Each year since 2015, we've been fortunate enough to donate a portion of our sales from the week of Black Friday through Cyber Monday to 1-2 charities close to our homes and hearts. This has been made possible by you - our customers - and our employees. It's been a way for us to connect the holiday spirit and holiday shopping season in a meaningful way. Together, we believe we can make a significant impact within our communities and bring a bit of happiness to those in need.

We are excited to partner with the charities below this year. We encourage you to join us and consider supporting these wonderful organizations. Monetary donations can be made directly to each respective charity, and we'll be collecting wish list items at our Lansing, IL warehouse through the New Year. Contact us to arrange a donation drop off.

Charity 1: All God's People - an organization that ministers to the needs of homeless people in the Chicago Loop area. Nominated by one of our team members, Nicole, and voted for by our employees.

Read Nicole's nomination below:

My charity nomination is All God's People. I met Doreen DeBoer at the first bank I worked for. We randomly had Windy City Live on at work one day and noticed Doreen had won a basement makeover. She would collect necessities for the homeless and once a month, go downtown to deliver the necessities and serve food to the homeless. Her basement was overrun with donations and her daughter nominated her for this makeover to help organize her stockpiles.

A few of my coworkers along with myself went to serve many times and saw the growth month after month. Most of my coworkers served food and I volunteered to cut hair. Over time, Doreen has made many connections with restaurants who donate meals and dentists who donate their time and services (just to name a few). She has also moved into a warehouse where she now operates out of.

Their Donations and Wish List change monthly to accommodate weather but also to accommodate specific needs of the homeless. Each person is allowed to include one specific item they are in need of to be delivered the following month. Doreen along with a group of volunteers will serve 500+ people every month. Some needs are basic (deodorant, soap, backpack) and other needs are necessities (non-perishable food, clothing items for winter months, blankets and sleeping bags).

I have witnessed first hand how much Doreen's charity has impacted the homeless and community and feel this would be a great charity to give back to this holiday season. As Doreen mentions on their website " Homelessness can happen to anyone. While we might feel that we are far removed from it, the truth of the matter is, this could be our father, mother, brother, sister, or child."

Wish list top items:

• New and gently used clothing, especially men's jeans and larger sizes
• New/unopened toiletries
• Non-perishable unopened food items including cases of water
• New or gently used blankets/comforters
• Dishes, pots & pans
• Rolling suitcases

Charity 2: The Flamini Foundation - a nonprofit foundation based on the belief that sick children and their families should be blessed with all the happiness that we can offer.

From the Foundation:

During the Holiday Season, as you survey the holiday treasures that surround you, do you find yourself thinking: “We are so blessed; we have so much. It would be wonderful to be able to share this holiday happiness with those in need.”?

In 2004, the Flamini Family decided to do just that! Instead of buying gifts for each other, we pooled our holiday resources in order to give to those who were less fortunate...organizing toys and gift baskets to distribute to sick children and their devoted families who were spending the holiday season at Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago.

In October of 2009, the tradition became The Flamini Foundation. The organization added the distribution of Comfort Bags, canvas bags filled with essential items given to parents of children hospitalized due to a life threatening situation. We added more hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses.

Wish list items:

• Blankets (store bought or hand made)
• Snacks (non-perishable unopened- ie. boxes of granola bars, crackers), breath mints, gum.
• Crossword puzzle books
• Toiletries ( ie shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, lotion, chapstick etc)
• Fleece for handmade blankets (pattern requires 1 1/2 yards of fleece
• Kleenex or any type of tissue
• Bottled Water ( 2-16oz bottles are placed in each bag)
• Playing cards, Uno cards or any other card games
• Journals, composition books, pens
• Slippers with non-skid bottoms
• Adult coloring books and colored pencils
• Non-fragrant body cream
• Eye mask and ear plugs

Past Recipients of our Holiday Giveback Week:

2018 
1. The Patti Leach Youth Center (Lansing): The Youth Center is committed to providing opportunities for Lansing Youth in Grades 6-12 to socialize in a fun, safe and positive environment.
2. Ronald McDonald House Charities (Chicagoland & NWI): We give children what they need most - their families. Helping a sick child fight their illness takes a big enough emotional toll on a family. Adding a financial strain can make it all almost too much to bear. We help address those problems, whether it involves providing housing near a hospitalized child, furnishing a place to rest within the hospital, or bringing free healthcare to children in under-served areas of Chicago through a mobile clinic.

2017
1. South Suburban Family Shelter: provides comprehensive, coordinated services to families in which domestic violence exists.
2. The Flamini Foundation/KanesKrew: This organization is based on the belief that sick children and their families should be blessed with all of the happiness that we can offer, and provides essential items and goods and hand tied fleece blankets to Children's Hospitals, PICU, NICU, Ante-partum and Ronald McDonald Houses in Illinois and NWI.

2016
1. Lansing, IL Community Food Pantry
2. The Family Giving Program hosted by the Lansing Area Chamber of Commerce that helps Lansing, IL families in need through donating gifts, clothes, and food.

2015
The Off the Street Club, Chicago's oldest Boys & Girls Club serving more than 3,000 kids in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country, West Garfield Park.