Eat chocolate, feel good at Naperville charity Chocolate Walk Feb. 8
There's never a bad time to think about chocolate, especially about all the good it can do.
Now, this isn't one of those stories about some study that found eating chocolate every day will help you live longer. (Sorry.)
But it is a story about the power of chocolate to turn into money, and the power of money to turn into programs that help young people in need.
360 Youth Services knows the secret to unlocking this particular do-gooder power of everyone's favorite legume, the cocoa bean.
The nonprofit agency is preparing for its fifth annual Downtown Naperville Chocolate Walk, this after hosting a long-running chocolate festival that featured cooking demonstrations, baking competitions and goodies for sale. So leave it to Sandy Kazenko, special events and communications coordinator, to talk up the value of the sweet stuff.
The Chocolate Walk, she says, supports the three main programming arms of 360 Youth Services, which provides counseling, substance abuse prevention and housing. The event is scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8. To register by buying a $31 ticket, visit cherryfish.com/chocolatewalk20.
"A lot of people who come to the Chocolate Walk don't even necessarily know that they're helping support the youth in our community," Kazenko said.
Oh, but they are.
They're funding programs such as Operation Snowball, a series of retreats 35 years in the running that has welcomed 13,000 teens to workshops that surround them with caring connections, support healthy lifestyle choices and help them become comfortable with themselves.
Chocolate Walk participants are funding a "housing first" approach that gives homeless youths a permanent place to stay as quickly as possible, then helps them with other supports.
And they're funding counseling services that extend into local schools, where students in crisis lean on mental health assistance.
The walk is in February, a chocolaty time of year with Valentine's Day and all. But it's also outside, in Naperville, in the winter. And it involves following a map developed in conjunction with the Downtown Naperville Alliance to roughly 20 shops and restaurants - some that typically serve chocolate, others that don't.
"The good thing is a lot of the stores are really nearby each other, so you're not outside for too long," Kazenko said. "You definitely get to warm up inside the stores."
There will be brownies, she said, Belgian chocolate brownies with "very high-quality chocolate." And there will be white chocolate mac and cheese, along with hot cocoa and plenty of surprises.
Most of the chocolate indulgences are of the take-home variety, so Chocolate Walkers can place them inside their commemorative tins and save them for later. But a few will be best to sample on-site, Kazenko said.
Walkers will check in at MidiCi Neapolitan pizza, 135 Water St., Suite 101, to grab their tin and map. Then, they're free to choose their own chocolate destiny, stopping in the stores in whichever order they desire. Several are near MidiCi on Water Street, Kazenko said, while others are across the DuPage River in the core of the downtown.