March 1, 2021 – Despite the cancellation of parades and other major public events around St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago, Mercy Home for Boys & Girls marches on with its annual month-long fund-and-awareness-raising campaign known as March for Kids. Throughout the month of March, the public can help kids in need build brighter futures by supporting Mercy Home.
While the campaign traditionally centers around volunteers collecting donations on the street and at holiday gatherings like the area’s St. Patrick’s Day parades, Mercy Home is hosting its St. Patrick’s Day celebrations entirely in the digital realm this year. March for Kids will remain an invitation to the public to advance Mercy Home’s critical mission will still offering chances to have fun.
The centerpiece of the campaign will be the appeal for direct donations, which can be made on its website, mercyhome.org. Gifts made during the entire month of March will be matched by a generous donor and help kids build brighter futures.
But Mercy Home’s March for Kids will still provide opportunities to socialize, if even only virtually. And many happy participants will walk away big winners.
For example, Mercy Home’s 8th Annual Poker Night, normally held in January at Gibsons will now be a virtual event on March 19. The popular yearly event features a Texas Hold ‘em tournament in which players compete for more than $5,000 in prizes, including the ultimate—a one-week stay at the Hakuna Matata Luxury Villa in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Thanks to DuPage Chrysler Jeep Dodge, March for Kids will include raffle to win a 2021 Jeep Cherokee Latitude 4 x 4, with proceeds benefitting Mercy Home. Entries to win are $50 and are available at mercyhome.org from now until March 31. Only 1,500 will be sold.
March for Kids even includes an event for craft beer enthusiast. Mercy Home’s Associate Board, a volunteer group of young professionals who support Mercy Home, will hold its very first “Revolution Brews & Piano Tunes” on March 12. Participants will be led by an experienced brew master in an immersive, virtual tasting of Revolution Brewing’s core beers including their flagship Anti-Hero IPA. The event will also feature an interactive, live performance by Ben A., “the Piano Man.”
Mercy Home March for Kids’ television partner ABC7 Chicago will help spread the word about this important cause through promotions this month while radio partners US99, Chicago’s Hottest Country and 670 The Score, Chicago Sports radio will encourage listeners to participate as well.
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 about how you can make this month a March for Kids, visit mercyhome.org/marchforkids.
