Let's Catch Up!
Rainbows for All Children has continued to grow
throughout this quarter, hosting fundraisers,
expanding the number of our sites and facilitators,
and taking on more interns.
Donor Appreciation Event, A Huge Success!
On March 2, we hosted our first Annual Donor
Appreciation Event at Found Kitchen and Social
House in Evanston. Thanks to our supporters and
new friends of Rainbows of All Children, the night
was a great success! With the help of our over 100
attendees, the event raised over $7,000 for grieving
children. The night was filled with laughter and
delicious food. Executive Director and CEO, Bob
Thomas, and Breck Hanson, our Trustee Chairman,
both gave moving speeches during the event.
What's Next?
The success of our Donor Appreciation Event has
sparked a sense of optimism as we approach our
upcoming event on June 22--Rainbows for All
Children's 27th Annual Golf Classic. This year,
attendees have the option to play golf, spend the
day lounging and swimming in a beautiful pool or
practicing their tennis game on one of four clay
courts at Royal Melbourne Country Club, in Long
Grove, Illinois.
Our generous title sponsor is Associated Bank,
and we are currently searching for more sponsors to
help benefit our charity event. If you are interested
in supporting our cause of helping grieving children
heal by sponsoring this event, please click here for
more information, or email us at
[email protected].
What's New at Headquarters?
Rainbows for All Children has been able to reach
more children than ever before this quarter, with
over 75 new facilitators and 25 new sites started
since January. Many of these sites are located in
Chicago suburbs--near our headquarters--yet we are
also seeing a rapid expansion in Southern Illinois and
other states across the country. In the upcoming
months, this number will continue to grow. Our
office is contacted by parents, teachers, and social
workers on an almost daily basis requesting
information on our sites. Many are interested in
starting a site in their area.
At our headquarters, two new interns from
Northwestern University's Chicago Field Studies
program have joined our mission. One intern, Kemi
Areke, a junior studying Philosophy, reaches out to
schools in areas with high levels of parental death
and divorce to discuss the possibility of opening a
Rainbows program. She has been instrumental in
the start of several new sites. An Economics major in
his junior year, Tunde Kelani is currently analyzing
data from Rainbows for All Children facilitators and
participants to get recent and concrete data on the
program's effectiveness.
Articles We Loved
The past few months have brought dozens of
compelling articles on children and grief. For
our newsletter, we have chosen our two
favorites.
Illinois Times' article "Modern Family"touched
upon an important issue in our home state-a
new draft of the Illinois Marriage and
Dissolution of Marriage Act. The new draft
would reexamine custody rulings and attempt
to make divorce a less negative experience by
eliminating the need to prove to a judge why a
divorce is necessary. A key quote in the article
came from Andre Katz, a Chicago lawyer and the Family Law Study Committee's chairman, who said,
"We accept that marriages don't always work out. When a divorce takes place, the focus should be on
the needs of the children, rather than placing blame."
Elissa Nadworny's "Grief In The Classroom: 'Saying Nothing Says A Lot'" for NPR covers a much
broader topic, but one that is at the core of Rainbows for All Children's mission. Nadworny addresses
the difficult tasks teachers and parents face when deciding how to deal with a grieving student. The
article claims that 7 out of 10 teachers currently have a grieving child in their classrooms, and that 1 in
20 children will lose a parent before they graduate high school. These numbers do not take into
account children suffering from the loss of a parent due to divorce, deployment, or abandonment.
Nadworny's article highlights the often overlooked topic of children struggling with grief, offering
insight from both students and professionals to create an overall informative and intriguing piece.
Interested in helping
grieving children in your area?
Find out how to start a site today.
Looking for a Rainbows for All
Children program near you?
Check out our 'Find a Group' feature
online..
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