CASA and Starbucks Deliver Holiday Gifts to Hundreds of Foster Kids

Any time of year can be difficult for children in foster care. The holidays can be particularly hard. This past holiday season, 21 North and Northwest suburban Starbucks stores, in conjunction with CASA Lake County, helped brighten the season for over 400 local foster children. The children received new clothing, toys, books and other special gifts, all purchased and donated by Starbucks customers, and distributed by CASA volunteers.

Here's how the program worked. CASA Lake County provided each Starbucks with a small holiday evergreen decorated with colorful tags, each tag indicating a gift item needed by a child. Customers picked up a tag, shopped, and returned their purchased item to a collection site in Starbucks. CASA Lake County volunteers delivered the items to the foster children.

Starbucks participating in the gift program included stores in Vernon Hills, Grayslake, Mundelein, Libertyville, Waukegan, Gurnee, Antioch, Round Lake Beach, Long Grove, Lake Zurich, Deer Park, Volo, Hainesville and Wheeling. This is the eighth year that Starbucks has partnered with CASA Lake County on the annual gift program. Customers donated over 1,000 items throughout December. Most children received more than one gift.

"Thanks to the generosity of Starbucks and its customers, this program has grown dramatically in recent years," said Terri Zenner Greenberg, CASA Lake County executive director. "Despite the pandemic and challenging retail conditions, we received more donations this year than ever. So many foster families depend on this program to provide holiday gifts for children in their care. We are incredibly grateful to Starbucks and their customers for enabling us to continue this tradition."

CASA Lake County is a local nonprofit organization that advocates for children who have been abused or neglected and are party to cases active in the Lake County juvenile court system. The majority of the children are in foster care. CASA is supported by nearly 300 volunteers who are trained by the organization and certified by the court to advocate on behalf of the children.

CASA Lake County needs additional volunteers to serve an increasing population of foster children requiring support and court advocacy. If you might be interested in volunteering, please contact Debra Lerner-Schmidt at (847) 383-6260 ext. 202, or send an email to her at dlernerschmidt@casalakecounty.com.