Jersey Mike's fundraiser supports children's hospital
Jersey Mike's locations up and down the Randall Road corridor - including those in Lake in the Hills, South Elgin and Geneva - helped raise funds last month for the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Chicago Blackhawk's Charity in Chicago.
It was part of the national sandwich shop's month of giving, and Jersey Mike's Day on March 25, in which the stores donate 100 percent of sales to a charity.
The store in Lake the Hills, along with its sister shop in Crystal Lake, took that giving spirit one step further.
Along with raising $12,128.65 throughout the month of March for the children's hospital and the Chicago Blackhawks' charity, employees also took a trip to the hospital.
Manager Nick Reed organized the trip, and brought along store owner Mark Michalak and some employees.
And they also brought 100 stuffed teddy bears to the kids there.
During the day of giving in Lake in the Hills, families who have benefitted from the children's hospital attended the event to thank customers for donating, and to help out.
Each month, the Jersey Mike's location in Lake in the Hills hosts fundraisers, with a portion of proceeds going to different organizations in the community.
This month, April, the store will be helping to raise money for the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Food Pantry.
Owner Mark Michalak said in 2014, other organizations the businesses helped raise funds for included Gigi's Playhouse, Relay For Life and Habitat for Humanity.
"We raised nearly $30,000 for our organizations," he said. "It's a credit to the great community that we serve."
Shred Fest: Now you can get a little help with your spring-cleaning this year.
Gather all of your old papers, and bring them to a Shred Fest along the Randall Road corridor this weekend.
The Shred Fest will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, April 11, next to Gordmans in Algonquin, 1500 S. Randall Road.
The Shred Fest comes just in time for tax day.
As you're going through old papers, getting together everything necessary to file your taxes, you're likely to come across papers you don't need, but that you feel uncomfortable just throwing away or sticking in the recycling bin.
Organizers say you can bring up to two large boxes full of documents to be shredded to the Shred Fest.
They say you can bring items with your personal information on them, including bank statements, outdated medical records, old tax returns, old bills, receipts, credit card applications and more to the event to be safely shredded in hopes of avoiding any identity theft issues.
However, you'll need to remove all of the staples, paper clips and bindings before sending them through the shredder.
The event is free and open to the public.
• Amy Williams' column covers all the news of business along the Randall Road corridor from Batavia to Crystal Lake. Contact her at randallbiz@comcast.net or (847) 894-5036.