'Grandmas' auxiliary takes pride in baby care
The Lisle-Naperville Infant Welfare Society Auxiliary extends a grandmother-like hug far beyond its immediate family.
Members work for baby and children's health care, help new moms, spread reading joy, pass out cookies, shop for layettes, give children hats and gloves, hold an annual family fashion show and have fun in the process.
On Saturday, the local auxiliary will hold "The Gift of Giving" luncheon and fashion show that promises to dazzle more than 400 luncheon attendees at the 15th annual production.
The afternoon gala at the Lisle-Naperville Hilton Hotel will showcase the must-haves of the season from Naperville's Coldwater Creek and Katy's Boutique in Glen Ellyn. Fourteen professional models will stroll the runway wearing the latest trends in sophisticated and casual styles, fabrics and colors.
The popular show is never complete without its unique 15 Dancing Men. The member's husbands and sons and local dignitaries sport menswear from Talbot's Men's in Oak Brook and usher in the children models, who make a fashion statement of their own.
Fifty door prizes, numerous raffle prizes, silent auction items, basket raffles and a grand raffle assure many lucky attendees a windfall. One of the dozen baskets is in a grandmother-theme that includes the essentials for entertaining children, member Sue Blair said.
Non-attendees can shop the Sugar Plum Shop craft booths that open at 10:30 a.m. at the hotel and purchase grand raffle tickets at five for $20. The $50 luncheon-fashion show tickets are almost sold out. Call (630) 964-4692 for availability, raffle ticket purchase or information about becoming a member.
Luncheon chairwoman Rose Denyes and co-chairwomen Donna DeLeo and Karen Anselmo secured terrific grand raffle prizes, including a three-day get-away to the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa with air fare, a stay at the Hilton Cancun Golf & Spa resort, Lisle Allgauer's Chef's Table dinner for six, jeweled tennis bracelet, gold ring and a computer.
"We will raise more than $20,000 on this event and all proceeds go into running our Infant Welfare Clinic," Blair said.
To raise additional funds, the 16 active local auxiliary members park cars at the Lisle Eyes to the Skies Festival every year.
In true grandmother fashion, auxiliary members purchase children's books, diapers, formula, hats and mittens for patrons of its Chicago clinic. The women hold a baby shower every May for the clinic and furnish infants and their mommies with comfy onesies, crawlers, receiving blankets and layette essentials.
Maria Penland, Chicago auxiliary coordinator, said the not-for-profit organization has 19 auxiliaries in Chicago and the suburbs.
"The auxiliaries are the fundraising nuts and bolts of our organization," Penland said. "The money the auxiliaries raise goes directly to the general operating funds. The auxiliaries commit to a million dollars a year toward our annual budget."
The Infant Welfare Society Woman's Auxiliary was formed in 1913 to raise money to pass out pasteurized milk, Penland said.
"But as it evolved, the auxiliaries would adopt a storefront well-baby clinic and do volunteer jobs in the clinics," she said. "We eventually consolidated to a single clinic and in 2005 the Infant Welfare Center Clinic moved to larger quarters at 3600 W. Fullerton."
The move increased the patient base and allowed for night and Saturday hours, Penland said. The clinic serves families classified as "working poor." Most have an income from one or several jobs but with no health benefits and minimum income. The clinic serves mothers before and after the birth of an infant and children up to age 19 with medical, dental and social support.
Auxiliary members get the satisfaction of helping others while making lifelong friends, Penland said. In 2008, the organization plans to bring back an auxiliary-wide dinner dance.
"Every year we have a Christmas party for the children at the clinic and give out approximately 1,000 gift bags," Penland said. "Moms also receive a Polaroid in a frame of their child sitting on Santa's lap."
The Lisle-Naperville Auxiliary chapter is justifiably proud of its 43 years of service. Nobody can do for little children what grandparents, real or honorary, can do.
"It is kind of like being a grandparent forever and ever," Blair said. "When I go shopping at a sale in the baby department, I'll usually find another member also buying ahead. You can't believe the items we collect."
But what about the passing out cookies part mentioned above? That friendly gesture is one auxiliary members do for the child in all of us.
Every year at Lisle's official Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony, auxiliary members pass out cookies and warm drinks in the village hall. This year the ceremony is at 6 p.m. Dec. 1.
The cookies are huge delectable treats from local hotels; the kind any grandmother would be proud to have in her cookie jar.