North Shore joins South Side, raises money, makes friends
Cocktail parties are very enjoyable and sociable. Anything can happen. But at a recent cocktail party in Kenilworth, philanthropy began and a partnership sparked. Denise and Doug Nash held the party at their Kenilworth home to meet Paul Adams III who is launching a new charter school in Englewood on the city’s South Side. Adams is a well-known educator throughout Chicago and vicinity. Adams hit the jackpot so to say with his Providence Englewood Charter School, and before he realized what was happening, families from Kenilworth were lining up and pledging at least $25,000 each (more than the median annual income in Englewood). Not exactly your typical cocktail party. Not only did these amazing contributionists donate money, but donated time as well. Many Kenilworth families have offered to be tutors and volunteers. The story just keeps getting better. A neighborhood Boy Scout troop helped assemble desks and chairs for the school. Kenilworth resident and donor Art Duquette bought bottled water for the students when the drinking water at the school was unusable. On Labor Day weekend, instead of spending it like sloths, families headed to the school, equipment in hand and held a cleaning marathon to make sure the school could open on time. This is the first in the Chicago school reform movement that involves suburban-city partnership, and it is already inspiring other suburbs to help out with other Chicago public schools. Winnetka has become a philanthropic copycat as well as residents of Barrington, Hinsdale and Lake Forest. They have all made inquiries about similar partnerships, and Winnetka has a project underway.
Technorati Tags: Kenilworth, Englewood, Chicago public school reform, Winnetka, Barrington, Hinsdale, Lake Forest, Paul Adams III
