2009 - In Pictures

That's me, accepting checks from one of my favorite people, Rose Rita, Blue Island Alderman and Calumet Township President. Rose is responsible for one of the most incredible parts of the food drive each year. She calls everyone she knows, asking for cereal. This year, her first at Calumet Township, she conducted a food drive. She raised a fairly decent amount when one takes into consideration that this year the state of the economy has affected everything we do.

The next photo is of Josh Polanco of the Salvation Army and Dr. Michael Korshak of Kiwanis. Each year Kiwanis earns money to pass onto local charities. The last two years, they donated money to An Angel's Touch, The Salvation Army, St. Benedict's Food Pantry, and CEDA. They make a special evening each year at their last meeting before Christmas to present the checks.

The next photo is another one of my favorite people, Dr. Marlene Talaski. She is also with Kiwanis.

This year, Troublemakers of Calumet Park, joined our ranks as a contributor. The photo below is of my Bill with Bill Brown of Troublemakers. Tony Masoulis of Double Play Lounge in Uptown Blue Island, called to say that Troublemakers wanted to help and would be happy to provide us with five full Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners. By the time we left, we had seven dinners, which included turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggy and apple pie. Tony promised hams for Easter. I can't wait.

Another group to join us as first time contributors is Temulac Boat Club. Below, Mike Olsen, owner of Windjammer Marine in Chicago; Ken Pohlman, Commodore, Temulac Boat Club; Bill Umgelder, Vice Commodore, Temulac Boat Club and Pam Frasor, Blue Island City Clerk, examine toys donated by the Boat Club and Marine.

Photo by Jim Riehel.

After the initial burst of energy is over and clients have been serviced, we can count on two things. Another wave of clients call for help, and we have very little left for the children on the second list. When that last wave of calls came in, we were able to provide a better Christmas than normal because of Temulac Boat Club and Windjammer Marine In Chicago.

Thanks to The Gerry Goodwrench Foundation, we were able to provide the children at CEDA in Blue Island with hats and gloves. Below are photos of Becki and I purchasing 240 pairs of gloves and hats to match. We visited four stores.

I love our logo. Michelle spent a lot of time working on this.

My job is to bring in food. Every year I've asked my children to ask their friends to help sort food once we have our donations at the warehouse. We simply line boxes up, and hang labels on the wall. From there, we empty the donation bags, and move canned and boxed good from bag to box. When that's done, we move down the wall, and pack food to go to our clients. It's simple work, and boring. What surprised me the most this year is that I no longer have kids in school. Even so, the same friends answered our calls, and brought with others who had never heard of us.

Below are photos of not only the food sort, but also of others working at various sorts, like clothing, toiletries or toys.

After a misunderstanding having to do with the utilities, we found our normal delivery schedule interrupted. Rather than form our usual long line of vehicles and stop at 14 or 15 homes, once everything was packed, Georgene, the boss, sent out one vehicle at a time to serve one family at a time. We were able to service about twenty families the first day of delivery. We serviced quite a few more later.