new interns into the HSP office!  Hooray!  We’re very excited to be bringing more happy faces into our office to serve the children and seniors we work to help every day.

                      The first new intern we’d like to welcome to the team is Frank Miller.  Frank is currently attending North Central College as an Entrepreneurship/ Small Business Management major with a double minor in Accounting and Marketing.  Upon completing his college degree, Frank hopes to join a marketing firm.  Frank found that interning at HSP would be a great fit for him because of his passion for service and helping others, which was fostered in him from a young age and has continued through various volunteer work throughout his high school career.  During his time here at HSP, Frank hopes to expand his communication skills.  Aside from all of his interest in service, Frank can also boast that he is an avid bowler and a second-degree black belt!

            Next, we’d like to welcome Mackenzie Mentink.  Mackenzie attends Elmhurst College as a Business/Marking major.  After Mackenzie completes her college degree, she hopes to work in a non-profit organization, making HSP a very sensible choice for interning.  Mackenzie also chose to intern at HSP because of her passion for helping others and her desire to make a difference.  Mackenzie fosters her passion for helping other by volunteering with her sorority, which is engaged in several activities, including regularly working with Feed My Starving Children.  Mackenzie hopes to learn more about her professional goals from her time spent here at HSP.  Outside of all the time Mackenzie spends giving back to others, she also enjoys playing volleyball and spending time with her dog named Sophie.

            Finally, we’d like to welcome Brittany Galiardo, our last new intern to join this week.  Brittany attends Elmhurst College as an Organizational Communications major.  After Brittany completes her college degree, she would like to work in a non-profit organization, and maybe even become a social worker.  Brittany chose to intern at HSP because she thought it would be relevant to her career goals and she wants to help serve our clientele.  Brittany has past volunteer experience, including a lot of time spent working with her sorority and working with her college’s Habitat for Humanity Chapter.  Brittany is looking forward to gaining experience working with the clientele we serve while here at HSP. Aside from all of her interest in volunteering and helping others, Brittany also enjoys arts and crafts and spending time outdoors.

            From all of here at HSP, we are very excited to welcome you to our team; thank you for being part of our cause to help needy children and seniors!  We can’t wait to work with all of you!     

  

SEAL Is Starting Their School Year Off Right!

The School of Expressive Arts and Learning (SEAL) are starting their school year out right by sorting paper for the Senior Citizen Project! Today six volunteers came to help the Humanitarian Service Project this morning, which was a tremendous help this lent a hand by sorting paper products for the needy seniors we serve. This task is important that the volunteers sorted paper because not only can these seniors not afford groceries but paper products such as facial tissues, toilet paper, and paper towels are also very expensive for our seniors. Every senior in our Senior Citizen Project gets 100 pounds of groceries monthly, including fresh fruits, vegetables, frozen meats and non perishables. Here at HSP it is important for our seniors to have the food and nutrients they need but also paper products to keep them living healthy lives.

The School of Expressive Arts and Learning have been volunteering at HSP for three years now, we are very thankful for all their hard work and dedication by regularly lending their support. The Senior Citizen Project would not be possible without our selfless volunteers, Thank you SEAL for your help today and we will see you soon!

If you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering their time to help make a difference in the lives of needy children and seniors, feel free to contact the Humanitarian Service Project by phone at 630-221-8340, or by email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Giant Steps Volunteer Program!

It is always great to see young people engaged in helping those in need. Last week, HSP was blessed to have a group of young volunteers from Giant Steps, in Lisle, lend their support. Their main mission is to improve the function and quality of daily life for teens with autism all the way through adulthood. Giant Steps came in to volunteer to sort food for the impoverished seniors served by our Senior Citizen Project last week. On Tuesday, they had to depart early due to weather conditions, but still managed to volunteer their time. On Thursday, this group returned bringing a generous food donation. Finally on Friday, 13 students and aides volunteered for one hour helping us organize non-perishable food to provide to needy seniors. We would like to thank the volunteers of Giant Steps for dedicating their time and passion for improving the service here at HSP! It was a pleasure to host Giant steps last week and we greatly appreciate their efforts! You can check out Giant Steps online at http://www.mygiantsteps.org/ for more information.