Please
support the Ride to Keep a Light On, a fun, easy
bicycle ride through the streets of Woodstock, Illinois
this Friday June 3. The event raises
funds for organizations serving the community including Compassion
for Campers. To support the
event volunteer to ride and gather sponsors and buy
color-coded string of lights—a different color for each charity—to
decorate bikes or yourselves.
Strings are $9 each and all proceeds go the corresponding
charity. Gathering and sales of
strings begins in Woodstock Square at 7:30 with the ride beginning
after full dark about 8:30.
Ride to Leave a Light on founder and sponsor Ken West in his Material Things Artisan Market in Woodstock.
The
event is sponsored by Material Things Artisan Market, a craft
and art consignment shop at 103 East Van Buren Street and is the brainchild
and project of owner Ken West, a tireless supporter of
the community and especially of its youth.
A rider and bike festooned with lights for the Ride. Each color light string supports a corresponding community organization. This year Compassion for Campers will be blue.
From
9:25 to 10 pm as riders return to the Square there will be live entertainment
by Cheryl & the Down Home Boys.
This
event comes at an especially urgent moment for Compassion for Campers, the
organization that provides urgently need gear and supplies for
the McHenry County unhoused who sleep outside or in cars
and vacant spaces all or most of the month. The gear is distributed at the Community
Empower Shower Event at Willow Crystal Lake at 100 South Main
Street in Crystal Lake which is held on the first and third Fridays
of each month. This week
Compassion for Campers ran its funds down to near zero and was
unable to purchase all the supplies needed and must immediately
place an order for more for the next event on Friday, June 17. Direct money donations can be made to Tree
of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 5603 Bull Valley Road, McHenry,
IL 60050 by check with Compassion for Campers on the memo line or
donate online here
using the drop down menu under “Give
to Unpledged Donations.”
Other
great community assets and organizations that will benefit from the Ride to
Leave the Light on include:
Break
Crystal Lake Teen Center provides a safe, stimulating
environment for teens to connect, have fun and find
acceptance among peers and adults in the community. We are
primarily focus on high school students, however we are open to
middle school teens and provide middle school only hours.
CASA of
McHenry County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of McHenry County gives children
in the foster care system a voice in court so they can grow up
in safe, forever homes where they can thrive by providing
one-on-one advocates to stay with them as their cases are handled by
the courts.
The Illinois Migrant Council is a
community-based non-profit organization with the primary mission of
promoting employment, education, health, housing
and other opportunities for migrant and seasonal farmworkers
and their families to achieve economic self-sufficiency and stability.
LIVE 4 LALI works to reduce
stigma and prevent substance use disorder among individuals,
families, and communities, and minimize the overall health, legal
and social harms associated with substance use.
Stairway
to Prosperity is
a nonprofit serving young adults, ages 18-26, in McHenry
County, Illinois through programs that teach adulting life skills,
independence, hope and resilience; providing opportunities
for success in the future.
Woodstock Pride is a community
organization dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ community of Woodstock, IL and
surrounding areas. Our mission is to
promote Diversity, Cultural Integration, and Self-Celebration of LGBTQIA+
persons, families, and businesses. We
strive to create a 100% all-inclusive environment of support, foundation and
strength. With a goal of establishing a
stronghold of trust and relief for the local LGBTQIA+ community.
