December 2021

Shared Blessings will be hosting a holiday party at the Betty Jane Brimmer Center in Peoria Heights on Wednesday, December 8th, 6:00 PM. We will be collecting donations for Roosevelt Magnet School (K – 8th grade). Principal Laura Rodgers will be the guest speaker. If you can’t attend the party, but would like to make a monetary donation, you can mail a check of at least $35.00 made out to Shared Blessings to P.O. Box 3215 Peoria, IL 61612. You may also donate through PayPal. Roosevelt Magnet School will also happily accept non-monetary donations. Requested items include:

  • Any type of school supply (folders, binders, pencils, erasers, notebooks, etc.)
  • Book bags/back packs
  • Winter coats – children sizes 6-12
  • Winter gloves and scarves
  • Tissues
  • Any type of sanitizing wipes
  • Face masks

Please RSVP to sharedblessingspeoria@gmail.com. Come and be our guests for for an evening of food, drinks and goodwill.

November 2021

For November 2021, our donations will be going to Jolt Harm Reduction. Jolt was founded by Blake and Tamara Olt after they lost their 16 year old son to a heroin overdose. Jolt is a comprehensive harm reduction organization serving marginalized and vulnerable populations in Central Illinois. Jolt uses a variety of evidence based interventions to prevent the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C, and other STIs, prevent overdoses, and increase the overall health and wellness of high risk individuals. They offer support to three primary groups including people who use drugs, people involved in sex work, and people experiencing homelessness. Our speaker will be Chris Schaffner, the program director at Jolt.

September 2021

Our September project is for GLOW, Girls Light Our Way. This non-profit works toward providing tools and experiences for girls attending Manual High School to become great women and productive citizens. The Director and founder, Dawn Jeffries, will be our speaker and will tell us how impactful GLOW is to the girls in the program. Dawn has recently become the CEO of the Tri-County Urban League. Some of the areas Dawn includes in the GLOW program include Health, Financial Literacy, and Self-Efficacy.

July 2021

We did not have a summer project this year.

April 2021

We had hoped we could have an in person meeting in April, but it is still too soon to be together. We will have a zoom meeting on Wednesday, April 21, at 6:30pm, benefitting Advocates for Access. It is located at 4450 N. Prospect Rd. Suite C8, in Peoria Heights. This non-profit is a center for independent living that provides services to persons with all types of disability. They offer personal assistants, youth services, build ramps, loan and lend wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and much more. Jeannine McAllister, the director of Advocates for Access, will be our speaker. Their mission is to empower people with disabilities to live independently in our community.

The board is busy planning next year’s project so if you would like to submit an idea, please email us at sharedblessingspeoria@gmail.com. Thank you again for your generous donations to Shared Blessings. These donations are making a difference in our community.

February 2021

For our first project in the 2021 year we will raise funds for the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. We are very happy to announce that Shared Blessings will be bringing the Imagination Library to the children living in the 61605 zip code area. The Imagination Library sends a book a month to children from birth to 5 years of age. Each book costs approximately $2.10 and the Imagination Library selects and mails each book. Shared Blessings is responsible for enrolling the children and underwriting the cost. Shared Blessings has been working on obtaining donations and grants for the past 6 months and has just gotten the authorization to begin this program in Peoria.

Research has shown how important early introduction to books are to children’s later educational success. Pam Hunsaker, the Imagination Library’s regional director, will be our guest speaker for our virtual zoom meeting on February 23, at 7:00pm.

If you have any suggestions on individuals or foundations that might be interested in this program, please let us know. We would be happy to fill out any grant applications or talk to any interested individuals. This program has the potential to make a huge difference in many children’s lives in Peoria. We would love to see the children living in the 61603 zip code area also enrolled in this book program.

Hopefully we can meet again in person in April at Midwest Food Bank. Until then stay healthy and thank you for Sharing Your Blessings.