Letter to the Editor: High School Volunteer Says Thank You

Thank you to all of you who helped make our project a success this summer.  

At the end of last year Casey Karnes and I finished with 199 kits. We set our goal higher for Chicago Community Connections this summer, hoping to make 500 kits to donate to the Night Ministry.  

Earlier:

With the addition of Sam Okrent, John Dyke, and Charlie Maher we were confident in our goal. However in July and early August when we literally had zero donations, we thought about lowering our sights a little bit.  

But, soon enough donations started to roll in, especially with the help of leaders, who gave us an incredible opportunity to hold a drive at their store, as well as publicize our effort on Patch.com, in the Winnetka Current, Glencoe News, Wilmette Life, Winnetka Talk, and TribLocal. This incredible generosity combined with the generosity of some local friends, dentists, Target, and others led to a huge amount of products donated and bought in August.  

The end result after a day-long packing process was 816 toiletry kits consisting of more than 11,500 items. According to the Night Ministry, all of these kits should provide a week's worth of material for the bus. Each kit received one toothbrush, one toothpaste, one towel, two soaps, one shampoo, one lotion or conditioner, one miscellaneous item, one razor, two shaving creams, and two moist towelettes. The leftover items were also donated to the Night Ministry.  

In the end, we'd all like to thank the Karnes and my mom and dad for having us at their house every morning. We'd also like to thank Joe White at Silbar Public Relations and The Grand Food Center for playing an integral part in our project. Most of all, we'd like to thank the Night Ministry for providing us with an incredible opportunity.

Thank You,
Henry Dyke and The CCC Staff