Kids Helping Kids

Kids Helping Kids” Raises Funds for Children’s Hospital of Illinois

In January 2003, the IPA Executive Board approved a fall, schoolwide/statewide charity fundraiser for the Children's Hospital of Illinois located in Peoria. Children's Hospital is the largest pediatric hospital in downstate Illinois and is associated with the Children's Miracle Network.  The purpose of the fundraiser is to have children of IPA member schools raise money for children with serious medical issues.

IPA’s “Kids Helping Kids” program has raised over $28,000 to date and offered the following services to sick children and their families:

• Provided thousands of parents with meal vouchers.
• Provided hundreds of parents with transportation assistance.
• Provided hundreds of parents with overnight lodging.
• Provided thousands of phone calls on the hospital’s toll-free number.

The IPA would like to thank the following for contributing to this fall’s “Kids Helping Kids” program:

• IPA Central Illinois Valley Region
• IPA Kaskaskia Region
• IPA Northwest Region
• IPA Southwestern Region
• IPA Starved Rock Region
• IPA West Cook Region
• IPA Western Region
• Jeanne Bodnar, Retired Principal
• Newton Community High School, Newton – Principal Ruth Kerner
• Du Quoin Middle School, Du Quoin – Principal Aaron Hill
• West Carroll Middle School, Mount Carroll – Principal Julie Katzenberger

A special thank you goes to Principal Jim Martin and his students from the National Junior Honor Society Chapter of Liberty Junior High School in Burbank.  Included with their check for $900, the Liberty Honor Society’s sponsors and officers wrote the following in a letter to IPA, “Our students far exceeded our expectations.  We only expected to collect $0.50 per student, and we were thrilled to send more than the $400 we expected to raise.  We hope that this helps the children and their families alleviate some expenses in a time of need.”
           
IPA extends our appreciation to all who contributed to this year’s “Kids Helping Kids” program.  We look forward to partnering with you and others to assist more kids in the fall of 2010.  Visit www.childrenshospitalofil.org to learn more about the Children’s Hospital of Illinois.

A big thank you to the National Junior Honor Society Chapter of Liberty Junior High School in Burbank who raised $900 as a part of IPA’s “Kids Helping Kids” Program.