Mount Prospect entrepreneurs help kids in need
Editors note: The article was updated to correct when Swapadventure was founded.
Angelika Babich and Maggie Pawelko, both of Mount Prospect, have been longtime friends and, coincidentally, mothers to three children each. So they have plenty of clothes, toys and other baby-related items to share. And that natural practice, used among many parents, struck them as a way to create a business that could help children who are less fortunate.
The women developed the idea for Swapadventure about two months ago when Pawelko contacted orphanages in different countries. She hoped to give unwanted or outgrown clothes and items directly to those who couldn’t otherwise afford them.
“At first, no one responded,” Pawelko said. “And then some just asked for new things or money.”
Then they faced overseas shipping costs, which was about $960 to send items to an orphanage in Ghana. The high expense was due to airfare and ground shipping costs and was more than the two of them could afford. Unable to ship goods so far away, they looked for other options.
That’s when they organized Swapadventure and started partnering with restaurants and radio stations to help the cause.
They hosted events for parents and relatives at a Chick-fil-A, Bounce Kingdome, and other locations where everyone brought children’s items and swapped what they really needed. The restaurants provided coupons or other incentives as part of the event, Babich said.
Whatever was left was donated to an orphanage or other center to help children. In addition, Pawelko recently worked with a Polish radio station to donate children’s items to an organization in Poland called Dom Samotnej Matki. Swapadventure also gave items to Family Focus in Evanston, and the Rizal Community Center in Chicago for those impacted in the Philippines by Typhoon Haiyan, they said.
Next, the women are planning their first holiday donation event on Dec. 21 at Victoria in the Park Banquet in Mount Prospect.
“I think we bring a unique service by helping these communities save money,” Pawelko said. We also help the children by donating necessities and then we help local businesses by bringing people to their doors.”
<h3 class="briefHead">YouTube co-founder donates to alma mater</h3>
Steve Chen, formerly of Prospect Heights and co-founder of YouTube, just donated $1 million to his alma mater, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora. The gift will help fund the construction of a $1.9 million, 6,400-square-foot tech hub. It will provide resources to help students, entrepreneurs, faculty and others in the Fox Valley create ideas for the future. The Daily Herald featured Chen in an interview in 2006, just after he and business partner Chad Hurley sold their video entertainment service, YouTube, to Google Inc. for $1.65 billion. “IMSA helped guide me to the tools and knowledge I needed to develop my ideas into a successful business, but those tools keep evolving,” Chen said in a statement. “The Innovation Hub will bring the latest in entrepreneurial incubation to Aurora, the Fox Valley, and the western Chicago suburbs, allowing the Academy to help IMSA students, and even students from across the state, develop their ideas and stretch their inventive minds even more.” Chen returned to the campus last spring and spoke with students who were launching their own startups.
<h3 class="briefHead">New leaders with landscape group</h3>
Melisa Bell was appointed to the newly created role of administrative director at The Midwest Ecological Landscape Alliance. She has been financial secretary for MELA for the past year and will continue to serve in that capacity as well. Carol Becker, who announced her retirement, has been executive director for 4½ years. She will remain with MELA on a limited basis to focus her expertise on fundraising and resource development for the organization. These changes will be marked during a meeting Dec. 5 at Lurvey Landscape Supply in Des Plaines.
<h3 class="briefHead">FastTrack</h3>
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