In honor of our 22nd year in business, LaSalle Network employees celebrated by giving back to their local communities. Every LaSallian was given time off to volunteer either in person or virtually, based on personal preferences and comfort levels.
With 200 sets of hands-on-deck, we contributed 1,000 hours of community service to benefit charities including the Chicago Parks Foundation initiative, Pitch in for the Parks, The Center for Enriched Living, Aspire, the Kenneth Young Center, Special Olympics, Cristo Rey and Hands on Nashville.
The Chicago Parks Foundation and their initiative ‘Pitch in for the Parks’ helps with the cleanup and beautification of local parks. With more than 500 parks totaling over 8,000 acres of open space in Chicago, there is a huge need for volunteers to help care for the land and clean up trash and debris. While maintaining social distancing and wearing appropriate PPE, LaSallians came in shifts to clean up Columbus Park in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago.
To get involved, consider adopting your own park! You can schedule a day for a group to clean up, join in on an already scheduled clean-up day, or pitch in on your own by cleaning up trash any time you’re in one of the Chicago parks. For more information, visit their website here.
This center hosts programs and events so people with developmental disabilities can be fully included in the community, achieve personal successes, and enjoy quality of life. To help teach new skills, LaSallians hosted virtual classes like bowling and pasta–making for the center’s residents. Others hosted employment training to provide tips for applying to, interviewing for, and starting work at new jobs. Another group volunteered at the facility in Riverwoods to help with an outdoor beautification project.
There are many options to volunteer! From becoming a pen pal, to hosting your own virtual class, or fundraising, consider ways to help here.
Aspire was founded in 1960 and is recognized throughout Illinois and Wisconsin as a leader in providing bold, pioneering and uncompromising services to children and adults with developmental disabilities, their families and their communities. In partnership with Aspire’s career services branch, LaSallians hosted virtual mock interviews for Aspire residents. Another group volunteered in-person for an outdoor beautification project.
Consider volunteering for Aspire’s Executive Steering Council, helping to plan events, or fundraising here or email khlavach@aspirechicago.com.
This non-profit center offers counseling, assessments, treatments and ongoing support for children, adults and families in psychiatric crisis or with serious mental illness. LaSallians joined together to help clean up and plant flowers in the center’s healing garden, which provides an area for solitude and peace.
To get involved, consider volunteering to help plan events, delivering meals, or assisting in beautification efforts of the facility.
Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. On Monday, LaSallians pre-recorded a day camp for Special Olympics to share with group homes to get residents active and having fun. Some games included drawing with your eyes closed and hangman!
View more information or find ways to donate here.
LaSalle has been partnered with Cristo Rey for more than five years through its Corporate Work Study Program. Several students worked at LaSalle Network, which contributed to their high school tuition and gave them access to not only great teachers and opportunities but equipped them with invaluable business skills from a young age. On Monday, LaSallians recorded videos for the incoming class of 2024. These videos included professional advice, with LaSallians sharing details about their own roles, skills needed to be successful in the professional arena, and general words of encouragement and welcome.
To learn more about Cristo Rey and how to get involved, visit their website here.
Our Nashville branch of LaSallians joined Hands on Nashville to help direct traffic in Antioch at a COVID testing site. This organization is working to provide humanitarian relief throughout the city of Nashville while grappling with the devastation caused by the March 3rd tornado as well as the outbreak of COVID-19.
To learn more about upcoming volunteer events or ways to donate, visit their website here.
For more ideas on how to give back or volunteer your time safely, we’ve compiled a list of causes and ways to give back here.
