May 2024
Dear Friend of Boys Hope Girls Hope,
Whether you’ve been around BHGH for much of our 45 years or are new to our transformational Residential Scholarship Program, we hope you’ve found ways to connect with our Scholars or Collegians this school year. They are ambitious kids who desperately want to escape dangerous neighborhoods, get to and through college, and launch careers that will break the cycle of poverty—for good! Our Scholars thrive in the family-like structure of our scholarship homes in Evanston, where love and life lessons are consistently shared through nightly family meals, study time, fellowship, and chores.
As we get close to the end of our fiscal year, we need your help to close a $35,000 gap in our budget. While inflation has stabilized, grocery prices are still high and costs for gas, home repairs, and tuition continue to rise. Please consider making a life-changing gift to BHGH so we can continue to provide nutritious meals, a nurturing home, college-prep education and so much more for our Scholars!
At BHGH, meals are one of our primary “love languages.”
Our House Parents arrive with a wide variety of cooking skills: some can thaw chicken nuggets and others create perfectly browned lasagna or sizzling pork chops like pros. Cooking for 10 people every night and serving hot breakfast before 7am every morning is no easy feat—this work is LOVE in action. Laughter and serious conversations around BHGH’s family tables build connection and trust. Hospitality, empathy, and problem-solving are learned as well. If you popped in at any mealtime, Jasmin might be sharing her healthy eating habits; Joshua would be serving homemade banana bread or creating a taco bar; and Martine might be hosting donors with a delicious spread. Each house has its own favorite flavors!
YOU speak our love language!
Donors provide our most-anticipated meals: Birthday Dinners! Whether flamin’ hot bites from WingStop or something created in your home kitchen, these special meals make our Scholars feel so loved and celebrated. Similarly, weeknight meal donations you provide give our staff respite and bandwidth to focus on immediate Scholar needs. Your donations also help defray our food costs, which have remained high in the wake of inflation. Thank you for speaking our love language with generosity
BHGH “food-as-love” doesn’t end with high school graduation. We help appeal college financial aid awards to assure meal plans are covered. Very soon, we’ll have three new freshmen in the dining halls at The University of Chicago, Saint Louis University, and DePaul University. They’ll also have pizza/pocket money (thanks to a generous donor) so they can occasionally join friends outside the dining hall.
Our three 2024 college grads will soon be doing their own cooking!
· Jaymillia from Loyola University, B.S. Psychology
· Danny from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, B.S. in Data Science
· Oscar from Saint Louis University, B.A. in Criminal Justice
We are so proud of these wonderful BHGH alums. Each is launching their adult life as a college-educated, career-ready, community-minded, man or woman for others. Jaymillia will be working at the BHGH girls’ house this summer where she’ll be cooking for and sharing lessons with our newest cohort of Scholars around the family table.
BHGH cannot do this life changing work without your help. Please consider making a generous gift toward lovingly prepared food, a nurturing home, college-prep education and so much more for our Scholars!
We are grateful to have you in the BHGH family!
Together in hope,
Karen P. Croteau
President
Boys Hope Girls Hope of Illinois