Community wish lists

Holiday help for nonprofits

If you’re like most Illinois Times readers, your life is safe and secure and the holidays are a time for family fun and delicious meals. Sadly that isn’t the case for everyone in our community. Many won’t have packages to open or a festive celebration to look forward to. Thousands around the area count on help from a nonprofit organization just to have the most basic comforts in life.

Below are some of the more than 25 holiday wish lists IT has assembled from local nonprofit organizations. These groups need your help all year round but they are especially eager for help during the holidays. We have published this feature each week for the past five weeks of the holiday season. This is the last week wish lists will be published in print, but a complete listing of wish lists is available online at www. illinoistimes.com. Now it is up to IT readers to make wishes come true for these deserving organizations.

Forever Home Feline Ranch

3600 Persimmon Drive, 679-1593 www.felineranch.org Forever Home Feline Ranch is a nonprofit organization created to provide every cat in need a forever home. Forever Home Feline Ranch will be a sanctuary where cats will have a second chance to live a full life in a no-cage, no-kill environment.

Wish list:

• Canned or dry cat food

• Litter pans and litter scoops

• Clumping litter

• Pet taxis, all sizes

• Paper towels

• Stamps

• Laundry detergent

• Baking soda for litter boxes

• Gift cards: Petsmart, Petco, Ace, Big R, Lowe’s or Menard’s

• People to foster cats and kittens

• We need volunteers!

Special Olympics Illinois Area 17/Sangamon

900 Christopher Lane, Suite 7 Springfield, 544-3023 Darren Burnett, area director Special Olympics Illinois Area 17 provides training and competition opportunities for persons with intellectual disabilities in Sangamon, Morgan, Menard and Macoupin counties. We serve about 600 athletes and their families.

Wish list: There is only one item on our wish list. Seventy-five percent of our revenue comes from our annual fundraiser, the Polar Plunge, that takes place at Lake Springfield. Our holiday wish is that each family, office and other group pick one member to take the Polar Plunge and then agree to raise money to support him or her. We ask each participant to raise at least $75. Along with a refreshing dip in the lake, each receives a sweatshirt, free lunch and a chance to win prizes. But the most important benefit is the chance to help some very special athletes. Register at www.plungeillinois.com.

Springfield Area Arts Council

420 South Sixth St., 753-3519 www.springfieldartsco.org Penny Wollan-Kriel, executive director director@springfieldartsco.org The Springfield Area Arts Council, founded in 1976, enriches the community through the arts. The Council serves more than 20,000 adults and youth in Sangamon and Menard counties and provides a variety of performing and visual arts events, including First Night Springfield, Uptown Friday Night, Artist on the Plaza and On My Own Time. The Arts Council also places performing and visual artists in schools and hosts poetry recitation contests for high school students. The Springfield Area Arts Council also serves as a re-granting agency to assist area artists and arts organizations.

Wish list:

• Volunteers for First Night Springfield on Dec. 31

• Purchase First Night buttons as stocking stuffers this holiday season

• Volunteers for other events throughout the year

• Office assistance

• Monetary donations to assist with educational programming

American Red Cross Illinois Capital Area Chapter

1045 Outer Park Drive, 787-7602 ext. 232 Wesley Lind, communications specialist The mission of the American Red Cross is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. The American Red Cross, Illinois Capital Area Chapter, based in Springfield, is a humanitarian organization led by volunteers that focuses on providing disaster response and assistance to victims of disaster in Cass, Christian, Clark, Coles, Greene, Logan, Macoupin, Menard, Morgan, Montgomery, Sangamon and Scott counties.

Wish list:

• Travel size toothpaste and deodorant, combs, and washcloths for comfort kits, which are given to local disaster victims

• Monetary donations

• Volunteers – We have a new volunteer orientation on the second Thursday of every month at 5:30 p.m. at 1045 Outer Park Dr., Springfield.

• Meals on Wheels volunteer drivers – call 217-787-7602 x 237 to sign up to drive a route and deliver hot, nutritious meals to our local clients. We need help during the winter months.

Family Service Center

730 East Vine, 528-8406 Contact: Brooke Thomas www.service2families.org fsc@service2families.org Family Service Center is committed to improving the lives of the people of central Illinois through excellent foster care and adoption services, family support and creative collaboration with other agencies to solve community problems.

Our foster care program works hard to provide the best foster family and home for foster children and our adoption program creates happy and healthy families. Our new Compass program is designed for lowincome and homeless children and provides a weekly meal, tutoring and life skills classes.

Wish list:

• Digital camera

• Healthy snacks

• Books for kids ages 5-12

• School supplies

• Board games

• Arts and crafts kits

• Children’s clothing

• Sports equipment

• Monetary donations

• Bus passes

Tower of Refuge, Inc.

329 S. New Street, 241-9911 www. towerofrefugeinc.com Tower of Refuge is a grass-roots organization whose primary purpose is to reduce the rate of recidivism in Illinois. It works in collaboration with several local and state organizations to provide a continuum of reentry services to address the needs of individuals who are currently or formerly incarcerated and their families. Tower’s services include training, education, employment readiness, HIV/ AIDS education/testing/ counseling, help with housing, toiletries, clothing, medical assistance and counseling. The group’s success is determined by former inmates becoming and remaining healthy, productive members of their neighborhoods and communities.

Wish list:

• Adult bicycles in good condition to provide transportation for TOR’s clients to get to work

• Bus tokens or bus passes

• Gift cards

• Monetary donations

• New underwear for men and women in all sizes, including socks

• Toiletries for men and women: razors, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, lotion, bars of soap. (Please provide full-size items.)

• Volunteers. If you would like to assist with projects, programs contact Bobbi Norman, 241-9911 x228 or bobbi@ towerofrefugeinc.com.

Salvation Army

530 N. Sixth Street, 525-2196 Contact: David MacDonna www.tsaspringfield.org The Salvation Army has been serving the needs of the less fortunate within our community for more than 126 years. TSA Springfield provides emergency housing and assistance to families with food, clothing and housing of the homeless. We also provide safe wholesome alternatives for children with music programs, organized recreation and fun as well as senior programs throughout the year. We also respond to fire and natural disasters to those affected and to aid the first responders. Offering a hand up instead of a handout.

Wish list:

• Meat slicer

• Ice maker

• 12-passenger van

• Volunteers to ring a bell

• Volunteers to work at the corps

• Volunteers to help with landscaping

• Vacuum cleaner

• Paper napkins, paper plates, cups and bowls.

• Mixing bowls

• Items for the homeless shelter: sheets, pillowcases, blankets, towels, canned goods for the food pantry

• Volunteers to prepare a dinner for shelter residents

• Soap, deodorant, shampoo

• Laundry detergent

SPARC

232 Bruns Lane, 793-2100 www.spfldsparc.org Contact: Greg O’Connor Sparc is a nonprofit organization founded in 1951 by a group of parents whose children had cognitive and intellectual disabilities. Sparc’s mission is to enrich the lives of these disabled individuals by enabling them to successfully live, learn, work and socialize in the community. Sparc fulfills its mission through programs attuned to the unique potential of each individual and designed to build selfconfidence and independence. Support services are provided to approximately 500 individuals through one or more of the following programs: 24-hour residential support, supported living, developmental training, janitorial training, supported employment, competitive employment, epilepsy support services and Kamp Kaleidoscope.

Our wish list is for items to assist with our 14 group homes:

• A van

• Patio sets

• Gift certificates to local restaurants for “dine outs”

• Televisions

• Bath towels and washcloths

• Paper towels, paper napkins, toilet paper, tissue

• Vacuum cleaners

• Rubbermaid food storage sets

• Dinnerware (for 8)

• Non-stick cookware

• Microwave ovens

• Gas grills

• Board games, decks of cards, art and craft supplies

Senior Services of Central Illinois, Inc.

701 West Mason Street, 528-4035 www.ssoci.org Contact: Angela M. Bertoni, MPA Email: abertoni@ssoci.org Senior Services of Central Illinois (SSCI) is a nonprofit corporation that specializes in nonmedical services to seniors, age 50 or better, living in Sangamon, Logan, Mason and Menard counties. SSCI is a unique organization as we are one of the few Senior Citizens’ Centers that have multiple services for seniors available under one roof. For more than 45 years, SSCI has successfully accomplished our mission by helping senior citizens maintain their independence. SSCI is comprised of six core programs, which provided 43,266 seniors with more than 270,248 units of service last year.

Wish list:

• Emergency funds for seniors: cash or gift cards to provide seniors with food, utility assistance, mortgage/rent assistance, prescriptions, etc.

• Office supplies: paper, pens, paperclips, staples, etc.

• Shelf-stable food to stock our food pantry for seniors

• Yearly cable subscription so seniors who attend the Center can watch television

• Volunteers to help deliver meals to seniors

• Volunteers to assist with office work

• Volunteers to teach computer classes to seniors

• Volunteers to provide exercise classes to seniors

• Personal hygiene products to give to seniors in need

• Surround sound system for the new TV donated in our dining room

• Family Video movie rental gift certificates: movie rentals for weekly “Movie Day” for seniors who attend the Center

• Funds for exercise equipment for our senior wellness and exercise classes