BiG Great Lakes

We’re all ready for lots of shoppers today at the Reclaimed Artisan’s Fall Outdoor Market. It’s a beautiful day to come out and shop for yourself a a gift for someone special. Stop by and say hi!

On behalf of our Citizens, their families, our staff and our Board of Directors, we extend our sincere gratitude to the Louise Catherine Schlichenmaier & Othon Henry Ochsner I Family Foundation for their very generous $10,000.00 donation!

Your support means the world to us and brings us one step closer to our long-term goal of a residential community where Citizens with disabilities will continue to learn and thrive, being celebrated and empowered in a God-centered environment as they engage in meaningful work and service.

BiG Great Lakes Where adults with special needs contribute to the world.

We hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! We look forward to being back in the BiG program tomorrow. Our Citizens uplift us all every day!

What a spectacular day for our 3rd annual Gurnee Mayor’s Golf Benefit!! We surpassed our fundraising goal thanks to our sponsors, Citizens and families, staff and volunteers!! Lots more pictures to come along with our final numbers. Here’s a quick glimpse of the day. Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much!!

When one of our Citizens has a birthday, we like to celebrate it in BiG style! Happy birthday, Joey!! ❤️🥳❤️

BiG LOWCOUNTRY IS HIRING! Do you love the Lord and our adult friends with special needs? If so, please contact Kate at [email protected] to learn more about our JOB SUPERVISOR opening! This is a part-time position: Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri from 12:30-5:30pm plus a few flexible hours each Wednesday. The purpose of this job is to supervise and work alongside adults with special needs ("Citizens") as they create unique, marketable items to help sustain the vocational community they enjoy. Come work alongside our adults with special needs as they contribute to the world!

Special thanks to this crew that came out and volunteered for our BiG Friends’ Night tonight. They did an amazing job of packaging 138 samples of granola, 19 bags of granola, wrapped four pans of fudge singles, and matted, embellished and assembled over 75 four packs of watercolor greeting cards. It was a very productive two hours and fifteen minutes. Our staff and a daytime volunteer did a great job of having everything set up and ready too go when everyone arrived this evening. We’re so grateful for everyone’s hard work and dedication to our mission!

What a fun-filled day! Our Citizens and staff started the day with miniature golf at Mulligan’s Mini Golf in Racine, then took a walk down to the waterfront of Lake Michigan and finished up with a stop at The Inclusive Bean for some refreshments.

The Inclusive Bean is a non-profit coffee shop that employs teens and adults of all abilities. If you haven’t been there yet, we suggest you check them out. They’re located in Racine and definitely worth the trip.

We’re at Viking Park for Gurnee Days until 3:00 pm this afternoon with all of the artisan products made by our awesome Citizens. Come shop with us!

Thank you Community Purse !!!!

Come be part of a local giving circle of 100+ women and help bless Lake County.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7

Mickey Finn's
345 North Milwaukee Avenue
Libertyville, IL 60048
(parking is available in garage behind the restaurant)

Fellowship: 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Meeting: 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm

We will get a report from BiG Great Lakes on how they used the May grant they received. Then three outstanding nonprofits will present information about their organizations, members will vote and grant recipient announced.

One of those is Heart of the City in Waukegan. They strive to level the playing field for over 1,100 youth in underserved communities in Lake County. Using soccer as the vehicle, their programs are designed to provide a developmental pathway for youth to build social-emotional and leadership skills, access academic support, and earn stackable credentials for postsecondary education and employment success. Learn more at https://heartofthecitysports.org/

We'll also hear from Lake County Veterans and Family Services Foundation, as well as CASA Lake County.

Bring a friend! It's a great feeling to learn about all the good things happening in Lake County and awesome to be part of it!

https://communitypurse.org/

What a spectacular day! Thank you Mark & Allyse for being such great hosts to our BiG Citizens once again. We’re so very grateful for your continued support.

Thank you to the team from American Place Casino that came to help us prep some items for our upcoming 2024 Mayor’s Golf Benefit for BiG Great Lakes! They did a fantastic job completing all of the tasks our Citizens helped get set up.

Our BiG staff is working hard to make physical fitness and getting out in the fresh air a priority for our Citizens. They’ve also had the opportunity to work in our BiG garden. So many great things happening at BiG Great Lakes! Looking at these pictures, our Citizens are loving it!

Special thanks to the Kirby Family for purchasing the soccer nets from off of our BiG Great Lakes Amazon wish list!

What an absolutely spectacular day we all had at Camp Hickory! Perfect weather, sumo wrestlers, flower pot craft, lunch, praise time & devotional, bubble bumpers, sq**rt guns, relay games, tug of war, obstacle course, dunk tank, bubble foam, swimming and more… so much fun with our friends, family, and BiG staff!!

We extend a BiG thank you to Al Lee and MacDonald, Lee & Senechalle for their generous support of the 2024 Gurnee Mayor's Golf Benefit for adults with special needs at BiG Great Lakes in Gurnee. Your continued support is invaluable.

There are still golf foursomes available if you'd like to join in to support our entrepreneurial day program for adults with special needs. You can sign up to golf using the link below or explore the sponsorship opportunities that are available.

www.gurneemayorgolfbenefit.com

Today we received the greatest review for our peanut butter dog treats and it came straight from one of our four-legged fans! Thanks, Lainey, we love hearing from our customers… even the furry ones! 🐶🦴🐾

Thank you Joyce for attending the BiGGL Gala and Auction!