Six Flags workers prep gift center in Waukegan
About 50 Six Flags Great America employees took time away from the Gurnee theme park Friday to help turn a long-vacant supermarket into a charitable holiday gift center.
Wearing commemorative bright-green T-shirts, the workers gathered at a former Jewel Food Store on Lewis Avenue in Waukegan to repair broken automatic doors, install partitions and repair plumbing all ahead of Catholic Charities Lake County Services' annual Adopt-a-Family program.
“We're helping everything get ready so Catholic Charities can use it as a functional space,” Six Flags spokeswoman Meredith Kelleher said.
An estimated 12,000 Lake County residents, all of whom are receiving social services from Catholic Charities or other organizations, will get free holiday gifts at the center next month.
The gifts will be purchased by donors working off wish lists from specific recipients, said Jim Wogan, a volunteer coordinator with Catholic Charities.
It's gratifying to see the families come to the center to pick up the presents, Wogan said.
“It's all about smiles and feeling positive,” he said.
Catholic Charities has run the Adopt-A-Family program or efforts like it for decades, Wogan said. This is the second year at the Lewis Avenue site.
Inland Property Management donated the space to the group for a few weeks.
The supermarket had been vacant and in disrepair for about 15 years, Kelleher said.
Volunteers from Six Flags helped get the space ready last year, too. It was in even worse condition then.
“This is a peach compared to what it was last year,” said Rick Neal, a warehouse supervisor at Six Flags. “I like to refer to what we did last year as a salvage and overhaul operation.”
The Six Flags workers participated as part of the company's national community service program, Kelleher said.
In Waukegan, trained craftsmen used their skills to improve the building. But they also handled basic tasks, like sweeping dirt and dust.
It's all for a good cause, said Dan Schwabe, a Six Flags mechanical supervisor who pushed a broom Friday.
“I know what they do helps people who are less fortunate,” Schwabe said. “There are a lot of people who are without jobs, and people who need this organization.”
The people who receive gifts at the center don't have to be Roman Catholic to participate. The organizers don't know the religious affiliations of any of the recipients, Wogan said.
Families will pick up their presents between Dec. 5 and 13.
Recruits from the Great Lakes Naval Station in nearby North Chicago will help the Catholic Charities volunteers hand out the presents.
Wogan is looking for more donors to buy gifts for the program. If you're interested, you can call him at (847) 782-4126 or send an e-mail to jwogan@catholiccharities.net.
You can call or e-mail Wogan if you want to volunteer at the gift center, too.