Michaela's Story

Dear Susan: My mom was reading your magazine on our front porch last night. She loves to read and she gets magazines passed on to her by my grandma.  She must really like yours because she never passes it on to anyone else.  She has saved every issue that has been sent to our house. […]

Raise Funds and Awareness for Breast Cancer

October offers many opportunities for you to run, walk, ride, cheer, sponsor or even just shop in support of finding a cure for breast cancer. Here are just a few events going on in the area. For more charitable events for breast cancer as well as other causes, visit makeitbetter.net/events. Saturday, October 9 TrekWomen Breast […]

Yoga Bereavement Program Offers Comfort and Release

After losing her father, Nancy Perlson of Deerfield found solace and relief in yoga—and now she’s creating a supportive, nurturing environment for others with her yoga bereavement programs. Perlson has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the 6-week “Bereavement Support Group: Connecting through Yoga” programs, which she started in January 2010 at Healing Power Yoga in […]

North Shore Residents Support the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Mally Rutkoff’s parents both survived the Holocaust. So in 1993, when the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in Washington D.C., the Highland Park resident began volunteering in their Midwest chapter. Since then, she has visited the museum many times, and spoken about her parents’ experiences at various Chicago fundraising events. On October 4, Mally […]

Don’t Miss Rock the Block for Pediatric Epilepsy Research

It was a sheer act of serendipity that brought Kathy Dodd and Stacey Pigott together. About 4 years ago, Pigott moved to the same Wilmette street where Dodd lives. The neighbors soon learned that they shared one common thread: They are mothers of children with epilepsy. Frustrated by the lack of research dedicated to pediatric […]

You Said It: Women for Pollak

I was flipping through yet another fun and fabulous edition of Make It Better when I realized that the people I’ve been meeting over the past year would make a fascinating, relevant and timely story for the magazine. Last month, I attended a “Women for Pollak” event at the Holiday Inn on Touhy. It was […]

Shop for a Cause: October 2010

Here’s your chance to shop and “Make It Better”—all at the same time. Participate in and enjoy a local “Shop For A Cause” this month: The Arboretum of South Barrington Back in the Swing Retail Therapy October 11 – 17 Purchase a $5 in the Arboretum’s management office and receive a discount of 20% at […]

Serving Children In Ecuador: An Essay by Lynn Sanders of Winnetka

Large banana leaves brushed against the bus windows and roof. Bumping along the dirt path, our bus traveled for an hour, with no people in sight. Distant mountain peaks rose through the clouds. Despite the 90-degree heat, we were ready. We were 12 volunteers, traveling where no visitors have ever traveled before. To the remote […]

Scrapbooking for Fun and Charity

Laser cutters. Pinking shears. Cupcake-printed papers. Adhesive sticks. Every style of sticker, button and ribbon on the planet. Walking around the Craft & Hobby Association’s SuperShow Convention in Rosemont this year, I couldn’t help but feel like I had entered the wondrous, over-the-top-elaborate temple of a secret sect. The religion? Scrapbooking. And when I say […]