Prom Dress Giveaway a Huge Success!!
Our prom dress giveaway was a huge success...thanks to so many people. We set up Friday and counted over 900 dresses (not all prom material!). We gave away over 210 dresses to girls from Batavia, to Chicago, Stevenson, Oswego, Normal, Geneva, St. Charles, Shabonna, Wheaton, Mooseheart, Aurora, Metea, Lemont, Mt. Prospect, and more!!! Seeing the girls smile, dance, cry and take photos of their dresses made some of us cry too! They left with dresses, shoes, jewelry, purses and a chance to win raffle prizes from Lisa Mack and her donations of Tocara Jewelry and Lilla Rose Hair Accessories. We even made it on WBBM radio to get some advertising and it did bring some girls to us!
In addition, we gave away over 400 dresses to other groups helping our community, as the
library does not have room to store all these dresses!!! We gave 140 outdated/"theater-worthy" dresses to All Dressed Up, and 14 to be used for Madrigals. About 150 dresses went to My Daughter's
Dress, a new group in Oswego who has a prom drive on April 7. We gave about 90 to Wayside Ministries in Aurora, where people can shop for free. The Clothes Closet will get about 30 short and long
dresses. We invited 2 special needs groups to shop. And a teacher from East Aurora came by and told us about their prom drive collection, so we invited her to come at the end to fill her car with
well over 100 dresses!!! We were thrilled with the day, and all the girls and groups we can help.
A HUGE thank you to:
*The Batavia Public Library administration, and staff for all your help and support to let us use your space, store dresses, collect dresses, help with set up and clean up! THANK YOU!!!!
*Mark Anderson and the BPS101 staff that picked up the dress racks from AGS, delivered them to the library, put them together, and returned them to AGS
*AGS for loaning us all your dress racks!
*Cassandra Hinkle for being our seamstress and taking dresses for Madrigals
*Sheri Simonetti for taking gorgeous photos for our prom flyer
*Lori St. Vincent for making the prom flyer
*Ministerial group for sharing our flyers with your congregants
*Everyone who donated dresses, purses, jewelry and shoes
*Lisa Mack and her $400 of raffle donations to Tocara Jewelry and Lilla Rose Hair Accessories
*Ashley Murtaugh for organizing all the volunteers and keeping the day moving and organized. You are the BEST!
*All the volunteers who helped at the event:
Cindy Morgan
Dillon Morgan
Faith Christopherson
Abigail Jachim
Victoria Ngo
Taylor Novotny
Sasha Nahorski
Gianna Positano
Jackie Rakers
Mary Baffes
Lori Wilson
Joan Mnnis
Cheryl Birkett
Lindsey Williams and mom
Keli Novak and mom
Nancy Schmitz
Jackie Ajazi
Christine Grendzinski
Cynthia Rendel
Greg and Blake Spitz
Mike Kintz
THANK YOU BATAVIA and EVERYONE who helped, donate, support...people stopped in to see what was happening and were amazed our community can do this....we knew we could do this because we have THE BEST COMMUNITY!
Shop with a Cop 2017 Another Fun Experience!
20 BPS101 students recently had the chance to “Shop With a Cop” (or Batavia firefighter) at the Walmart Batavia - N Randall Rd. The annual "Shop With a Cop" event is organized by Batavia Police Officer Chris Potthoff and Chip In Batavia to help families in need with holiday gifts. The students were paired up with a Batavia police officer or Batavia firefighter to help them select gifts for themselves and family members. The gifts—all generously donated by Walmart— were then wrapped by volunteers at "check out." Anne Rudd organized all the volunteers and all wrapping materials to wrap every gift and label them, too! Also during the event, families got to do crafts together and were treated to cookies and juice, compliments of Walmart. The event was a big success and created special memories for these BPS101 students and their families. Thank you Batavia Police Illinois, Batavia Fire Department, the great volunteers and Walmart.
A successful move into a new home!
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.
Jackie Rakers and Abbey Farms Deliver 5 Trees and ALL the trimmings, and More!
Batavia High School and Aurora University graduate Jackie Rakers just made the holidays extra special for five BPS101 families.
Jackie, now the educational programs and volunteer coordinator at Abbey Farms in Batavia, worked with Abbey Farms to donate Christmas trees to five BPS101 families in need. Additionally, Jackie coordinated with local vendors and individual donors to make sure each family had a tree stand, tree skirt, lights, ornaments, several gifts for under the tree, and gift cards from Jewel Food Stores.
“Out of the blue, Jackie called CHIP IN and wanted to know if she could help some local families in need during the holidays, and she did everything to make this happen. She is wonderful!”
Thank you Jackie, Abbey Farms, Jeff and Ben, and all of the companies and individual donors who came together to brighten five homes in our community this holiday season.
Batavia United Way Adopt a Family - With a little help from CHIP IN!
Batavia United Way organized the yearly Adopt a Family program, and adopted 114 Families and 255 children in BPS101. CHIP IN helped with bags of fresh produce, and bags of toiletries for each family Here is the information for the Adopt a Bag.
Batavia Woman's Club is also collected items to make Christmas Stockings for every child! They made a stocking for every child filled with snacks, gum, candy, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and chapstick. They had a lot of help from girl scout troops, students in BPS101, youth groups, church groups, and book clubs. THANK YOU Batavia Woman's Club!
Competing for a Cause!
COMPETING FOR A
CAUSE!
Batavia and Geneva sold Batavia vs. Geneva “Competing for a Cause” T-shirts in September to benefit Ava Warriors, Chip In Batavia, and Bulldogs Unleashed. Each limited-edition T-shirt was $15 and available in small, medium, large, and extra large sizes. All proceeds from T-shirt sales will be donated to Ava Warriors, CHIP IN Batavia, and Bulldogs Unleashed.
Batavia, with the help of a great team in the INCbator class, sold $8,000 worth of T-Shirts! $3,000 went to CHIP IN, and $5,000 to Bulldogs Unleashed. The team will work with an artist to paint a 44" giant fiberglass bulldog to represent the team, and those classmates, parents and siblings who have passed away. WAY TO GO BULLDOGS!
Usborn Books Fundraiser
A huge thank you to Catherine Kien and Sue Sokolinski for holding an online Usborn Books and More sale. All their profits - over $200 - went towards purchasing new books for CHIP IN. In addition, a donation was made to spend another $123 to get more books at 1/2 price. 32 adorable, new books, will be distributed to our pre-school and kindergarten students who are coming to BPS with very little exposure to reading. They will be at the Title One schools for teachers to use with our struggling readers for their nightly reading. THANK YOU SO MUCH Catherine and Sue.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1464941050257893/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Batavia Women in Business: Shoe Drive
Business council, dropped off shoes, gift cards and money raised from a recent Kane County
Cougars fundraiser. BWIB organized a Cougars game to raise money to purchase back to school shoes for CHIP IN Batavia, to distribute to families in need. The total value raised was $1000. "The
Batavia Women in Business were happy to help and will look forward to their next fundraiser where they will be collecting toys for their annual holiday toy drive."
Thank you SO MUCH Batavia Women in Business!!!!
Spirit Corner donates lots of Spirit Wear!
Johnni Zabka, from Spirit Corner, kindly donated over $700 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, here is a new one! Birthday in a Bag. We want to provide a bag of treats to local students to help them enjoy a birthday party on their special day. Every elementary school is supporting this, and will distribute bags to the students. Happy to answer questions. We are looking for 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 us and we will let you know what school to drop off at. - In the summer,
you can drop them off at the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry.
BIRTHDAY IN A BAG!
School Supplies
Thank you so much for your generous donations to our 2017-18 supply drive. This past year, we had donations from churches, businesses, service groups and individuals. A shout out to VWR International, The Holmstad, Congregational Church, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Batavia United Methodist Church, The Well. The Batavia Rotary, Vikings, and so many more! We made about150 backpacks to help students in BPS101. Parents were so grateful...tears and hugs, and smiles...THANK YOU!!!!!
Welcome Home Baskets all ready to go!
With the help of BHS Cheer team for the 3rd year, we 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! They include:
A shower curtain and liner, laundry basket, 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, coupon from Pal Joey;s for a free pizza for the family, and more! Thank you Cheer Team and Pal Joey's!
Bikes for Batavia
The Batavia Bicycle Commission works with several other groups to distribute donated bicycles to local students and families in need. CHIP IN and The Batavia Rotery Club donated money in 2015 to get the progam started. The funds went toward the cost of inspections and repairs to get the donated bikes in working order and into the hands of the students/families. The Commission works with CHIP IN Batavia to identify students/families with input from BPS principals, counselors and staff. All Spoked Up is the drop off point for donated bikes. They inspect, repair and fit each bike to its intended recipient. Many local organziations such as the Batavia Woman's Club, Immanuel Lutheran Church and CHIP IN Batavia have helped to get the word out about the need for donated bikes. Klem Uhl, a local man who collects and repairs bikes donated many bikes to the Bikes for Batavia program. Please contact the Batavia Bicycle Commission or CHIP IN Batavia with any questions. They would love any donations of bikes in rideable condition, helmets and locks. We also take training wheels, and bikes for special needs.
So far the Bikes for Batavia prgram has distributed over 300 bikes to BPS101 students and adults whose only transportation to work is a bicycle We have worked with St. Vincent de Paul, Lazarus House and ReHome Center to give bikes to people in other towns. If we get bikes that can not be fixed, we donate them to Working Bikes in Chicago, who fix/build bikes to send around the world to underdeveloped countries.
Donations - THANK YOU for your kindness and generosity!!
Appolo Development & Investment, LLC
Batatia Woman's Club
Batavia Township
Batavia Mother's Club
GMW PTO
Batavia Fire Department
Batavia Police Department
Congregational Church of Batavia
Aurora Chiropractic
1st Baptist Church of Geneva
1st Congregational Church of Geneva
AGS ECC
Alan and Sheila Morgan
Alma J Karas and Yang-Ling Zhang
Amber Gillio
Amy Smith
Andrea William
Angela Merritt
Ann Drover
Ann Hejna
Anna and Paul Adams
Anne and Joe Purpura
Anne Rudd
Baird and Warner
Batavia Bunco Babes
Batavia Chamber of Commerce
Batavia Chamber Women in Business
Batavia Covenant Church
Batavia Rotary
Batavia United Methodist Church
Batavia Vikings Ring Lodge #18
Bethany Lutheran Church
BHS Cheer Team
BMC Mattress
Blake Schraft
Bonnie Dannenberg
Boutique Repeats
BP Pride
Calvary Episcopal Church
Cassandra Hinkle
Cheryl Birkett
Cheryl Dalisay
Cheryl Hasenjaeger
Christine McFadden
Chrys Lewis
Craig and Joyce Elliott
CrossFit OLAF
Crystal Louden
Cynthia Rendel
Daisy Troop 2029
Daniel and MaryKay Dowling
David and Cindy Morgan
David and Laurie Lundborg
Dawn Pratt
Dean Alan Design
Deanna Modaff
Deb Ditchman
Diane Schultz
Donald Scharbert
Douglas and Stephanie Bery
Dr. Szdelko
Drs. Crosby, Martin and Kolinski
Ellen Stewart
Eric Poliarskis
First State Bank
Fox Family Birthday Parties
Fox Valley Orthopedics
Freddy Martinez
Funway
Gregory Olson and Katherine Kratzer
Heidi Kauffman
Helen Kennedy
Howard and Harriet Bernstein
Immanuel Lutheran Church
Janice Kirk
Jeanne Fornari
Jeff Robinson
Jennifer Bowman
Jeri O'Kane
Joan Vick
John Biancheri
John Martzel
Jose Alba
Judy Huddleston
Julie Allen
Julie Howard
Julie Monk
Kane County Cougars
Karen Holden
Katherine Weaver
Kathleen Wolf
Kelly Yee
Kristen Hett
Kristi Parrott
Laura Michells
Lincoln Park Zoo
Lisa Thurston
Marotta Family Birthday Parties
Mary and Virden Von Qualen
Mary Grant
Mary Kilberg
Mary Waterson
Matt Zagoren
Matthew Thomas
Mary Carr
Maureen Mrenna
May Wang
McDonald's Walkers and Talkers Club
Mike Burke
Monica Hess
Morton Arboretum
Nancy Gamble
Nancy Wolford
Naper Settlement
Nikki Rousseau
Pal Joey's
Pam and Doug Bellm
Paramount Theatre
Pat Stare
Patricia Novak
Prairie State Packaging
Rebekah Pircon
Rejoice Lutheran Church
Richard Barton
RMS 7th graders
Ruth Coyne
Ryan Fasshauer
Sabrina Martin
Samuel Bartels
Sandy Marakaitis
Sarah Stepina
Shear Ambition Hair Salon/Freddy Martinez
SHINE Yoga
SpiritCorner.com
STAGE
Susan Dienslake
Suzanne Fruendt
Tanya Albers/DoughNation Bakery
Tara Gray
Taylor Rental Party Plus
Teresa Vongphakdy
Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva
Virginia Karstens
VWR International
Walmart
Woodridge Park District
XFinity
Yuru Hard
Zano Salon and Spa
Many people who donated prom dresses, gift cards and clothes through facebook requests!
We are always looking for individuals, groups, churches, service agencies...anyone who wants to help!! You can always email us at chipinbatavia@gmail.com
Want to Chip In?
For more information or to volunteer, fill out our contact form.
CHIP IN Batavia
c/o Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence
P.O. Box 1003
Batavia, IL 60510
See us on Facebook:
CHIP IN Batavia
and email us at:
info@chipinbatavia.org
We help families move from temporary housing to their own apartments, provide clothing, school supplies and many other individualized things to help a student succeed. We help students and their families on a case by case basis to make sure students are ready and excited to learn and thrive.We work directly with BPS101 to help with mentor projects and other activities that help students on free/reduced lunch or who are in temporary housing.
For information on how to participate, please contact us.
Please see our News and Events page for an update on all the accomplishments we have made together!!
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Bikes for Batavia:
TO DATE, WE HAVE GIVEN AWAY OVER 300 BIKES!!!!
We need CHILD AND ADULT bicycles that are in rideable condition- All Spoked Up repairs them for kids and adults who need a bike. Thank you Batavia!! We can also use locks and and new helmets, training wheels too--If you have any of these, please drop them off at All Spoked Up, 3 Webster St., Batavia. We are working with All Spoked Up, and the Batavia Bicycle Commission. They are given to students and adults in need of transporation for school, work and shopping. CHIP IN helps identify students in need and contributes funds for repairs. THANK YOU!
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