Selfless for Scott joins with Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation to help pediatric cancer patients Feb. 6
More than 300 people will gather at Cubby Bear in Chicago Wednesday, Feb. 6, to volunteer in memory of Scott Boorstein, a Deerfield native who died in 2016.
Volunteers will make gift bags for the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation to be given to children battling pediatric cancer, as well as "emergency kits" for families and caregivers. Each gift bag will include items such as drawing pads, markers, teddy bears, earbuds, bubbles, art activity kits and other items selected to provide comfort and entertainment to pediatric patients. Families will receive coffee, toothbrushes/toothpaste, lip balm, gift cards, socks, slippers, soft blankets and more.
The gift bags were designed based on feedback from families affected by pediatric cancer.
Items were donated by the following businesses: Jewel Food Stores, Walmart, the Godfrey Hotel, Staples, CVS, Target, Walgreens, Lou Malnati's, Lettuce Entertain You, Heinen's, Bombas, Monroe Capital, Ziggi Marketing, Blue Sky Marketing, Lululemon, Staples, JCC Z Frank Apachi, Banner Day Camp, The Barking Lot, Lower Electric, Crown Commercial Lighting, Barnes & Noble, American Hotel Register, Galt Toys, Office Depot, Blick Art Materials, Do Rite Donuts, Stans Donuts, Golans Moving Co., Dunkin' Donuts, Aveda, Starbucks, Lush, Costco, Oriental Trading, and Chicagoland Beverage Company.
When Scott Boorstein died suddenly in September 2016, his loss shook the community - both in Deerfield where he grew up and at Northwestern University where he went to school - in a way that truly speaks to his character.
Each year around the holidays and his birthday, Scott would not ask for presents. Instead, he asked for people to make donations to a charity in his honor. Around his birthday in 2017, his Northwestern friends created an event on Facebook describing this story. Since then, on his birthday, his family and friends host a volunteer event for community members to attend.
Selfless for Scott was created to make the world a little brighter, a little kinder, and a little more beautiful.
In the "Selfless for Scott Kindness Challenge," participants perform one kind act each day, in the days leading up to Boorstein's birthday, Feb. 6. Since 2020 is his 25th birthday, this year's challenge started 25 days before Feb. 6: Jan. 13.
When the kindness challenge was first introduced, pictures and texts of everyone's selfless acts came flooding in. Some examples include community members bringing food to the West Deerfield Food Pantry, shoveling a stranger's car out of the snow, donating box tops to raise money for Haiti, buying pizza to support those with disabilities, purchasing gift cards for TSA workers to show appreciation, baking treats for their teachers' lounge at school, purchasing trees to be planted in Israel, passing out winter gloves to those in need on the city streets, reading to underprivileged students at Chicago Public Schools, donating books to GiGi's Playhouse, and more.
The first year, more than 200 people packed 400 meals for those in need at The Night Ministry and Inspiration Corporation. They also partnered with Green Star Movement, an organization that connects youth to their schools and neighborhoods, and people to each other, while revitalizing underserved communities. They worked at the Metra underpass in Woodlawn to design a mosaic mural, helping to beautify the area.
Two years ago, they partnered with Cradles to Crayons, an organization that provides children up living in homeless or low-income situations with essentials they need to thrive. They helped inspect, sort and package donations so they could be ready for distribution to the children.
Last year Selfless for Scott partnered with an organization called New Life for Old Bags to make plastic sleeping mats out of recycled plastic bags to hand out to those who are homeless and living on the streets. In addition, they put together 400 kindness bags filled with basic necessities and healthy soft snacks, and created no-sew fleece scarves to help these same people combat the cold winter weather.
Visit www.facebook.com/selflessforscott.
The Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded by Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo. The mission of the foundation is to raise money for cancer research and to provide support to children and their families battling the disease. Visit rizzo44.com.