Thank You for Supporting DuPagePads Kids Going Back to School This Year!

For children of all ages, returning to school often brings joy and excitement as they share with friends about their summer adventures and look forward to diving into new projects and exploring their favorite subjects. However, for children experiencing homelessness, returning to school can be an overwhelming and stressful experience.

The DuPagePads Interim Housing Center (IHC) provides safety for over 100 children whose families are without a safe and stable place to call home. In the last fiscal year, the IHC served over 120 families, including 227 children. IHC family services and education teams work incredibly hard all year to provide comprehensive support services to families in need, ensuring all children are enrolled in and attending school, as well as providing additional support like tutoring, mentorship, and extracurricular learning activities.

We know that when someone believes in you, everything can change. Thank YOU for believing in the 89 kids who are returning to school this year! Thanks to a dedicated community effort (and despite another rainy August day), the IHC hosted a wonderful Back to School event to prepare families for a new school year and provide young people with all they need to thrive academically.

Our sincere gratitude goes out to UBS Oakbrook Terrace for providing backpacks with school supplies for all kids in DuPagePads programs, to Wheaton Meat Company for providing hot dogs for lunch, to the Take Care Volunteer Corps for donating the hot dog buns and joining us as incredibly kind volunteers, and to the DuPagePads Young Professionals Council (YPC) for donating juice and snacks! We also want to share thanks to a few very special and anonymous donors for ensuring every student has new and well-fitting clothing for school and the playground this year.

To ALL the amazing volunteers who came out to the IHC to help make the day memorable, thank you for supporting our mission: DuPagePads YPC,Community Presbyterian Church of Clarendon Hills, Mercy Worldwide Church, YMSL Naperville & Hinsdale, and all other dedicated DuPagePads volunteers.

To our dedicated supporters, thank you for providing a day of pure fun and for helping to ease the burden on families experiencing homelessness as they work to find their way back to a home of their own. Your support is transforming lives and providing opportunities for kids who need them most. We hope everyone has a great school year!