On Sunday, Jan. 31, 450 guests raised $130,000 at the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago 15th annual d’Vine Affair benefitting their self-sufficiency programs. In attendance were chair couples Joseph and Helen Glunz of Louis Glunz Wines and John and Erin Cohn, Executive Vice President/Director of Treasury Management at First Bank of Highland Park, […]
Steven Mesirow, grandson of Norman Mesirow, founder of the eponymous Chicago-based financial firm, is honoring the values he inherited from his grandfather in an innovative way. Mesirow says his grandfather espoused three key management principles: Be good to your employees; Treat your customers how you would like to be treated; Give back to your community. […]
With a young daughter, a busy career involving substantial travel and a working husband, Jan Tratnik didn’t believe that she had the bandwidth to also become the primary caretaker of her mother who developed early-onset Alzheimer’s. Nor did Tratnik anticipate that her vibrant, independent mother living in another state with an active social life would […]
If every child had a Sister Paulanne in his or her life, we would have a vastly better world. Every child would have someone to provide help and stability to his or her family when it’s most needed. And every child would learn that giving to the less fortunate is an important part of life. […]
Restaurateur and social entrepreneur Hecky Powell proudly honors and reflects the values of his great-grandfather — a slave who learned hard work in cotton fields, escaped using the Underground Railroad, raised a large family and eventually settled in Evanston as the town’s first black barber. Powell owns Hecky’s Barbecue in Evanston, which was voted Best […]
Thanks to a $2.1 million grant awarded at the end of 2015 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI) at Indiana University has begun work on an expansive three-year project that will produce a variety of accessible, easy-to-use resources for the benefit and use of the public, nonprofits and Melinda Gates herself. “This kind of […]
Hectic holiday schedules in November and December contributed to about 1,700 fewer blood drives held, and 50,000 fewer donations collected, than the two previous months. To prevent a winter blood shortage, eligible donors are encouraged by the American Red Cross to roll up a sleeve this month to help save lives and ensure patients have […]
What better way to celebrate Poetry at Work Day (Jan. 12) than with reading poems about – you guessed it – work! We asked our poetically immersed friends at The Poetry Foundation to recommend some poetry of this ilk. What follows are 26 poems about the ups, downs and in-betweens we experience in pursuit of a living. Honoring […]
In our January/February 2016 issue, we introduced a new section to highlight local businesses’ anniversaries and awards. If your company is celebrating a milestone in 2016, we want to know! Email anna@makeitbetter.net and your business may appear in our print magazine. Jewell Events Catering 2016 marks Jewell Events Catering’s 49th year in business. Jewell Events […]
Dylan Lauren, daughter of legendary fashion designer Ralph Lauren, must have been paying careful attention to her dad’s clothing empire when she was growing up. The younger Lauren now runs a booming candy company, Dylan’s Candy Bar, which has 13 locations, including a colorful shop on Michigan Avenue that is guaranteed to bring smiles to […]
