ADOPT A BAGS FOR CHRISTMAS 2025
Thank you to our incredible community that simply never ceases to rise to any occassion to support a neighbor in need. The bar has been set pretty high this holiday season!
Adopt A Bag has concluded and over 345 bags of necessities have been dropped off in the last few weeks to our incredible host, Bethany Lutheran Church Batavia IL. They opened their church home to us and allowed us to fill their entryway, hallways and a staircase with bags of laundry detergent, toilet paper and a variety of other necessities. Thank you, thank you Deb Garrison and Bethany Church for your hospitality! We so appreciate you!
We had group drives from Bethany Lutheran, Batavia Youth Baseball, Friends and Tanglewood neighbors of Laura Fennel, and the cuties of AGS K-Kids and Lindsay Ripke (pictured) in addition to countless individuals, couples and families. Overachievers that you are Community, not only were we able to cover the 175 bags for Batavia United Way, we had enough bags to share as follows:
25 to Riverain Senior Housing pantry
26 to Lazarus House Homeless Shelter
27 to Batavia Apartments on property pantry
16 to Mutual Ground
25 to Tri City Family Services families
15 to VFW vets
In the words of “Kid President” Robby Novak, “You don’t need a cape to be a hero, you just need to care.” Thank you for giving to people you may never meet, just because you have a kind and generous heart. Well done and Merry Christmas.
SHOP WITH A COP 2025
Shop with a Cop 2025 was a wonderful evening with our fantastic Batavia police and fire departments. Huge thank you to Officer Chris Pothoff and the manager and staff at Walmart on Randall Rd. Police/fire personnel shopped with 24 students to buy gifts for themselves and siblings- 44 in total plus gifts for their parents. Walmart povided amazing treats and cute hats. And help to set up and clean up- all with big smiles.
Thank you to Anne and Neil Rudd for providing all the wrapping paper, ribbons, bows and tags. We could not do this without you both!
And thank you to our wonderful and loving Chip In liaisons for your hours of wrapping and helping all the shoppers! Ashley Murtaugh- our phenomenal administrator, helped all night at check out and gave each parent a gift card. You are THE BEST!
Thank you Amy Nelson for all your help planning this event! As Community Outreach Coordinator, your work is so vital to our families.
And THANK YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS - you gave so much joy to so many children and their parents. THANK YOU! Merry Christmas to everyone! We have THE BEST TOWN!
FOAM PARTY AT BATAVIA APARTMENTS KICKS OFF THE SUMMER!
Another fun event at Batavia Apartments with the Chip In sponsored Foam Party. The wind this year added floating clouds of foam to the fun. Batavia Apartments staff organized a great event with lots of love from all the resources in our community and from their own wonderful staff. Hello summer!
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
The 2025 Prom Dress Give A Way is finished and it was a tremendous success!
Here are some fun facts about our event this year-
The Batavia Public Library hosted us for 6 weeks to make this possible. As a drop spot for the event, they moved hundreds of dresses to their basement for us to organize and then store.
They said YES to any little thing we needed and we literally could not do this event without them. Special thanks to Kathy Moecher, Kristin Zambo, Misty Jump and the amazing Felix for all the support!
This year 337 students from 47 highs schools attended our event. 604 dresses were chosen by students, each guest taking home 1-3 dresses and many chose shoes, jewelry and accessories. We had over 1000 dresses on display and after taking care of our students, we were able to share product with 7 different charities in the Chicago area to support their work. Over 800 dresses went out the door by the end of our event! Wow!
Over the course of 3 days we had 7 seamstresses working onsite and taking dresses home to do free alterations for our student shoppers.
Thank you!
We would like to thank all of the generous donors that gave from their hearts and their closets, the exceptional team of volunteers we had and a big shout out to Batavia High School Football for moving all our gear and wardrobe boxes back to In Towne Self-Storage in St. Charles. BPS Buildings and Grounds did the final pick up of dress racks and displays this morning and we appreciate them as well!
Thank you to Taryn Boyce for doing a mini dress drive at Starbucks and for donating a raffle basket, Jeffrey Cesario Agency- Farmers Insurance for initiating a jewelry drive and for Nicole Servedio for collecting over 75 dresses plus accessories for us. Special Occasions donated some glamorous dresses that were snapped up as well as a raffle basket a St. Charles girl was excited to win.
Thank you to the incredible village that pulled this off! You managed the crowds, consulted, flipped those dressing rooms, unpacked and packed boxes staged shoes and accessories, and gave so much support and care to this project.
We appreciate you and we cannot wait until we see you again next year for more fun!
Melinda & Joanne
SHOP WITH A COP 2024:A great night! And, Boy Scout Troop 12 donated 6 Christmas trees, stands, lights, and decorations! THANK YOU!
A great night at Walmart! Thanks to their grant and funds from CHIP IN Batavia, and our amazing police and fire departments, 18 families and 40 children got to shop for gifts. And our volunteers wrapped each gift. Walmart provided snacks and cookie and gingerbread making tables. What an amazing community!
