Naperville Raises $2,000 for United Way

Our Naperville office recently collected some $2,000 to sponsor a bench in United Way's "Garden Party."

The bench, titled "Hope Springs Eternal," is based on a "green" concept and depicts Gaia, the Greek Goddess of Earth, springing forth from a tree with the earth cradled in her arms.

Painted on the bench's seat is a quote from Henry David Thoreau -- "What is the use of a house if you haven't a tolerable planet to put it on?"

Pictured (L to R) are Naperville's Maryann Dalaskey, Amanda Weiss, Kelly Rich and sales manager Bill Gill.

Offices Collaborate with LoveFM to Collect Toys (Dec. 2006)

As we previously reported, our Naperville (photo at right) and Wheaton office (below left) collaborated with LoveFM, serving as a collection point for the radio station’s toy drive. The offices ended up collecting more than 150 toys. Because of that success, the radio station and Baird & Warner kicked off a second toy drive, making all of our offices drop-offs for the drive.

In the end, offices – including Schaumburg, Bolingbrook, Palatine and City North – collected more than 70 bags of toys that were delivered to two charities.

La Casa Norte, an organization that works to provide shelter and supportive services to the homeless in the Humboldt Park area, and Heartland Alliance, an acute crisis center, received the much needed toys. In fact, Heartland Alliance had 50 children in its care who would not have had toys for Christmas without the donations.

And, even though Naperville had already had a successful drive, Sales Associate Lisa Byrne brought in more than 35 bags of toys for the second leg of the drive.

Lisa, who was a guest on LoveFM’s morning show, collected the toys, as well as 1,000 pounds of food from her subdivision of 153 homes. This is the third year her subdivision has had its own toy drive and this is the fourth year, the subdivision has participated in quarterly food drives for the Northern Illinois Food Bank. She said participants leave the bags they are donating on their front porch on a designated day for collection.

“It’s something I really enjoy doing because you can see the fruits of your labor. It never seems like a hassle and you know you’re helping out a lot of people,” she said.

Photo (right): B&W Good Will Network Coordinator’s Andrew Hayes with Lisa Byrne’s donations.

Office Collects Toys and Food for Two Charities (Dec. 2005)

Our Naperville office pulled double duty for charity this year.

First, the office collaborated with LoveFM, serving as a drop-off for the radio station’s toy drive for the Family Shelter Services Holiday Shoppe.

In the end, the Sales Associates collected more than 100 toys. John Matthews, Naperville’s Branch Manager, said the agents brought in the majority themselves.

Because of the toy drive, Matthews was being interviewed on the radio about it. The interview touched on how the food pantries had been wiped out due to hurricane relief, so when Matthews returned to his office, he kicked off what he dubbed “The Monster of All Food Drives” to see what the office could do.

The response from the Sales Associates was overwhelming, yielding at least “40 or 50 bags” or roughly a few thousand dollars worth of groceries for Naperville-based Loaves & Fishes, an interdenominational food pantry.

“It’s wonderful that we as a company are having such a great year that we can give back to our communities,” Matthews said.

Kitchen Tour Cooks Up $5,000 for Family Shelter Services (Oct. 2004)
The Naperville Good Will Network’s 2nd Annual Kitchen Tour raised more than $5,000 for Family Shelter Services. 

Sales Associates and staff volunteered their time as tour guides through the 10 kitchens on display. Tickets were sold for $20 apiece.

Family Shelter Services works to create a safe environment for victims of domestic violence, offering shelter as well as counseling, support groups and other programs.