Lake County Cares

Absolutely!

Looking for a wonderful family outing this afternoon where at the same time you can help feed the hungry in our area? The Lake Forest Symphony is performing at 2pm at the College of Lake County's James Lumber Center and tickets are still available. Our friends at the Symphony are generously participating in the League of American Orchestras's campaign, Orchestras Feeding America. Bring a donation of non-perishable food with you when you come to hear our talented symphony and featured cellist, Jay Campbell. We were blown away by the performance last night! Get your tickets at www.lakeforestsymphony.org or at the door.

Thanks to everyone who has dropped off travel size toiletries for our Heart2Heart Toiletries Drive! They are going into Valentine's Day gift bags for individuals in nearby homeless and domestic abuse shelters. You can drop off through February 13th at our office on the second floor of Gorton Center in Lake Forest or look for our donation bins at our terrific sponsors: Lake Forest Library, Sunset Foods in Lake Forest, GreenTree Animal Hospital, Libertyville Bank & Trust (507 N. Milwaukee Ave. and 1200 S. Milwaukee Ave. in Libertyville), and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Thanks, everyone! ❤️

Our Heart2Heart drive is now underway through February 10! Each year, we provide Valentine's Day gift bags with a gift bag containing travel size toiletries, comfort items, and chocolate to local residents of homeless and domestic abuse shelters. Please consider dropping off toiletries like soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, hand sanitizer, toothpaste, tooth brushes, mouthwash, deodorant, etc. Drop off at our office on the 2nd Floor of Gorton Center or at any of our terrific business sponsors: Lake Forest Library, Sunset Foods (Lake Forest), GreenTree Animal Hospital, Libertyville Bank & Trust (507 N. Milwaukee Ave. and 1200 S. Milwaukee Ave. in Libertyville), and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Thank you for brightening Valentine's Day for our neighbors in need! ❤️

We're at a terrific presentation this morning on the dramatic suburbanization of poverty by Dr. Scott Allard, author of Places in Need: the Changing Geography of Poverty. It's time to rethink our preconceptions about poverty being just an urban issue -- the data shows that the suburbs now have higher levels of impoverished families than the cities. Thanks to the Lake County Community Foundation for this timely event!

We love Our House of Hope Rescue and their therapy dogs! It seemed like everyone at yesterday's MLK Day of Service took a break from volunteer projects to get in a snuggle!

Special thanks go out to YouthBuild Lake County whose team of amazing young adults helped us in every way imaginable today! They and all the volunteers who helped us make sure things ran smoothly really made this a wonderful day! You know it's good when you're making plans for the next event before this year's is over -- see you next year, YouthBuild!

YBLC honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by participating in Lake County Cares' Day of Service. Activities included making no sew blankets for foster children, ESL flashcards for the Boys and Girls Club, toys for service animals, letters to veterans, and much more.

What a wonderful MLK Day of Service today! Thanks to everyone who came out in the snow today to complete volunteer projects to benefit twelve local nonprofits! We had over 300 people complete over 1500 volunteer projects and almost 200 peace flags! Wow! It's always wonderful to see families volunteering together and we're thrilled that so many people connected with local nonprofits doing great work in our community! We couldn't hold this event without the support of our incredible sponsors -- our deepest thanks go to Forest Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, LoMastro Performing Arts Academy Deer Path Inn, Lake Forest Library, Hansa Coffee - Lake Bluff, Hansa Coffee - Libertyville, Lake Forest Acute Care, Doetsch Contractors Inc, in Lake Forest and Susan Duffey Real Estate Broker, The Hungry Monkey Baking Company, Jay Lovell's, Sunset Foods in Lake Forest. Thanks, too, to the many nonprofits who personally attended the event today and shared with attendees information about their mission and work, as well as those who could not attend but worked with us to ensure that their project was meaningful. Thanks to Our House of Hope Rescue and their incredible team of therapy dogs, Boys & Girls Club of Lake County, IL, YWCA Lake County, Fill a Heart 4 Kids, Midwest Veterans Closet, One Hope United, A Safe Place/Lake County Crisis Center, Twice As Nice Mother & Child, and Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Mark your calendar for MLK Day 2019: Monday, January 21st!

Tomorrow is our MLK Day of Service!!! We're busy in the office at Gorton Center preparing the project materials for fun on-site volunteer projects like making fleece blankets, dog toys, first aid kits, peace flags with your wishes, and many more! Thanks to our amazing volunteers who came out this weekend to help! See everyone tomorrow from 10am to 1pm at Gorton Center!

Hansa Coffee - Lake Bluff is generously providing their wonderful coffee and hot chocolate for our MLK Day of Service on Monday! Truly great coffee plus volunteering -- what a great combination! Come anytime from 10am to 1pm to the beautiful Gorton Center. Thanks, Hansa!!!

Another project that will be underway at our MLK Day of Service on Monday -- English/Spanish flashcards to help local children improve their language skills. This and many other great volunteer projects at Gorton Center on Monday from 10am to 1pm. Come anytime! Admission is free but please bring a donation of diapers, food, or business clothes/accessories. See you Monday!

One of the volunteer projects you can complete at our MLK Day of Service -- make a fleece blanket! We're prepping the project materials so kids of all ages can jump right in and tie fringe knots. These blankets will be given to the children helped by One Hope United. Want to do more? Come anytime tomorrow from 4pm to 9pm or Saturday from 9am to 4pm to volunteer and help prepare project materials for the event! Email [email protected] or call 847-234-8876 to sign up. All ages welcome - bring the whole family! It's a great way to complete service hours needed for school!

Bring the family on Monday when the kids are home from school to complete volunteer projects benefitting these terrific local nonprofits on Monday at our MLK Day of Service at Gorton Center​ (many of these organizations will be there!): Our House of Hope Rescue, Fill a Heart 4 Kids​, Boys & Girls Club of Lake County, IL, A Safe Place/Lake County Crisis Center, YWCA Lake County, One Hope United, Midwest Veterans Closet, Twice As Nice Mother & Child, Lake County Workforce Development, Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center​. Many thanks to our sponsors, LoMastro Performing Arts Academy, Lake Forest Library, The Hungry Monkey Baking Company, Forest Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, Doetsch Contractors Inc, Susan Duffey Real Estate Broker (, Lake Forest), Lake Forest Acute Care, Deerpath Inn (Lake Forest), Jay Lovell's, and Midwest Young Artists Conservatory.

Join us Monday for our 2nd Annual MLK Day of Service! The kids are home from school so stop by and enjoy family friendly on-site volunteer projects, meet local nonprofit organizations, and make a peace flag! All ages are welcome and admission is free. Please bring a donation of diapers, food, or clean work clothes and accessories to help a nearby neighbor get back to work. See you Monday, January 15th at Gorton Center in Lake Forest from 10am - 1pm!

8 days until our 2nd Annual MLK Day of Service at Gorton Center! Join us from 10am to 1pm for family-friendly volunteering -- all ages welcome! Come and make a variety of dog toys for the rescue dogs at Our House of Hope Rescue. They're bringing dogs again this year!

10 Day Countdown to our MLK Day of Service at Gorton Center! Join us on Monday, January 15th, from 10:00am to 1:00pm for family-friendly on-site volunteer projects! Meet a variety of local nonprofit groups and learn about new ways to get involved! All ages welcome -- we'll have lots of activities for all kids home from school on the holiday!

Great event tonight benefitting Maristella and Fresh Start Business Incubator!

Today kicks off a huge diaper drive by our friends at Twice As Nice Mother & Child and we are a drop off location! Please help them reach a goal of 20,000 diapers for local families who cannot afford this basic necessity. We have a diaper donation bin right outside our office on the second floor of Gorton Center. Thank you!

Our elves have been busy and the Giving Tree is now up in the lobby of Gorton Center! Come by, take a mitten, and be a superstar "secret Santa" to a nearby child in need. Support our Giving Tuesday efforts with a donation at www.paypal.me/LakeCountyCares and thank you!

Thanks to Lake Forest School District 67, American Hotel Register Company, Jewel-Osco in Lake Forest, Jewel-Osco in Libertyville, Lake Forest Girl Scout troops 40591 and 41178, and all the incredible donors and volunteers who made this year's Thanksgiving Food Drive a success. 508 local families in need of food will have a better Thanksgiving because of all of you! (Mark your calendars -- next year's food collecting begins November 1, sorting and bagging November 13 - 16, and delivery day will be the morning of November 17, 2018).

Our deepest thanks to all the Lake Forest School District 67 families who made this year's Thanksgiving Food Drive such a success! Together we delivered 508 family meal bags to 8 local food pantries in North Chicago, Waukegan and Zion. Each meal bag feeds a family of four, so that's 2032 individual Thanksgiving meals! We also collected $400 in Jewel gift cards that the pantries will use to help families with turkeys. Thanks to everyone who donated and volunteered! (Save the Date: Delivery Day 2018 will be November 17, 2018. Donation drop off, sorting and bagging will take place the week of November 12, 2018.)

Our deepest thanks to all the Lake Forest School District 67 families who made this year's Thanksgiving Food Drive such a success! Together we delivered 508 family meal bags to 8 local food pantries in North Chicago, Waukegan and Zion. Each meal bag feeds a family of four, so that's 2032 individual Thanksgiving meals! We also collected $400 in Jewel gift cards that the pantries will use to help families with turkeys. Thanks to everyone who donated and volunteered! (Save the Date: Delivery Day 2018 will be November 17, 2018. Donation drop off, sorting and bagging will take place the week of November 12, 2018.)

Today we delivered ... 508 Thanksgiving family meals to local food pantries! That's 2032 individual meals! Thanks to all of you who came together and donated, transported, sorted, bagged and delivered all this much-needed food for our nearby neighbors who are struggling for food this holiday season. We really wanted to reach 500 families and it only happened because of you! More photos soon! And, yes, we did just beat the worst of the snow today -- whew!

Thank you to the many generous donors who donated and let us shop for them! The Thanksgiving Food Drive continues through tomorrow! All donations today and tomorrow will be used to buy food for Thanksgiving family meals that will be distributed by area food pantries. Donate at paypal.me/LakeCountyCares. Thank you!

Thanks to all the great families and youth who came out to help with the Thanksgiving Food Drive! What a terrific group! ❤️

Our annual Thanksgiving Food Drive is underway this week! School District 67 got us off to an incredible start with 200 meal bags already sorted and packed! We're hoping to fill another 300 family meal bags to go to area pantries, so please donate if you can. If you don't have time to shop, please use our page's donate button and we'll shop for you! Here are the items we need: stuffing mix, chicken/turkey stock/broth, canned corn, canned green beans, rice, corn muffin mix, canned or dry pinto or other beans, and canned fruit/fruit cocktail. We also need $10 gift certificates from Jewel, Target or Walmart -- the pantries use these to help families with a turkey/meat entree. Food can be dropped in the Grotto Annex Room of Gorton Center or at our office on the 2nd floor of Gorton Center. Thanks to all!

🎃 Great opportunity TONIGHT to bring some Halloween cheer to children in a local children's home -- bring candy for an evening of Trunk or Treat! Contact [email protected] if you can join in the fun and bring Halloween to some very deserving children! Event lasts from 5:30pm to 6:30pm.

Join us this Saturday October 21, 2017 at 10:30am for trick or treating with our grandfriends at Wi******er House in Libertyville. We will be handing out candy and making halloween crafts with our grandfriends. Costumes are welcome and highly encouraged! Please RSVP to [email protected].

Wi******er House is located at 1125 N Milwaukee Ave, Libertyville, IL 60048.

Looking for something fun and rewarding to do as a family this weekend? Join us tomorrow (10:30am) to hand out Halloween candy and enjoy crafts with the senior residents of Wi******er House in Libertyville. Our Little Hands Big Hearts program is open to all ages and children (and costumes!) are encouraged! 🎃

Join us this Saturday October 21, 2017 at 10:30am for trick or treating with our grandfriends at Wi******er House in Libertyville. We will be handing out candy and making halloween crafts with our grandfriends. Costumes are welcome and highly encouraged! Please RSVP to [email protected].

Wi******er House is located at 1125 N Milwaukee Ave, Libertyville, IL 60048.

Congratulations to our friends at Bernie's Book Bank -- 10 million books distributed! Wonderful! 🎉

On behalf of the 333,000 at risk children we serve, thank you to our volunteers, book donors and investors for helping us reach our 10 MILLIONTH book distributed since 2009!

What a wonderful evening at Leading for Good - Lake County! We asked for leadership volunteers who are ready to join a nonprofit and do some heavy lifting to ensure some serious local impact ... and you showed up! All evening we heard from nonprofits and individuals who made the connection they were looking for and we're so happy! This would not have happened without the incredible support of the Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County and The Lake County Community Foundation -- their investment into our community's nonprofits is helping us all have more impact!

Our first expo event to bring together high impact nonprofits with leadership volunteers to join their boards of directors, associate boards, and committees. Lots of great connections were made! Thanks to all the terrific people who came out to see how they could help make our community stronger! And thank you to our amazing partners and sponsors, Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County and The Lake County Community Foundation!

Our first expo event to bring together high impact nonprofits with leadership volunteers to join their boards of directors, associate boards, and committees. Lots of great connections were made! Thanks to all the terrific people who came out to see how they could help make our community stronger! And thank you to our amazing partners and sponsors, Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County and The Lake County Community Foundation!

Thank you, Make It Better magazine, for including Leading for Good - Lake County!

5 Things to Do Around Chicago: Oct. 6-8 If you're looking for things to do this weekend, don't miss fall fun at Chicago Botanic Garden, a fab foodie event in Chicago and more.

You can lead local impact in Lake County by joining the board of a nonprofit doing important work here in our community! Come to Leading for Good - Lake County tomorrow to meet over 30 organizations who need leadership volunteers to help guide and govern their work. We want to meet you in this happy hour "speed dating" setting! Lake County Cares is looking for members for our board of directors, too! Admission is free!

Lake County: LEADING FOR GOOD LEADING FOR GOOD is Lake County’s volunteer networking event for professionals interested in taking a leadership position within a nonprofit organization. Join us to meet a wide variety of organizations and explore opportunities to serve on a board of directors, young professional/associate board, o...

We're totes sure that Leading for Good - Lake County attendees will actually use your free tote bag long after the event on Thursday! We went BIG so you can collect lots of great info about joining a nonprofit board at the event and then use it around town! Gotta be among the first 250 in the door -- get your free tickets and come explore how you can have local impact!