This is a community impact story titled “Building Champions Program helping Chicago’s youth” from December 4, 2018 written for the chicagoblackhawks.com by Fred Mitchell. Blackhawks players are veritable examples of what it takes to overcome adversity and challenges in life. And that has been their explicit message during a six-week after-school program at MB Ice Arena. The […]

At 26 years old, Jonny Imerman was diagnosed with testicular cancer and began his fight against the disease. Throughout his experience, Jonny was lucky enough to have loving support from his family and friends, but he had never met anyone his age who was a cancer survivor. Jonny wanted to talk to someone just like […]

Doug’s Story Written by our June Chicago Charity, Aspire. Meet Doug Northey, “one of the most important people in the kitchen”. Doug is an adult with a developmental disability who has been utilizing the services of Chicago-based nonprofit Aspire to increase his independence. Thanks to his work with Aspire, Doug recently moved out of his […]

This is an Op-Ed from October 22, 2017 written for the The New York Times by Tamar Manasseh, Founder and President of Mothers Against Senseless Killings Why is the Trump administration so obsessed with my city? Just last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a Senate hearing that “the murder rate is a cloud […]

Written by Chandra Garcia-Kitch I’ve been a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teacher for the last 16 years on the south and west sides of Chicago. I’ve taught kids from 35 countries who speak different languages, who have different life experiences, and who bring unique stories into my classroom. I’m one of 49 CPS teachers currently […]

Written by our COO Brittany Graunke. Photo at Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago — I’m mom to two amazing children. Over the last 4.5 years, I’ve changed thousands of diapers and washed hundreds of loads of baby clothes. I’ve read more books than I did in the prior 20 years of […]