Organizers bracing for big turnout at annual Day of Giving
For the third year, a grass-roots organization known as PATH, or Palatine Assisting Through Hope, will mount their "Day of Giving," Saturday to provide families in the Northeast section of Palatine clothes and outerwear for the winter.
The event will be held 9 a.m. to noon at the Palatine Opportunity Center, 1585 N. Rand Road, where families already come for job placement and referrals for other social services. All clothing is free.
While officials have no firm idea of turnout, they expect it will be larger than last year, when they drew 1,400 people, or more than 300 families.
This year's event actually begins Friday evening, with the so-called VIP families, or families that regularly participate in the Palatine Opportunity Center's services. The general public will come Saturday morning.
"This much we know," says Kathy Millin, Palatine Opportunity Center executive director. "There are more people coming to our job board, more families facing foreclosure that have lost their jobs, and more families needing referrals for services."
Rich Tyack of Palatine, PATH president, says high quality winter wear and clothing has been donated.
"We're hearing stories of families that are really struggling with loss of jobs and the cost of everything going up," Tyack says. "We're trying to take the burden off them during this bad economy."
Specifically, he says, they have an abundance of winter coats and jackets, as well as winter clothes, jeans, boots, shoes, hats, gloves and scarves, and new packages of underwear and socks.
Volunteers worked this week to sort through the donations, which filled two truckloads. Donations came from drives held at local churches, including St. Theresa and Prince of Peace Lutheran churches, Palatine and Fremd high schools, Gallagher Insurance in Itasca, local elementary schools and from the network of PATH supporters.
PATH officials said they had an abundance of volunteers, who were drawn to help lift up local families in need.
"They see the need, and they feel it," Tyack says. "These are some of their own neighbors who are really hurting."