As an annual weekend full of family, food, and fun, it’s easy to forget Ribfest is also a fundraiser.
The Exchange Club of Naperville celebrated their Ribfest Allocation Lunch today where agencies received their donations and showed their appreciation for the exchange club’s generosity.
“If you know us, you know we’re committed to end homelessness here in DuPage County,” said President and CEO of DuPage PADS Carol Simler. “We’ve got the solution – it’s housing coupled with support services and employment. Thank you for making this possible because Katelyn and her four children are now in housing.”
Those 48 agencies each sent a representative to speak briefly on what the money is helping to support at their organization.
“We provide completely free programming to individuals with down syndrome and their families in a few different ways,” said Lauren Chiszik of Gigi’s Playhouse Fox Valley. “We have our age-based therapeutic group programs, our one-on-one educational programs and our family social networking programs. With the money from the exchange club we are able to keep our programs free, we can create new ones and keep growing all without a barrier to our families for receiving our services. So we want to say thank you so much and we are so excited for this donation.”
The president of the exchange club said that 95% of the money raised from Ribfest is donated directly to these organizations.
“That was really the message that we wanted to send out today,” said Exchange Club of Naperville President Dr. Robin Choquette. “That 95 percent, we’re really proud of that. I think that really speaks to the members who are volunteering and we take a lot of time to give to this organization because we believe in what were doing and our mission.”
2018’s Ribfest is scheduled to take place July 4-7 at Knoch Park.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
