Happy Birthday to Allyson

Today HSP had the pleasure of celebrating another special member of our team, our Senior Citizen Project Coordinator, Allyson Armstrong. Allyson brings so much joy and energy to our office, and to the seniors she works to help on a daily basis. She puts so much of herself into her work, making sure our Senior Citizen Project runs smoothly and that all of the seniors enrolled are given the support they need. All of us at HSP were happy to sit down and celebrate Allyson on her special day. HSP would not be the same without her, and we would all like to wish her a very happy birthday!

Thank You Meadows!

Today HSP was honored to have 5 volunteers from Meadows come in and help us get a leg up on our preparations for our July Feed the Kids Distribution Day. Meadows is an Intermediate Care Residential Home that creates a supportive living experience for disabled adults. Over the two hours, our fantastic volunteers helped make boxes to be filled with food for the families served by our Feed the Kids program. Thanks to great volunteer groups like Meadows, we are able to provide care and service to many people in need. We would like to say thank you to these volunteers for coming out and helping us with our preparations for Feed the Kids and we look forward to seeing you again soon!

Happy Birthday Kristin!

Today HSP is celebrating the birthday of our Executive Director, Kristin Maxwell! Kristin puts so much of her time, energy, and self into making sure HSP can make a difference in the lives of the deserving seniors, children, and families we serve. Kristin works with the HSP staff to manage the day to day operations of the five programs HSP has to serve those in need. Kristin continues to push HSP to new limits and fulfill HSP’s mission of alleviating the pain and suffering that poverty brings to seniors and children. Today, HSP sat down to celebrate with Kristin to celebrate her special day.  HSP would not be where it is today without Kristin, so please join us in wishing Kristin a very happy birthday!

Delivery Day Drivers

This Saturday will be our monthly Delivery Day for the needy seniors in the Senior Citizen Project. 131 seniors will receive their monthly 100 pounds of food and personal care items. Today we wanted to highlight a group of volunteers who help make our deliveries successful each month, our delivery drivers.

Our regular drivers deliver groceries to the same seniors every month. They sign up for a time slot on Saturday morning and our volunteers load up their cars with the nutritious groceries our seniors need to maintain their health. They then deliver straight to the seniors’ homes. When our regulars are unavailable, substitute drivers serve their seniors. Substitute Drivers give HSP their e-mail, so that we can reach them when our regular drivers are unavailable to deliver food for the month. Once we know all the routes that are in need of a driver we send e-mails to the substitute drivers and they choose what time slot and route works best for them.

We would not be able to run this program without the help of the amazing drivers that volunteer their time every month and encourage new people to try it out! If you are interested in becoming a Delivery Day driver or have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us by emailing hsp@humanitarianservice.org or by calling 630.221.8340. 

A Warm Welcome to New Interns

This week, HSP was excited to welcome two new interns, Anna Lapso and Erik Maranto, to our summer intern team. Anna has taken on the role of our Grant Writing intern, and will be helping HSP seek out grant funding for our programs to serve those in need throughout DuPage and Kane counties. Anna is an English major at Elmhurst College. She is extremely passionate about writing, and is excited to have found an internship that will allow her to apply and develop her skills while also serving others. Anna is very interested in our programs here at HSP, especially those affecting children. Anna’s interests include recreational writing and reading. Erik, who has joined the team as HSP’s Project Management intern, will be helping us reach out to members of the community and service groups, educating them about HSP, and establishing relationships with them. Erik also attends Elmhurst College, where he majors in Business Administration, with a minor in Organizational Communication. After graduating, Erik plans on starting his career, and he would like to be an active alum for Elmhurst College and his fraternity. He was attracted to HSP because the community was very inviting, and because of the amazing work they do to help those in need. His biggest hope for this internship is to plan a successful event while expanding his skill set. Erik’s other interests include fishing and spending quality time with his family and friends. Please help us give these two a nice warm welcome!

Support HSP at the Exchange Club of Naperville’s Ribfest

Ribfest is only a month away and we are looking for a few more volunteers to help. Ribfest is a charity event sponsored by the Exchange Club of Naperville and will be hosted at Naperville’s Knoch Park from July 2^nd -July 5^th. At Ribfest there will be concerts, carnival rides, and other fun attractions for the whole family. The fest is geared towards raising money to support children’s charitable causes including our Feed the Kids program. For more information on Ribfest, visit their website at ribfest.net.

The more volunteers who represent HSP at the event results in more funding to help serve and support low-income families. There is a particular need for volunteers from 4pm-10pm on July 3^rd and July 5^th. Also, there is a big need for volunteers from either 11am-5pm or 4pm-10pm on July 4^th. There are only a few volunteer slots available so sign up quick! If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions please contact HSP at 630-221-8340 or by email hsp@humanitarianservice.org. We look forward to hearing from you! Even if you can’t volunteer; we hope to see you at Ribfest on 4^th of July weekend for some family fun!

Feed the Kids’ First Distribution

HSP started out strong for our summer Feed the Kids program. The first distribution day was filled with high energy, the warehouse was full of activity, and cars were lined up down the street.  HSP’s Feed the Kids program, which takes place during the months of June, July, and August, serves 100 families, with each family receiving 175-200 pounds of non-perishable food, fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, and a variety of meat. This program serves low-income families whose children are enrolled in free/subsidized meal programs at school. Since these children do not receive these meals in the summer, HSP steps in to provide nutritious food for these families. As a bonus we also had donated children’s clothes and summer toys, and the families were invited to look through these items and take home any that they wanted. HSP would not have been able to accomplish all that we did for our first distribution day of the year if it were not for our fantastic volunteers. We had individual volunteers and a large number of volunteers from the Carol Stream “Panther” chapter of the Young Men Service League and from the National Charity League. These wonderful men and women spent the day greeting families and loading grocery packages into cars, making it possible for HSP to serve all of our Feed the Kids families.