When you need to look good for a job interview, a wedding, a night out, it’s not enough just to have nice clothes to wear. As any woman knows, it’s all about how each piece coordinates with all the others. For women trying to make a new life after they’ve been trafficked or prostituted or homeless, it’s doubly hard—even when they are able to find decent clothing, it’s a daunting task to achieve that pulled-together look.
That’s what Doreen DeBoer, president of All God’s People, was hearing from people who were coming to the organization’s distribution sites—the free clothing they get there is wonderful, but it’s hard to put the pieces together to make an outfit work. So DeBoer, a woman of faith who thrives on a worthy challenge, created a special program called The Boutique.
Along with clothing items, foods, toiletries, haircuts and other freebies, the under-resourced also can get matched ensembles suitable for work or dressy occasions. All God’s People maintains a south side warehouse where people can “shop” throughout the week, but once a month, 40 volunteers bring the goods to a plaza at the corner of State and Van Buren streets.
“It doesn’t matter the temperature or conditions,” DeBoer said, “we set up a store for 500 to 700 people. Everything is given away; nothing is actually sold. We bring in The Boutique on rolling carts and tables. It’s a respect thing for them that they get to pick the clothes they like.”
With much respect for the work DeBoer is doing, Women Helping Women (WHW) has chosen The Boutique as the charity partner for its 2016 Mix-and-Mingle on Thursday, Nov. 3, at Lloyd’s Chicago.
An after-hours networking group hosted by the women attorneys of Chuhak & Tecson, P.C., WHW offers professional women the opportunity to build their businesses and participate in charitable service at the same time. Over wine and hors d’oeuvres, each Mix-and-Mingle highlights a different nonprofit agency serving women or women and their children and invites attendees to come alongside them in practical ways.
Women who attend the Nov. 3 event are encouraged to bring new or gently used clothing of any size—pants, dresses, skirts, jackets, vests, blouses, shells, etc.—plus shoes, boots, scarves, jewelry and purses. If possible, whole outfits can be brought already assembled.
DeBoer will be on hand to talk about All God’s People and The Boutique. She will be introduced by her niece, Elizabeth Osborne, an attorney with Chuhak & Tecson who remembers how these outreaches were inspired.
“Years ago when I was little, my aunt and uncle and cousins would go downtown and bring brown paper bags with food to hand out to people on Lower Wacker Drive,” Osborne said. “Over the years, people found out what she was doing and started giving her more stuff to take down there.
“It just kept growing, but it’s so personal. She knows everybody by name. For her, helping goes beyond seeing people every month just to give them clothes and food. She builds ongoing relationships with the people who come.”
That includes hundreds of homeless and under-resourced persons, but The Boutique also partners with Reclaim 13, an organization that rescues and brings healing to sex-trafficked children, and New Name, an organization that reaches out to women in prostitution.
“A girl who came in last week was just seven when she was first trafficked, and now she’s 15,” DeBoer said. “It just breaks your heart. She’s a sweet girl; she wanted clothes for church.”
Osborne appreciates that DeBoer likes to say she won’t give out clothing she wouldn’t wear herself.
“She wants to boost a sense of dignity in everyone,” Osborne said. “All of the volunteers really care about that.”
Women Helping Women is unique in the way it boosts professional camaraderie, Osborne said.
“When you get together with a group of women with a spirit of generosity behind it, you come in the door already feeling good,” she said. “It’s a nice backdrop for building business.
“I think this event in particular will have an especially personal feel to it. Chuhak & Tecson participated in the September distribution at State and Van Buren, one of the biggest ever for All God’s People, and we’re going to be displaying photos from that.”
If you would like to receive an invitation to Mix-and-Mingle, please contact Jane LaGrassa at (312) 201-3447 or jlagrassa@chuhak.com.
In addition to charitable planning, Markus’ legal practice focuses on assisting business owners and families with their estates, protecting assets, transferring wealth and minimizing taxation. She works closely with clients to formulate succession plans, and advise on business formation, wealth preservation and gift and estate taxation.
In November 2015, Markus combined her passion for volunteering with her work at Chuhak & Tecson as the host of the firm’s annual Women Helping Women (WHW) event. Held by the women attorneys of Chuhak & Tecson, WHW is an after-hours group offering professional women the opportunity to network, build business alliances and accomplish charitable service at the same time. Each event spotlights a different nonprofit agency serving women, or women and their children, and identifies practical ways that participants can help. Markus successfully endorsed Jewish Child and Family Services as the featured charity partner for November’s event. Guests supported the organization’s Child Welfare program and Counseling and Child Development programs by donating more than 250 culturally diverse dolls to children of all faith throughout Chicago.
“My grandparents set wonderful examples of making tzedakah (charity) a way of life. Their sacrifices and hard work have provided my generation with opportunities they could not have imagined. With success and opportunity comes a responsibility for me – to not just continue our family tradition of caring and doing for others but to enhance my participation in giving,” Markus said. “Being involved with the Jewish community has provided me with an opportunity to carry on their legacy and make a meaningful difference.”
Markus is involved with several other nonprofit organizations, including Between Friends and the Advocate Charitable Foundation as a member of the Gift Planning Advisory Committee.
Operation Backpack is an annual event sponsored by Volunteers of America, a not for profit organization that focuses on empowering people of all ages and backgrounds while providing community based human service programs. Operation Backpack collects a wide range of supplies that schoolchildren require in order to start off their new school year right—from pencils to calculators and from art supplies to the backpacks themselves. Items are then distributed to children in foster care throughout Chicagoland.
Today our firm received this lovely thank-you card from some of the children—all so special and all so deserving—that we want to share this with you, the visitors to our site.
Winning the lottery sounds spectacular, but there are many financial implications that you should be aware of. Watch Lindsey Paige Markus on Good Day Chicago to learn more about how you should manage your winnings responsibly.
On Wednesday, Nov. 4 at Loyola University of Chicago,Wintrust will host a free financial, legal and empowerment seminar for separated, divorced or widowed women.
This event features a panel discussion where Chuhak & Tecson attorney Lindsey Paige Markus will help attendees grasp important aspects of estate planning, wills and trusts.
To view a full list of panelists and to register for the event, click here.
Sometimes, for a child who has been traumatized, the best therapist in the world is the doll in the child’s small hands. From baby dolls to Barbie dolls to boy dolls, these toys are often the key to unlocking communication and encouraging the child to express difficult emotions.
Jewish Child & Family Services (JCFS) successfully uses dolls as a therapeutic and educational resource for young clients in its Child Welfare program, as well as Counseling and Child Development programs and the need for new dolls is ongoing. Since children appreciate seeing a bit of themselves reflected in their dolls, it’s important to offer them toy companions from a variety of cultures—with different skin colors, ethnicities and genders, as well as differently-abled dolls.
At its Fall Mix-and-Mingle on Thursday, Nov. 5, Women Helping Women encourages each attendee to bring a multicultural or diverse ability doll to donate to JCFS.
Hosted by the women attorneys of Chuhak & Tecson, P.C., Women Helping Women is an after-hours group offering professional women the opportunity to network, build business and accomplish charitable service at the same time. Over wine and hors d’oeuvres, each Mix-and-Mingle spotlights a different nonprofit agency serving women or women and their children and identifies practical ways that participants can help.
“Who doesn’t smile when they shop for a doll?” said Lindsey Paige Markus, a Principal at Chuhak & Tecson. “JCFS’s request for culturally diverse dolls beautifully underscores our firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
In light of this commitment, Chuhak & Tecson’s Diversity and Inclusion Council will partner with Women Helping Women to co-host the event.
JCFS has been serving the Chicago community for more than 150 years, currently touching the lives of about 30,000 people in one way or another annually. The organization offers a wide range of services and programs, not only to Jewish families but to adults and children across the community.
The Child Welfare program, focal point of the Mix-and-Mingle, provides foster care, group homes and adoption support.
“We are a niche provider for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services,” said Stacey Shor, vice president and chief development officer. “We’re especially known for being able to take the really complex cases, everything from babies who’ve arrived in a full body cast, where you can’t have just a standard foster parent, to teenagers who’ve moved from home to home and suffered severe trauma.”
Shor will be speaking at the November mixer and promises to tell some of the stories of children serviced by JCFS. She also has invited foster care and residential staff to the event to answer questions.
Dolls that are donated, Shor said, will be used for trauma therapy and as gifts for birthdays and holidays and for children just entering the foster care system.
“For any child, not just children who have suffered trauma, being able to have a doll that looks like you is meaningful,” she said. “Receiving a doll that you can use to express yourself, that you can care for, that you know is for you personally, can be very powerful.
“We feel strongly about giving new items as opposed to used items to children whose lives are in flux,” Shor added. “These are typically kids who have never gotten anything new, something that was just for them.”
Ideas for purchasing culturally diverse dolls, as well as the opportunity to make the purchase, can be found at the organization’s Amazon Wish List.
Markus considers each WHW mixer a highlight of the year.
“When you see the mounds of donations on the table,” she said, “—for this event, culturally diverse dolls that will be donated beforehand by employees at all levels of the firm and by attendees during the event—everyone gets excited and is able to see firsthand the tangible support we are able to provide these agencies.
“There is something about working women coming together, not only to network but to help others as well, that creates an indescribable energy in the room,” Markus said. “We have attracted some extraordinary professionals. As a result, we’ve been able to do impactful work for so many worthy organizations.”
The Fall Mix-and-Mingle takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lloyd’s Chicago, 1 S. Wacker Dr. If you would like to receive an invitation, please contact Jane LaGrassa at (312) 201-3447 or jlagrassa@chuhak.com.
Chuhak & Tecson attorney Lindsey Paige Markus will be a panelist for the discussion of “Conceivable Options for the Modern Family: Medical, Legal and Ethical Considerations for Planners in a Rapidly Changing World” at the Advocate Charitable Foundation Professional Advisor Breakfast scheduled for the end of the month. This discussion will focus on such issues as assisted reproduction and same sex marriage.
This is a free CLE, CFP and CPE seminar taking place on 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30 at Northern Trust. CPAs, wealth advisors and attorneys are encouraged to attend.
To find out more and to register, click here.
As part of Chuhak & Tecson’s focus on learning more about the people we work with every day, the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Council invites everyone to celebrate:
Mexican Independence Day!
September 16 is one of Mexico’s most important holidays. Every year, local mayors and politicians re-enact the famous Grito de Dolores. On the night of September 15, thousands congregate at Mexico City’s Zócalo, or main square, to hear the president ring the same bell Father Miguel Hidalgo did and to recite the Grito de Dolores. The crowd roars, cheers and chants as fireworks light up the sky!
History of:
Long before 1810, Mexicans had begun to chafe under Spanish rule; Spain kept a stranglehold on the colonies, limiting trade opportunities and appointing Spaniards (as opposed to native-born Creoles) to important colonial posts. After Napoleon invaded Spain and imprisoned Ferdinand VII, Creole patriots saw their chance to claim their independence. Conspiracies quickly began to form as citizens plotted for the insurrection against Spain, its leaders, including parish priest Father Miguel Hidalgo, Royal army officer Ignacio Allende, and government official Miguel Dominguez.
On September 15, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo was notified the Spanish had found out about the plot and were coming for him. The morning of the 16th, Hidalgo took to the pulpit in the town of Dolores to announce he was taking up arms against the tyrannies of the Spanish government, inviting his parishioners to join him. This famous speech became known as El Grito de Dolores or the Cry of Dolores. Despite Hidalgo and Allende’s fall in 1811, when they were captured at the Battle of Calderon Bridge by the Spanish army, Mexico was able to liberate itself in September 1821 when an agreement was reached with turncoat officer Agustin de Iturbide.
Today, most Mexicans celebrate by hanging flags and spending time with family. Parades, parties and other civic festivities are also part of the celebration.
Tamika was a high school dropout who figured her options looked just like those of many in her neighborhood—the drug dealers, gang members and prostitutes. April was a young mom who lost custody of her children and, like Tamika, also found herself jobless and homeless.
When there’s no place to call home, many young adults are discovering there still is a place for hope. The Night Ministry, named for what was perceived to be the loneliest time for the homeless, has been serving the community for nearly 40 years with housing, healthcare and practical resources.
Through the patient encouragement of The Night Ministry staff, both Tamika and April began developing new visions of themselves and new versions of what they could do with their lives. Now Tamika is a married homeowner with a little girl, a GED and a full-time job, and she’s taking steps to become a paralegal. April has her kids back, runs her own business from her new apartment and is working on a bachelor’s degree.
With success stories like these, it’s easy to see why Women Helping Women has chosen to shine a light on The Night Ministry at its Spring Mix-and-Mingle on Thursday, April 30, at Lloyd’s Chicago.
Hosted biannually by the women attorneys at Chuhak & Tecson, Women Helping Women is an after-hours networking group partnering wine and hors d’oeuvres with business development and philanthropy. Each mixer features a different not for profit organization serving women, or women and their children, and participants are asked to select from a wish list to help support the organization’s work.
With nearly 10,000 youth and young adults homeless in Chicago each year, The Night Ministry meets an array of basic needs. A Health Outreach bus offers free medical services in six neighborhoods, a Youth Outreach van provides food, counsel and relationship, and the agency’s four shelters offer programs ranging from emergency overnights to two-year commitments.
“The Night Ministry is vital to Chicago because it provides a safety net of social services that are absolutely life-saving,” said Stacy Massey, communications and media relations coordinator. “We have to remember how important it is to have a safe place to sleep and enough food to eat, because if you don’t have those things, you can’t access education either.”
Loretto Kennedy, a principal at Chuhak & Tecson, had previously worked with The Night Ministry in projects sponsored by her church and the Girl Scout troop she leads.
“This is a top-notch organization with many different facets, and they do each of them extremely well,” Kennedy said. “The particular outreach we’re going to be supporting at our Mix-and-Mingle is an interim program for young people who have not had the benefit of a stable home life and often find themselves without resources to meet their day-to-day needs.
“The Night Ministry reaches out to them on many levels—food, hygiene and shelter—but also reaches out on moving forward in a more purposeful, positive direction,” she said.
Massey said the organization is the only one in Chicago that reserves beds for pregnant teenagers, and it tries to be pragmatic in meeting young people where they are. Most of their clients are 18 to 24 years old, though some are as young as 13.
“Not everyone who comes to our overnight shelter, for example, is big on following a lot of rules,” she said, “so we have a realistic approach to addressing that concern. We look at how we can make the situation better for everyone, because everyone wins when young people don’t become chronically homeless.”
Last year, The Night Ministry touched the lives of nearly 5,000 young people through its various programs, Massey said, and celebrated with 147 who left to move into stable housing of their own.
Now beginning its sixth year, Women Helping Women has grown so much that Lloyd’s Chicago is once again being reserved in its entirety for the evening.
“We have people who were with us at the first event who still continue to come,” Kennedy said. “I think that speaks volumes for the benefits they receive and the quality of the people they’re meeting here. Our past guests are reaching out to bring other colleagues into the Women Helping Women network, and the professions and market niches that are represented keep expanding event after event.”
Attendees to the April 30 mixer are encouraged to bring donations of men’s or women’s underwear, deodorant, twin-size sheets or blankets, bath towels, coffee or flatware to help meet a variety of ongoing needs at The Night Ministry. The agency’s Amazon Wish List also includes specific clothing items, Blu-Ray disc players, NutriBullet blender/mixers and Play Station 4 consoles and controllers.
The Spring Mix-and-Mingle will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at 1 S. Wacker Dr. If you would like to receive an invitation, please contact Jane LaGrassa at 312-201-3447 or jlagrassa@chuhak.com.
Click here to read the winter 2015 edition of The Bottom Line, an employment law newsletter by Chuhak & Tecson Principal, Ryan Haas.