The March Begins with March for Kids Kickoff

March 12, 2025

Mercy Home launched its month-long March for Kids celebration on March 1 when our Associate Board, a volunteer group of young professionals who raise support for Mercy Home, hosted the annual March for Kids Kickoff party at Butch McGuire’s.

Associate Board members and friends enjoyed food, drinks, and good company at the famed Irish pub in Chicago’s Gold Coast. The evening was the most successful since pre-Covid kickoffs, with nearly 160 tickets sold.

The event included a raffle, where the winners took home gift cards, bottles of wine and spirits, and more. While the online donations campaign runs throughout the entire month, the festivities on the ground in Chicago culminate on the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day. Mercy Home will have floats in both the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day and South Side Irish Parades that weekend.

Following the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 15, we will gather for our annual Post Parade Party at Venue SIX10, just minutes away from the parade route across from Grant Park. The family-friendly celebration includes live Irish music and step dancers, a buffet, special children’s activities, and more.

Mercy Home’s March for Kids has been held annually under different names since 1996, when it was known as A Touch O’ Green. For ten years, it was known as Shamrocks for Kids before being renamed and expanded in 2014.

Today, March for Kids is an outstanding time to let the public know more about the great things made possible in the lives of our young people and families while also raising the resources they need to build brighter futures. From now until March 31, all donations to Mercy Home will be matched by a generous donor. So March for Kids is a great opportunity to double your impact.

We are thankful to Associate Board members and social committee chairs Kathleen McGovern and Krista Paplaczyk, and Board Chair Maura Carr Keller for helping make this event such a success! 

Thank you also to our great friends at Butch McGuire’s for being such generous supporters of our Home year after year. 

And thank you to everyone who attended the kickoff event—you are truly making this a March for Kids!