We have a wonderful story.....An amazing BHS senior emailed CHIP IN- Lucas Fehrenbacher, offering to help in any way. And, that he had a pick up truck and could help move things. He wants to give back to "the wonderful community of Batavia. The community has supported BHS and athletics so well and for a very long time". Luke is a 3-sport athlete since Freshman year.
An hour later, Dawn  McQuillan from Lazarus House emailed us, asking for any leads on furniture and beds for several of their clients moving into homes of their own.
Another hour later, a friend sent us a message about mattresses (and other furniture) available.
CHIP IN connected them all.....2 days later,  Luke and his friend, John Halter, a BHS grad, picked up NINE mattresses, a couch and 4 chairs, in 2 pick up trucks, with 2 trips to a warehouse, and then to 3 different apartment buildings.
CHIP IN delivered a car load of bedding, small household items and kitchen items donated by Cindy Turner Morgan, Chris Whitty, CHIP IN  and others.

Batavia Mother’s Club made 150 masks for our students in need. Thank you so much! Amanda Horne sewed them and BMC members donated all the supplies and materials! All with adjustable elastic. They are fantastic and so well made! We are so very grateful. THANK YOU!!!  BMC also donated the table of masks below, as well, to give to families over the summer when we delivered Factor food.  And Robin Theis donated dozens of homemade masks too!!

Another amazing act of kindness! Factor, a locally owned company that makes fresh, fully prepared meals – Never Frozen – has donated 200-400 meals EVERY WEEK to CHIP IN families, from February through May!  We have several wonderful CHIP IN liaisons and helpers, who pick up meals each week and deliver to the homes of 10-20 families each week. Thank you to Factor, the Apostal family, and BPS101 for helping to coordinate.

These meals are fantastic, restaurant quality and healthy! Factor focuses on using only the highest-quality ingredients- grass-fed, pasture raised meats, non-GMO, free of refined sugars, soy free, gluten free and organic produce. Every meal is optimized by their team of registered dietitians and prepared by classically trained Chefs. How great does that sound!

We also deliver extras, like snacks, clothes, toys/games, face masks and more....donated by other wonderful community members and groups, like the Batavia Mothers' Club Foundation. 

www.factor75.com

May 27th was a very special day. Nancy Taylor, who ran Hand in Hand Preschool for 23 years, closed her school and offered all her classroom toys, games, puzzles, books, science materials, cookie cutters, stampers, sensory bins, puppet set, and so much more to CHIP IN. We had 5 full car loads picked up, and set it all up, for social distancing, at a home donated to us to use for the day, by Josh Chartier and Little Brothers Chicago.
Nancy wanted her 23 years of learning items to go to children in need. So, we contacted several churches, Mutual Ground, TriCity Family Services, Lazarus House, new preschool teachers, Batavia Apartments, and Batavia Apartments KinderCamp, and several special ed teachers to come shop. What a fun (and very hot!!) day! THANK YOU NANCY so very much for your kindness and generosity. SO many children will be blessed with your gifts.

OUR PROM GIVEAWAY WAS CANCELLED, DUE TO THE CORONA VIRUS AND THE CLOSING OF THE LIBRARY.  WE WILL HAVE SO MANY AMAZING AND  BEAUTIFUL DRESSES AND ACCESSORIES FOR NEXT YEAR!

 An amazing act of kindness! Riverside Pizza in Batavia offered to donate and deliver dinner EVERY NIGHT OF THE WEEK to a different family indefinitely! How kind is that! Thank you Riverside Pizza and Brian Panozzo! We are so very grateful for this act of kindness.

Thanks to Chris Pothoff, a wonderful Batavia police officer, we had another fantastic Shop With a Cop at Walmart in Batavia.  21 students shopped with a police officer or firefighter to select gifts for their families and themselves. And another received a gift card to shop since they could not attend.  CHIP IN volunteers wrapped the gifts, Walmart provided tables, snacks and helpful staff.  So many smiles and so much fun (sorry we cannot post pictures of the children!). 

We put a request on facebook for Adopt a Bag, to give to each family being adopted by Batavia United Way.  We exceeded our goal in less than 24 hours.  All families will get a bag of household items.  CHIP IN will be donating a bag of fresh produce to each family.  Here is another way to help!!!

Each year Batavia Public Schools partners with Batavia United Way for the Christmas Adopt A Family program. Thanks to the generosity of Batavians, 127 families were adopted last year. The families are selected by school counselors and those most in touch with the
needs and situations of our school families. Batavia United Way matches sponsors to adopt them, coordinates wish lists, collection of donations and packaging for the families to pick up in time for the holidays.
The Batavia Woman’s Club adds another special touch, so every child receives their own Christmas stocking filled with treats. This translated into over 305 individual stockings last year! 
The Batavia Woman’s Club looks forward to organizing the stocking piece of Christmas every year. The kids love finding them Christmas morning and the feedback we receive is tearful and grateful. Thank you to all who donated!

Thanks to many local Batavia businesses and individuals, six Batavia families received a live tree and all the trimmings this Christmas as well as a grocery gift card for Christmas dinner expenses. Without the support of the below businesses (and many individual donors) this magic wouldn't be possible. Thank you to Jakie Rakers for organizing this every year!!! 

The weather outside is frosty.....trying to keep a supply of winter gear at schools for kids in need. We are moving fast to buy items.....if you have any extra mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, coats, snowpants or boots, we will take them!!!! Can drop off at LWS, HWS, HCS. THANK YOU!

Thank you for donating costumes to the elementary schools to give to students who don't have one. All schools collected and  distributed to where they were needed. 
 

http://musicmattersschool.com/Festival    

We are SO SO grateful to 100 Women Who Care who surprised us at our first meeting of the school year. You sure kept this a great secret for 2 months! We had no idea. Thank you so so much. We will use your generous donation to help a lot of students and their families. THANK YOU!!!

Thank you to George Sloan and the first ever Kubb Championship Tournament in Batavia on August 31st. They raised $300 for CHIP IN. They raised $200 from proceeds and an additional $100 from a 50/50 raffle and bought a gift card that BHS gave to a specific student in need. Thank you very much!!!! We did not know at Kubb was!!! It is an outdoor lawn game, similar to bags or horseshoes.

What a fantastic concert organized by Josephine Adams for CHIP IN Batavia. All the performers were BHS students and all did an outstanding job. Thank you to all of you for your time, passion, talent and kindness. Josie- you are AMAZING - talented, smart, kind, organized and it was a complete pleasure working with you!!! And you picked the first nice evening in a long time!! Rock By The Riverside was a huge success. So far, Josie raised over $750!!

August 3rd was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!! Obsessed with Mommio’s Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies?! Well we are baking up more than we ever have for this weekend! All weekend long (Saturday 8/3 and Sunday 8/4) we are donating 100% of our cookie sales to Chip In Batavia, an organization that supports students and their families in temporary or transitioning housing situations who are experiencing the obstacles of poverty. This community has given us--a small family-owned business--so much. And we want to give back in any way that we can. We plan to partner with CHIP IN Batavia more throughout the year, so please look out for more updates.

It was a great Prom Giveaway today! Thank you to all the volunteers and The Batavia Public Library!!! We had over 800 dresses to start. It was packed for 2 hours and then a steady stream all day. Channel 7 came and did a segment tonight! And Wayside Ministries, My Daughter’s Closet, Clothes Closet, East Aurora HS and Open Door Rehabilitation Center took hundreds of dresses. Together, we made so many girls and their families very happy!!! Not to mention the oodles of shoes, purses and jewelry. Thank you to everyone who donated. Thank you to Hi Hat Resale Shop for the 47 dresses and dozens of shoes!!!

We gave away over 300 dresses to girls.  And another 300 to local service groups to give away.  We will be back next January, collecting dresses for another giveaway day in March 2020!

Link to ABC7 Chicago prom story- 
https://abc7chicago.com/…/prom-dress-giveaway-held…/5199566/

Welcome Home Baskets 

In April 2019, the  BHS Cheer team, for the 3rd year,  collected oodles of items to make Welcome Home Baskets to give families when they move into their own home. Thank you Louise VonHoff for your work and creativity to make these!  We are low on these and could use help from scout troops or clubs to put some together.  Happy to help with this in any way!

They can include:

A laundry basket filled with a shower curtain and liner, set of towels and wash cloths, hooks for shower curtain, paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, laundry soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dish soap, dish towels, dish wash cloths, hammer and nails, measuring tape.

December 2017: Together with St. Vincent de Paul, ReHome Center, Abbey Farms, Furniture Dollies, many donations, volunteers, 3 Batavia football players, Batavia United Way Adopt a Family, and our awesome community, we helped move a family out of a motel and into their own home.  We are thrilled to see them start new adventures in their own home.

Thanks to Chip In supporters for many kind offers and help - we were able to move our latest family from homelessness into their very own apartment home in April  They are settled, happy, beyond grateful for this second chance!
Special thanks to Batavia Woman's Club, Soul Sisters for filing in all the gaps with new and special gifts/necessities and to Pal Joeys Restaurant Batavia for sending muscle to move furniture with little notice. Also, could not do it without the Schoette's family who provided our moving truck and furniture.
Biggest thanks goes to John Gamble and Mary Dwyer of Remax Excels for campaigning for this family with his property owners. No apartment, no miracle!
We believe this family is headed for a "happily ever after." Thank you!

 Johnni Zabka, from Spirit Corner, has kindly donated over $1500 worth of spirit wear and PE shirts to CHIP IN!  From hoodies, to short and love sleeve shirts, glitter t-shirts for little girls, and everything in between.  Thank you so very much Johnni, for donating year after year.  Please visit SpiritCorner whenever you want spirit wear, team apparel, camp wear or clothes with bling!  They have it all.  www.spiritcorner.com

BIRTHDAY IN A BAG---PROJECT FOR INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS

For those who want to get involved with a project, we can use your help!  Birthday in a Bag.  These are bags of treats for students to help them enjoy a birthday party on their special day.  HWS is the mail school  supporting this, and will distribute bags to the students.   We are looking for donations of any item on the flyer, or complete bags, labeled for a boy or girl, and can have a theme if you choose...please label what the theme is. (We do have people who have offered to put together complete bags, decorations and all, if anyone wants to donate individual items to them....just email us!)  We hope this is a fun project to work on, and we know it will be a fun gift for our kids to receive.  Thank you! Please email Sue Bauer at susanbauer26@gmail.com. 

School Supplies 

Thank you so much for your generous donations for the start of the 2019/20 school year!  BPS101 purchased pre made supply boxes with Title One funds. CHIP IN received many generous donations of school supplies and backpacks.  Over 200 students received school supplies.   Parents were so grateful...tears and hugs, and smiles...THANK YOU!!!!!  

Bikes for Batavia

We are always looking for individuals, groups, churches, service agencies...anyone who wants to help!! You can always email us at chipinbatavia@gmail.com