Running for Families-in-Need this Thanksgiving
The secret to LIVING is GIVING. A simple principle that is the guiding force behind the Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago.
- Chicago, IL (1888PressRelease) September 24, 2020 - With schools educating remotely and a significant portion of the work force logging their hours from home, we need some good in the world, some hope. The Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago is all about hope. When they deliver a complete Thanksgiving meal to a family-in-need, they are not just delivering a turkey and some fixings, they are delivering hope.
The secret to LIVING is GIVING. A simple principle that is the guiding force behind the Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago.
“When our volunteers show up and hand that meal to a family-in-need, it is just about as impactful experience for the person delivering the meal as it is for the family receiving it,” says Basket Brigade founder Brian Walsh.
“With the pandemic making in-person events more challenging this year, we are looking forward to a way to let people donate and support our mission with our very first Run for Hope,” says Basket Brigade Community Champion, Robert Swiderski.
You may remember last year when Robert ran day and night, for 204 miles through each of the local communities that the Basket Brigade serves.
“This year, as it became more apparent that the need was going to be greater, the resources fewer, and the delivery process much more challenging,” says Swiderski, “ we wanted to come up with a way for everybody to show their support in a very unique way, thus the Run for Hope was born.”
In the aftermath of the Chicago Marathon’s cancellation along with all other 5k, 10k and half marathons, Swiderski and team saw an opportunity for people in the running community to complete their race that they have literally been training for year-round.
The Basket Brigade Run for Hope is not JUST for runners though. They have set it up so that anyone, of any fitness level can participate. “You can run, walk or bike any distance you choose,” says Swiderski, “and you can break it up into as many days needed, using our website to log your progress. The goal is to complete your miles prior to November 30, so you can get your race medal and t-shirt.”
“We know that not everybody wants to run 200 miles like Robert did, myself included,” says Walsh.
“In a Virtual Race, you can run your race anywhere, at your own pace, in your own time, and every mile you run, you know that you are helping to feed local area families-in-need,” says Swiderski.
Race registration is $95, and includes your printable race bib, a finisher’s certificate, medal, and t-shirt, as well as some other goodies from some of our generous sponsors. And best of all, each registration feeds 2 local area families-in-need.
In its sixth year, the Basket Brigade set their goal to deliver 2,020 complete Thanksgiving dinners to local area families-in-need. Which means over 10,000 men, women and children will receive a meal. Each Thanksgiving basket feeds a family of five, and includes a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more. Meals are delivered in person on the Saturday before Thanksgiving by teams of volunteers who all know that the secret to LIVING is GIVING.
Helping to make the Basket Brigade Run for Hope possible is Crystal Lake-based Ornery Mule Racing who has included the Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago in their Virtual Hennepin Hundred race series. Ornery Mule Racing’s motto is “Kindness, community, just ordinary people doing epic things!”
ABOUT THE BASKET BRIGADE
The Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago was founded by Brian and Cherish Walsh with the mission “to put the GIVING back into Thanksgiving.” Founded in memory of Brian’s mother, Lorraine M. Walsh, the Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago combines aspects of fundraising and volunteerism along with personal growth.
Basket Brigade Assembly Day is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so that it arrives in plenty of time for the families receiving them to make their plans without the stress of trying to figure out how to pay for it all. In the past 5 years, the Basket Brigade’s Assembly Day has relied on hundreds of volunteers to package the boxes.
“This year, in order to keep everybody safe, and in order to honor the gathering limits of Illinois, we are solely looking for Delivery Drivers to bring the meals to the homes,” says Walsh.
Recipients are nominated by a variety of sources including private nominations on the Basket Brigade’s website as well as names provided by other local nonprofits, churches, daycares, schools and other social service organizations.
In its previous five years, the Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago delivered complete Thanksgiving dinners to 195 families in 2015, 268 families in 2016, and 763 families in 2017, 1,335 families in 2018, and 2000 families in 2019, delivering food, a message of hope, and changing lives along the way.
“The message that we hope to pass along to our volunteers, our children, and the community,” concludes Brian Walsh, “is that the secret to LIVING is GIVING.”
The Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago is a 501 (c)(3), a dba of The Lorraine M. Walsh Memorial Foundation.
You can learn more via the following methods
Website: www.basketbrigade.net/runforhope2020
Facebook: www.facebook.com/basketbrigadesuburbanchicago/
Contacts: Robert Swiderski
Board Member, Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago
Phone: (630) 400-1370
Email: robert ( @ ) basketbrigade dot net
Brian Walsh
Co-Founder, Basket Brigade of Suburban Chicago
Phone: (847) 275-9055
Email: brian ( @ ) basketbrigade dot net
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