March 1, 2020 — Throughout the month of March, friends of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls’ will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day while raising funds and awareness that help kids build brighter futures.
Anyone can make a difference in the lives of kids in Chicago with a donation to Mercy Home, either online or on the streets surrounding area St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. March for Kids volunteers will be out in force near St. Patrick’s Day parades and other events throughout the month of March, collecting donations to help Mercy Home for Boys & Girls give at-risk children a safe place to live, therapy to heal from the trauma of abuse and neglect, and tools like education and job skills to help them build independence.
Donations like those generated by its March for Kids effort supply Mercy Home with 99.6% of the funds it needs to care for children 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Clad in their signature green aprons, Mercy Home March for Kids volunteers will collect donations at:
- Chicago’s Loop, Friday, March 13
- Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Saturday, March 14
- South Side Irish Parade, Sunday, March 15
Mercy Home will again march in the St. Patrick’s Day and South Side Irish parades and joined by an on-air personality from radio sponsor US99.
The Home will celebrate with supporters immediately following the St. Patrick’s Day Parade with its inaugural, family friendly Post-Parade Party in the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall. The event will feature live Irish music and step dancers, kid and adult beverages, Irish-themed food buffet including a build-your-own mac-n-cheese bar for the kids, Special children’s activity section featuring carnival and arcade games, great prizes, balloon artists, a temporary tattoo station, and more. General admission for adults is $75, and $20 for ages 6-20. Kids ages 5 and under are free.
Mercy Home is calling on all interested volunteers to help make this effort a success. Any individual, business, or group can help provide a safe and supportive home for children in need by signing up to be a Mercy Home March for Kids volunteer. It’s a fun and unique way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, complete a Lenten, school, or family service project, or organize an office team-building initiative. Go to www.mercyhome.org/marchforkids to sign up.
Additionally, volunteers are organizing donation drives at area businesses, churches, schools, and community groups. That includes members of the Knights of Columbus, who will collect donations at several Catholic parishes throughout the Chicago Archdiocese. Throughout the month, Mercy Home’s will accept contributions to the campaign on its website (www.mercyhome.org/marchforkids) that will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous donor.
Throughout the month, Mercy Home’s will accept contributions to the campaign on its website (www.mercyhome.org/marchforkids) that will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous donor.
Celebrity spokesman Bill Rancic is also helping get the word out through media appearances while raising funds through his RPM Steak and RPM Italian restaurants in Chicago. A portion of proceeds from special menu items during the month will benefit Mercy Home’s March for Kids. Similarly, a number of Chicago restaurants will raise donations, including Monteverde, Piccolo Sogno, and Nonnina.
The city of Chicago and its big businesses are also stepping up. A Mayoral proclamation will declare the month of March as Mercy Home for Boys & Girls March for Kids month in Chicago. And the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower will light up its windows to spell a message of support in the night sky on the weekend of March 13-15. And Mercy Home March for Kids television partner ABC7 Chicago will spread the word through promotions this month.
Mercy Home’s Associates Board, which is made up of young professionals, will officially kick off Mercy Home’s March for Kids with a party and fundraiser at Butch McGuire’s, 20 W. Division Street, Chicago on Saturday, March 7 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.
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, Mercy Home’s March for Kids involves significant promotion from media and corporate partners, involvement in several area parades and events, fundraisers in restaurants and other business, and hundreds of volunteers who donate their time and energy to help kids at Mercy Home.
To learn more how you can make this month a March for Kids, visit mercyhome.org.
About Mercy Home for Boys & Girls
Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (www.mercyhome.org) has been a solution for kids in crisis since 1887. Through its residential, aftercare, and mentoring programs, Mercy Home offers a safe home, emotional healing, education, and life-changing opportunities for more than 1,100 young people and members of their families every year. It gives children who have suffered abuse, neglect, poverty and even abandonment the therapeutic, academic and vocational support they need to heal from the traumas of their pasts and build success for their futures. Mercy Home is 99.6% privately funded and operates at two locations in Chicago – a home for boys in the West Loop neighborhood and a home for girls in Beverly-Morgan Park.
