Page 35 - January 2016

Clara Kirk, founder of Carla’s House for homeless kids that hosted the first Holiday for Hope, sits on Santa’s lap with, from left, Dreams For Kids Founder Tom Tuohy, Chicago Lodge 7 First Vice-President Ray Casiano and President Dean Angelo, Sr. looking on.
For 11 months and 28 days, volunteers work on the Holiday for Hope. The final three or four days are spent putting together bags of toys that fill up a room adjacent to the gym where the event is held.
More than 1,000 bags were filled with sporting equipment, elec- tronics, games and assorted toys. By day’s end, all but a few bags were left, and the gift of giving not only changed the lives for the kids who came from homeless shelters like Clara’s House where Holiday for Hope started on Christmas Eve 1988, but also the parents of these kids.
And for a police officer who has been coming for the past 25 years.
“Every year some kid kind of grabs my heartstrings,” confided Jim Perille, a retired Schaumburg cop who spearheads the Holiday for Hope volunteer security detail. “If any police officer got involved and saw the reaction of the kids, it would make them feel so good inside. In this day and age, officers could probably use that, and it would make them feel so good inside. It’s an addictive feeling that they would want to repeat over and over again.”
The more than 100 volunteers who helped at Holiday for Hope get the “pre-game” speech from Tom Tuohy.
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A performance by the famous Jesse White Tumblers wowed the crowd.
Bags of toys – red for girls, green for boys – are prepared to be gifted to the more than 1,000 kids who attended.