Batavia Chamber Of Commerce: Adopt-A-Family Program Brings Community Together

Batavia IL

16 December, 2021

4:37 PM

Description

Press release from Batavia Chamber of Commerce: December 16, 2021 Batavia, IL – Batavia United Way would like to express its sincere gratitude to over 80 sponsors who adopted 145 families, including more than 275 kids, for our 2021 holiday Adopt-a-Family program. These sponsors included businesses, families, individuals, clubs, and scouts from Batavia as well as all over the Western Suburbs. Additionally, anonymous donors provided generous monetary contributions to support this program. Collectively, sponsors and donors provided thousands of dollars in Christmas cheer to these families in an especially difficult time. This undertaking is truly a collaborative effort and BUW would like to share our sincerest thanks to so many that made this all possible. Once again, the Batavia Women in Business and Batavia Youth Baseball held very successful cash and gift card drives within their organizations to provide families with groceries, restaurant meals, and other necessities. Batavia Lions Club held their annual Underwear Party and raised over $1,700 while also collecting multiple bins of socks and underwear. Hearth and Hammer also held a successful pajama drive to collect sleepwear for the kids. Batavia Women's Club coordinated beautiful stockings for each of the kids. Chip IN provided bags of fresh produce and bread to each family, and the community rallied to provide every family with a bag of non-perishables such as toilet paper, laundry detergent and more. Thankfully, Bethany Lutheran Church stepped up to serve as a drop off spot for these grocery bags while we waited to move into our event space which was provided by the very generous Batavia Enterprises. Multitudes of community members and businesses helped to provide gifts, gift cards, toys, pajamas, and more! Special thanks to Batavia Public Schools for taking the time out of a stressful and ever-changing academic environment to support this program by identifying the families in need and inviting them to participate in our program. BUW would like to thank the families of Grace McWayne Elementary School that donated 235 boxes of cereal for our families. We applaud your heart and dedication! Lastly, we have profound appreciation for all the volunteers that pulled the array of details all together for a beautiful presentation delivered to our families. There were literally tears of joy and tremendous sighs of relief as parents picked up the Christmas that would not have happened otherwise. The collective effort, generosity, and compassion of our communities to provide for these programs really illustrate the true meaning of the holiday season. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all who supported these programs! Pictured (left to right) Kari Edwards, Cindy Morgan, Melinda Kintz (former Batavia United Way Executive Director), Barbara Theuerkauf (Batavia United Way Executive Director), Kathy Evangelista, and Amy Nelson (Batavia Public School District 101). Kari, Cindy and Kathy are members of the BUW board.  Batavia United Way elves assist with deliveries. Pictured is the Batavia Fire Department delivering items for the families they sponsored. This press release was produced by Batavia Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author's own.