Sharing Connections was one of 38 DuPage County not-for-profit organizations to receive a grant at the DuPage Foundation’s Spring Grant Open House held on Wednesday, June 12. The DuPage Foundation awarded more than $520,000 to organizations working in the area of Health and Human Services. The $20,000 grant received by Sharing Connections will support the purchase of beds for low income, DuPage County children who don’t have beds of their own.
Children in DuPage will sleep easier this year
Sharing Connections is located in Downers Grove, and is Chicagoland’s oldest and largest furniture bank, serving almost 10,000 clients in 2018. For over 30 years, Sharing Connections has provided new and gently used furniture and household items to low-income people living in DuPage and neighboring counties. Clients live at or below the poverty line and often are veterans transitioning from homelessness, victims of domestic violence, new mothers, and many who are coping with other life traumas such as job and/or home loss, natural disasters or financial hardship. Its mission is to “share good things with good people”, and its vision is “tonight, everyone eats at a table and sleeps in a bed”. The items provided to clients are donated by residents and businesses in the surrounding area wishing to share no-longer-needed, quality items with neighbors in need of them.
For further information about Sharing Connections, including how you or your company can get involved, please contact Deb Rickert, CEO, at drickert@sharingconnections.org or visit our website .
“Community Needs is the Foundation’s flagship grant program through which we support the great work of local organizations that are directly helping those in need,” said Barb Szczepaniak, DuPage Foundation vice president for programs. As DuPage County’s leader in connecting donors with causes they are passionate about, the Foundation engages individual donors to supplement the annual Community Needs budget. This cycle, their support helped boost grant awards by $153,980.
During the past fiscal year, $4.8 million was awarded from the DuPage Foundation’s more than 300 funds on behalf of our donors and community. Applications for the Community Needs grant program are accepted twice per year. Animal Welfare, Arts and Culture, Education, and Environment grant applications are due Friday, September 6, 2019. See more information and apply here. Since its inception, the DuPage Foundation has grown to more than $95 million in assets and awarded nearly $45 million in grants to local not-for-profits. For more information, visit www.dupagefoundation.org
