Educators and community leaders got together and raised almost $200,000 for school supply kits at the Back 2 School Illinois Kickoff Dinner on June 9. The money will help Back 2 School Illinois give school supplies to a record 30,000 students this year.
More than 200 guests attended the dinner at Galleria Marchetti to help support the Back 2 School Illinois free school supply initiative. The program is the largest free school supply distribution program in Illinois, and it gave 690,000 school supplies to students in need in 2015.
Guests ate dinner and donated to the program while watching Back 2 School Illinois’ 2016 Education Awards, where Founder and Executive Director of Little Black Pearl Monica Haslip and the Chicago Public Library received awards. Chicago Public Libarary Commissioner Brian Bannon accepted the award on behalf of the library. Five local high school seniors also received scholarships.
Event sponsors included the Currency Exchange Association of Illinois, MB Financial Bank, Western Union Foundation and Kits for Kidz.
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