Soldier's Angels - August 14, 2010

On August 14th, as many of the GGB that we could muster, met at Lindsay's house to pack up care packages for soldiers who are currently overseas. This is a cause that is very near and dear to Lindsay's heart, since her husband Ethan was overseas for 15 months during the early part of their relationship. All of us purchased a variety of items to send to the soldiers, including wrapped foods, puzzles, and magazines. See the following link for more information on how you can get involved with Soldiers Angels. We were amazed at how simple it was to give back! 

http://www.soldiersangels.org/

Courtney, Sam, Mackenzie, and Liz writing cards to the soldiers (left to right)

Lindsay and Ashley writing cards to the soldiers and trying to come up with creative things to say to them!

 Our assembly line of boxes

 Look at all of those treats!

Courtney, Mackenzie, Liz, Sam, Ashley, and Lindsay with our care packages (left to right)

Letter we received from Soldier's Angels for our support.

Ronald McDonald House Pictures

Ronald McDonald House Success!

Good afternoon!
Last Saturday was such a great way to jumpstart "Girls Giving Back." While we all could not make the event, our entire group took the time and participated by contributing to the lunch at Ronald McDonald House! We really enjoyed preparing a meal for the families of RMH. We couldn't help but show off our inner "domestic goddess-ness" too! ;)
Big huge "thank you" to Liz for organizing our first event! At our informal meeting after the event, we discussed various organizations that we are interested in as individuals and as a group. The general consensus is that with the summer being so busy for everyone, we would like to schedule our next big event for August. Please take a look at your calendar and pencil in 8/14 for the next GGB service day.
In the meantime, we are all going to continue to invite each other to various service events throughout the summer and possibly participate in a Walk or Run together! Courtney has invited us to join her in handing out Jelly Bellies this Saturday at the corner of Lake & Harlem in Oak Park from 9am - 1pm. Proceeds will benefit Misericordia.
Have a fabulous week!

Ronald McDonald House - 4/10 - 10:00 a.m.

Last week we received our first little bump in the road and received a little bit of bad news - followed by some really good news! The bad news is that unfortunately we are not going to be able to meet on 3/21 for our first GGB event. As it turns out, Feed My Starving Children is completely booked for the next several months. It is great news for the organization, but since we want to get started with the whole giving back thing now, we decided to try something else.

So, here is the good stuff: Liz took initiative and reached out to the Ronald McDonald House to see what kinds of volunteer opportunities were available. RMH is an amazing organization that provides food and shelter, completely cost-free, for the families of children who are suffering from longterm illnesses that leave them hospitalized. For example, if a little girl was hospitalized at Children's Memorial Hospital with Leukemia, her family could stay for free at RMH and be close to the little girl's side. When sickness and disease happens in a family, the last thing the family wants to worry about is finding a hotel to accommodate them for an unknown amount of time. RMH is truly a great cause that I first learned about while living in Knoxville, TN. We volunteered there on a weekly basis, providing cleaning services and food for the families. The impact we made was very, very evident and it would be amazing to get involved with the local RMH and help them out in the same kind of way.

The response Liz received from the local chapter was very enthusiastic! They have requested that we visit the house on April 10th to prepare lunch for the visiting families. We are all going to wear comfy clothes just in case they need us to do some scrubbing after. This is going to be great!

Here are the details:
We are going to meet at the Ronald McDonald House at 10:00 a.m. on 4/10. The exact address is Tripp Avenue at Air Mail Road, Hines, IL 60141, right by the Hines V.A. Hospital. If anyone wants to join us, you are more than welcome, but only ten of us will be able to be in the kitchen at one time...Menu ideas will follow as we get a little closer to the date.

Give A Day Get A Disney Day

Hey Girls ~ This looks fun! Check it out...

We want to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service to a participating organization in their communities. So we're celebrating these volunteers' good works by giving each of them a 1-day, 1-theme park ticket to the Disneyland® Resort or Walt Disney World® Resort, free. There's no better time to make a dream come true for others and let us make a few come true for you.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day

WLMA Non Profit Networking Expo - Great Networking and Idea Generator! 2/18/2010

WLMA Non Profit Networking Expo

Join guest speaker, Connie L. Lindsey, Executive Vice President, and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at The Northern Trust Company, for a discussion focused on Non Profit Board Membership and Volunteerism; what it means to be a Non Profit Board Member and the many ways to find and become involved in an organization you care about. Along with her CSR expertise, Ms. Lindsey has extensive involvement on Non Profit Boards, including her current position as National Board President of Girl Scouts of the USA, the highest ranking volunteer of this 3.4 million member organization, among others.
AGENDA
4:30 – 5:00 pm Cocktail Reception
5:00 – 5:20 pm Guest Speaker Presentation
5:20 – 6:30 pm "Expo-Style" Networking Reception

Following the speaker's presentation, connect with fellow WLMA members and their guests as well as several local Non Profit organizations for an "Expo-Style" networking reception.

If you have questions regarding our event, please contact Tina Maloney, tmaloney@navigantconsulting.com.

Feel free to forward this invitation to friends and colleagues.
When: Thursday, February 18, 2010 4:30 – 6:30 pm
Where:
McDermott Will & Emery
227 West Monroe, 44th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606
312.372.2000

Please RSVP by February 11 by clicking here. https://surveys.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=1551605

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS INCLUDE:
Arts & Business Council of Chicago
Be Bright Pink
The Boys and Girls Club
Chicago Children's Advocacy Center
Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind
Children's Memorial Hospital
Connections for Abused Women and their Children
Friends of Prentice
Girl Scouts
Little City Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation of Illinois
Northwestern Memorial Foundation
A Silver Lining Foundation
Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation
Steppenwolf Theatre
The Women's Treatment Center
The Young Women's Leadership Charter School

First Meeting

Well, all of the girls got together today to brainstorm how we could get started with our new charity forum, "Girls Giving Back." Now, no offense to the boys, but as working professionals in the business world, we decided that it would be really great to have a dual purpose organization where we could come together and "bond" as women, while also doing something incredible for the community. Our first meeting was a great success. The camaraderie between the women was very impressive and together we brainstormed some great charities throughout the Chicagoland area.

Today we picked our first outing - a morning at "Feed My Starving Children" in Aurora on March 21st. We will meet at 10:00 a.m. to help pack up dry food, which will be distributed to missionaries in third-world countries in Africa, and Central and South America. For more information on the organization, please visit www.fmsc.org. We would love to have a big group join in for our first outing, so please feel free to join in on the fun! All are welcome - even boys!

Our assignment for the next 60 days is to try to learn more about a charity that could use our support. Once we get together March 21st, we will review some ideas and figure out the next event... If anyone has thoughts, suggestions, or ideas, feel free to post a comment!