Thank You Service Learning Students!

Alex Thomas, a service learning student from College of DuPage

For the past several months, Humanitarian Service Project has enjoyed hosting a number of College of DuPage students through the school’s “Service Learning” program. Service Learning students at the school volunteer 20 hours at community organizations, like HSP, utilizing their time and talents to help others. We’ve had wonderful students through this program in the past, and the group we had this semester was no different. This spring, we were also lucky enough to students interested in doing service learning from Benedictine University and Elmhurst College come in to work alongside our COD helpers. They helped out around HSP in a myriad of ways by assisting with office procedures, working in our upstairs toy room, and helping out in our warehouse.

With the end of the school year fast approaching, these service learning students are finishing up their hours and leaving HSP. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work, because they have done so much to help us reach out to the needy children and senior citizens we serve. 

Friends of HSP are in Fashion

         This Sunday, April 29th, the Humanitarian Service Project will be in fashion. The Bloomingdale Women’s Club has selected Humanitarian Service Project as the main charity to support with their 37^th Annual Charity Fashion Show and Luncheon, “All That Jazz.”

         Karole Kettering, Founder and Executive Director, will be attending not only to represent HSP, but also to support her daughter Becky and two granddaughters, Morgan and Olivia who will be models in the fashion show. We could not be represented by anyone better and they all are sure to have fun at such a fantastic event!

         The show will feature fashions from Carson Pirie Scott, Sassy’s Originals, Bella Bianca Couture, and York Furrier coats. The event will include raffles, door prizes, and is sure to be a lot of fun. The best part is it is for a good cause supporting the many people who rely on the programs the Humanitarian Service Project provides in the community.

         It is wonderful to be partnering with the Bloomingdale Women’s club on this event and we are proud they have selected us to be involved in this exciting day.

HSP Salutes Two Wonderful, Longtime Supporters!

A few days ago, HSP got a surprise visit from two of our longtime supporters, Jack Ulrich and Bill Klein. Both Jack and Bill have been active in serving the needy of the community for decades, so we thought it would only be appropriate to recognize them for their service. Bill has been a volunteer driver, delivering greatly needed groceries and other goods to the needy seniors in HSP’s project, for over 20 years, and Jack has been volunteering in the same capacity for over 10. Both Bill and Jack have been active helping the community outside of HSP through the Wheaton Kiwanis Club. Bill has been a member of the Kiwanis for 30 years, and Jack has been involved for 55 years!

We wanted to take this opportunity to say just how blessed HSP is to have the support of Bill, Jack, and all of the other members of the Wheaton Kiwanis Club. Their strong, enduring support has helped HSP make an impact in the lives of countless needy senior citizens and children over the years.

The reason Jack and Bill dropped by our center in the first place was to talk about Wheaton Kiwanis Club’s Annual Pancake Day, which held on at Gary United Methodist Church Saturday May 5^th from 7 a.m until Noon. This is the club’s 61^st Pancake Day, and is a very big, yearly event for the club. Admission to the event is free, and will feature a lot of family fun including raffles and, of course, some delicious pancakes. Any resources donated to the Wheaton Kiwanis through the event go directly to help the many community groups the club supports, including HSP!

HSP Bids Farewell to Two Fantastic Interns!

Michelle (left) Allie (right)

At the Humanitarian Service Project we host many interns who utilize their talents and skills to assist HSP in our projects to reach the needy senior citizens and children that we serve. The only thing we don’t like about these interns is that we will, inevitably, have to say goodbye. Today we at HSP gathered to do just that; to bid farewell to Allie Effrein and Michelle Koller, two of our wonderful, bright interns. Allie and Michelle both began their internships in January (in our Grant Writing and Public Relations departments respectively,) and have since become important fixtures of the HSP office.

Both Allie and Michelle are leaving HSP to begin new, exciting chapters in their lives. Michelle, whose last day was today, will be graduating from Wheaton College in a matter of days, and will be getting married a month later. She will be moving to Jackson, Mississippi with her husband-to-be who will be continuing his education there. Allie, who will be leaving HSP next week, has recently been hired by the non-profit organization Best Buddies in Chicago, where she will be continuing to use her skills and intelligence to help others.

Today, Michelle mentioned how happy she was that she ended up at HSP for her internship, saying that it was a very enjoyable and useful experience. Allie echoed these sentiments, when she expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to work in our grant writing department. Likewise, everyone at HSP feels truly blessed to have worked with two gifted and hard working interns like Allie and Michelle. Please join us in wishing Allie and Michelle good luck in all their future endeavors!

Waubonsie Valley High School Reaches Needy Seniors with Incredible Paper Drive!

Humanitarian Service Project wants to extend our deepest thanks to the student body of Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, for conducting a HUGE paper drive for the needy senior citizens that we serve. Our volunteer drivers Pete Laabs and Mike Reich picked the paper up from the school yesterday, and the collected items packed HSP’s two cargo vans to the brim.


This paper donation from Waubonsie was the result of a school-wide drive spearheaded by the student council. From the 11^th to the 20^th, students were encouraged to bring in paper towels, Kleenex, and toilet paper for the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project. The student’s got so behind the idea that, in this relatively short period of time, they collected so much paper that the donation took up a whole row in our warehouse!



With the cost of necessities like medication and rent, the needy senior citizens in our project cannot afford items that are necessary to live comfortably, like these paper products. For this reason, we want to thank all of the students from Waubonsie Valley High School, for reaching out to these seniors with this generous drive. If you too would like to touch the lives of senior citizens in need please call us at 630-221-8340.

Volunteering on the Run: Thank you to HSP’s Human Race Participants!

Humanitarian Service Project wants to thank and congratulate everyone who participated in the first annual DuPage Human Race on HSP’s behalf this past Saturday. We had a total of six people who volunteered for the 5K run and a walker in the 2 mile fitness walk. We want to thank all of them for getting active and helping to represent HSP in the community. We would like to recognize all of them here: Alex Gordy, Ginna Eriksen, Matt Eriksen, Noriko Valenta, Randy Leffelman, Jerry Rezabek, and Sripadma Arimilli.

(From Left: Matt Eriksen, Melissa Eriksen, Ginna Eriksen, and Alex Gordy.)

HSP staff member Alex Gordy participated in the event as his first ever 5k run. Alex said that it was nice to see so many people at the event motivated to raise money and awareness for many good causes. Ginna Ericksen, the volunteer coordinator of HSP’s Secret Pal Program, made the event a family affair running for HSP with her husband Matt, and her daughter Melissa running for another organization. Congratulations are certainly in order for Ginna, and Noriko Valenta, who also ran for HSP, for finishing 2^nd and 1^st in their divisions respectively.

Again, we want to thank everyone who participated in the event either by running, or donating money to sponsor our runners. The event has helped us in our mission to reach out to needy senior citizens and children in the area, by raising funds and awareness of our programs in the community.

Zurich North America Graciously Hosts (and Gives to) HSP

HSP was happy to be a guest of Zurich North America in Schaumburg yesterday as part of their inaugural Global Community Week. HSP was one of a number of non-profits invited to meet with Zurich employees, and to let them know about HSP’s mission and projects to serve the needy of DuPage and Kane Counties.

HSP Assistant Director Kristin Maxwell represented HSP at Zurich yesterday and said she had a fabulous time. She said that everyone at Zurich was very motivated to give back to the community, and were very interested in learning more about HSP. 

Various groups at Zurich have helped HSP reach the needy in the past. Their most recent contribution was of school supplies and toys for the needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project last year, or rather, that was their most recent contribution until yesterday. Zurich employees mobilized so strongly to provide “Care Kits” for our needy seniors and “Party in a Bag kits” for our needy children that Kristin had to return to Zurich this morning for an unanticipated, second necessary load that still filled up her Ford Expedition to the brim. These wonderful kits will surely bring joy to both the seniors and children that we serve in our programs. We want to thank everyone at Zurich for both this wonderful donation, and for hosting us for their Global Community Week.