UI Student Board member Kelly Reichert gives us an update on how High School students are giving back.
The Urban Initiatives Student Board is an energetic group of hardworking students that have come together from numerous high schools to support UI through volunteering and fundraising activities. We began the fall with a fun, organizational meeting at LYFE kitchen in Evanston, with more than 30 participating. Next we kicked off our winter gear drive in December, collecting coats, hats, gloves and scarves to help keep people warm during the cold Chicago winter. Our coat drive was very successful thanks to all the generous donors who gave new or gently used apparel. Throughout the drive, roughly 20 student board members from Loyola Academy, New Trier, North Shore Country Day, and Walter Payton happily collected loads of winter clothing to help our neighbors in communities in need! We then delivered them to the Urban Initiatives office where they were distributed to Lawndale, Faraday, Beidler, Marquette, Tarkington, Nobel, Lorca, and Nixon before the real cold weather came. This was a very meaningful way for us to be a part of a fun group that joins together to help many of the wonderful Urban Initiatives families that we have gotten to spend time with on the fields. We will be meeting again in March for a pizza party to plan more activities, and welcome any interested high school students who would like to join our volunteer force to support the wonderful students that Urban Initiatives serves. Again, thank you to everyone who participated in the coat drive!
- Kelly Reichert