toomanybooks

ingy and I are organizing the Chicago Seminar DO for mid-October and we decided to donate a portion of the registration fees to a Chicago charity, perhaps one dealing with kids.

I'd appreciate any suggestions if you know of a worthy one. Thanks.

Sweet Willie

Nice touch !!

I do know of one: The Greater Chicago Food Depository www.chicagosfoodbank.org

A terrific organization.

ILuvParis

When I saw the topic, that was my first thought as well. ^

travis bickle

. . . you can go to this url: http://www.charitynavigator.org/ and get a "report card", or check the stats, on virtually any charity - how much they spend on expenses; how much they forward to recipients; etc.

It can help you if you have any questions on an organization.

Greater Chicago Food Depository comes in high.

firstclassking

While not necessarily a Chicago charity, Save the Children is a worthy one with ease of contributing through their Good Goes site.

The company I work for recently started a charity marketing campaign for Save the Children and the Ad Council. The campaign is designed to help provide valuable healthcare for the millions of children who need it worldwide. Unfortunately, 9 million children die every year from preventable illness and this new campaign/PSA is designed to help fight this saddening number.

On a positive note, every 4 seconds a child or mother in a developing country is being saved from debilitating/deadly disease our goal is to improve this rate.

Check out the website Goodgoes.org for the "Where the good goes" campaign, being online it provides the same level of ease as a local charity.

We’ve also created a Facebook application, Good Goes Facebook, to help bring attention to the project as well. Show your support by installing the app, and uploading your photo to the wall alongside the other participants to show solidarity in this awareness campaign.

Big Mo

http://www.first-defense.org/

chgoeditor

Obesity is a huge problem in Chicagoland, particularly among children. Please look at CLOCC's website (Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children) for the names of their partner agencies. Healthy Schools Campaign is one such agency that's making a lot of grass-roots progress at improving school lunches and exercise options for kids.

If you donate to The Greater Chicago Food Depository, consider directing your donation to the Nourish for Knowledge program. Each week, Nourish for Knowledge sends 7000+ kids home with bags of healthy food. Kids who receive free or subsidized meals get a (somewhat) healthy meal 5 days a week, and this is designed to give them some more healthy food to eat over the weekend. (My recollection is that >100K kids in Chicago schools receive free/subsidized meals, so Nourish for Knowledge is only satisfying a fraction of the need. As I understand it, their biggest obstacle is funding.)

For something with a travel bent, consider Reach the World. This organization funds volunteers who do adventure travel (biking across Latin America, sailing trips, etc.) and, while on the road, use the internet to connect with teachers & students in low-income neighborhoods in NY and Chicago to teach geography, culture, history, etc. (I believe their Chicago and New York organizations are separate entities, so if you want to make a donation to a local group, make sure it's directed appropriately.)

For 45+ years, Chicago Lights has run a weekly tutoring program for low-income kids, many of whom come from Chicago's housing projects. They work with about 400 kids a week and also feed them a healthy, hot meal. The tutoring is one-on-one, and many kids and tutors form lifelong relationships. Although this is affiliated with one of Chicago's larger Presbyterian churches, I have friends of many faiths who have volunteered with the group.

I volunteer with at-risk kids, so I can suggest dozens of other Chicago non-profits that would certainly appreciate your donation. Feel free to PM me for other suggestions.

milepig

Another very worthy cause aimed at children is the Face the Future Foundation. This is a group of surgeons - plastic and cranial-facial - from UIC who use the proceeds to provide surgery to children with facial malformities who could not otherwise afford treatment.

Their webpage is in a bit of a state at the moment, but they're aware of it and are working on getting it fixed up. In no way does this reflect on the general organization or the work they do. All volunteer, so 100% of their proceeds go to fund the cause, there is zero overhead.

http://174.136.50.39/~facethef/

mmayer

Take a look at Misericordia:

http://www.misericordia.com/about/default.aspx

They provide a home for more than 600 children and adults (many who came to Misericordia as children) with a variety of developmental disabilities.

manneca

Windy City Habitat for Humanity. http://www.windycityhabitat.org/site...NISMzA&b=47256

I used to work for HFH International. The difference having a home made in a child's life is extraordinary. I used to listen to children tell me about how their grades went up. They'd grab my hand, take me into their rooms and show me their report cards. And neighborhoods improved too. As new houses went in, neighbors would begin to care more about their own houses.

Not 100% success by any means, but lots of really good stories.

I don't know anyone at the Chicago Habitat, but I'm sure they'd be willing to show the group around and meet a family.

Djlawman

Chicagoland Ronald McDonald Houses

http://www.rmhccni.org/

I can't begin to tell you how much help the Ronald McDonald Houses are to families of really sick kids. When we were inpatient at the oncology unit at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Ronald McDonald House was a godsend for many of the families, whose kids were sometimes inpatient for months at a time. Some of the families lived many hours from CHOP. (Fortunately, we lived close enough that we could go home and back -- although one of us slept at the hospital every night our son was there.)

They are in the middle of a campaign to build the world's largest Ronald McDonald House in Chicago. It's needed, unfortunately.

Further, the Chicagoland Ronald McDonald Houses are run by a great friend of mine from Cornell, Doug Porter. One of the greatest, most dedicated people you will ever meet.

Please give them some consideration.

JerseyJoe

Although not directly related to kids (but does support music in the schools)
is the International Music Foundation which does the Dame Myra Hess concerts at the Library/cultural center and the annual Do-It-Yourself-Messiah singalong.

gfunkdave

Chicago House provides housing and services to people living with HIV/AIDS, with particular offerings geared towards families.

atl801

Mercy Home for Boys and Girls !!!!!

99% privately funded and has an over 90% rate of college graduation for their students.

ninja138

How about the Super Jake Foundation or Children's Memorial Hospital?