• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Sunday, September 29, 2019 GIVE CHICAGO Our special section celebrating Chicagoans and charities that make a difference 2 | Sunday, September 29, 2019 | The Hardest-Working Paper in America | suntimes.com PRESENT TOGETHER WE ANSWER CANCER The University of Chicago Medicine has joined forces with the Chicago Sun-Times to support the American Cancer Society’s mission to free the world from cancer by raising funds for research. Join this effort by registering for a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk at Soldier Field on Saturday, October 19, or one of the other Chicagoland events in October. Learn more or register at UChicagoMedicine.org/AnswerCancer BENEFITING Comprehensive Cancer Center adno=STM000109099701 suntimes.com | The Hardest-Working Paper in America | Sunday, September 29, 2019 | 3 GIVE CHICAGO Editor’s note: About this special section ver the course of our 70-plus-year Gonzalez was an 8-year-old student at Jungman Elementary history, our newspaper has had its School in Pilsen when he wrote a letter to Santa for a class assignment. O fair share of taglines, including Gonzalez asked Santa for a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toy. “The Bright One,” “The Picture Newspaper” He also asked Santa to please bring something for his soon-to-be- and our current “The Hardest-Working born baby sister, who was due the following month. Paper in America.” On the day of his school’s big holiday party, the students gathered This special section reminds us of another of those slogans: together and were called up one-by-one to receive their presents. “Credible. Colorful. Charitable.” When his turn came, Gonzalez excitedly collected his gift — the For decades, our Sun-Times Charity Trust has been making blue Power Ranger, Billy, in ninja apparel, just as he’d requested. holiday dreams come true for tens of thousands of Chicago Pub- But it’s what came next that made this a special memory. lic Schools students through its “Letters to Santa” program. “I got called up a second time,” said Gonzalez, recalling how it This past summer, we launched a “seemed strange” to be singled out that way companion initiative, “Chicago Reads,” because nobody else received a second present. which provided free books to thousands of It turned out Santa had brought a gift for schoolchildren, too. his baby sister, too. None of this would be possible without “I was so shocked,” Gonzalez recalled, his you, our readers. So today, we’re inviting amazement only slightly tempered by the you to learn more about the charitable realization he’d put the request in his letter. work of some key community partners: He obviously was too young at the time to UChicago Medicine, the Northern Illinois realize that one of Santa’s helpers had gone Food Bank, Greater Chicago Food Deposi- the extra mile for him. tory, Allstate, Merit School of Music, Al- But he knows it now. Which is one of the zheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter and reasons he is such an enthusiastic partici- the Chicago Fire Foundation, charitable pant in the Letters to Santa program with arm of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club. the help of his co-workers at Jump Trading. This “Give Chicago” section is the brain- Gonzalez, a 2011 graduate of Xavier child of our advertising department. We’re University, is an office administrator for supplementing it with stories from a new Jump, one of the world’s largest proprietary feature called “Doing Well,” which frequent- As an 8-year-old, Adrian Gonzalez got a gift trading companies. ly runs in our weekly wellness and lifestyle from the Sun-Times’ Letters to Santa program. He and his colleagues plan this holiday section. Doing Well stories aim to high- Now, he coordinates his company’s participa- season to fulfill the wishes of 170 students at light the work of people and not-for-profit tion in the program. MARK BROWN/SUN-TIMES Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School. organizations that help us lift each other up. ◆◆◆ We see them as an essential part of a well- rounded news report that appeals to a wide, regional audience. Toward the end of the column, Mark includes some parting Speaking of lifting each other up, it seems fitting here to high- wisdom from Gonzalez: “For anybody that does this, I want to light the work of one of Chicago’s best journalists, our very own say ‘thank you.’ ... Whoever gave me a gift 22 years ago, I want Mark Brown. Every year, Brown kicks off our Letters to Santa to say ‘thank you.’ I want them to know that I remember it, and program with a column. He did that last year by profiling Adrian I appreciate it. And I spend so much time giving back partly Gonzalez, who reminded us how one act of kindness can change because of that.” a life. From Brown’s column: It’s a cycle we hope repeats itself as you peruse this section. In the meantime, keep doing well. And thank you for readership. ◆◆◆ Chris Fusco, Editor-in-Chief It’s been 22 years, but Adrian Gonzalez still remembers the Christ- mas when the Chicago Sun-Times’ Letters to Santa program left an For details about Letters to Santa, Chicago Reads and the Sun-Times indelible impression on his life. Charity Trust, go to charitytrust.suntimes.com. 4 | Sunday, September 29, 2019 | The Hardest-Working Paper in America | suntimes.com ® GIVING MATTERS Every $1 donated helps provide $8 in groceries for our hungry neighbors in Northern Illinois www.SolveHungerToday.org adno=STM000109098701 suntimes.com | The Hardest-Working Paper in America | Sunday, September 29, 2019 | 5 “Food is not cheap, [and] this helps close the gap. A big huge thank you!” – Patrick, a former firefighter and EMS medic Meet more neighbors like Patrick on our blog, www.SolveHungerToday.org/blogwww.SolveHungerToday.org/blog The Side Dish, at adno=STM000109098501 6 | Sunday, September 29, 2019 | The Hardest-Working Paper in America | suntimes.com GIVE CHICAGO: DOING WELL Husband-and-wife team Jessica Tenuta and Kasey Gandham (middle), who met at Illinois State University, founded Play Together with friend Aneesh Kudavaralli in late 2018. Playing it forward Chicago record label Play Together finds creative way of giving back BY SELENA FRAGASSI ceeds from record sales, art sales, concerts Play Together, we wanted to create a more back co-founder Mike Shannon appeared on For the Sun-Times and more are invested into after school art sustainable way of creating and building a the ABC program “Shark Tank” in 2014 and ver the past decade, Chicago has been and music programs throughout Chicago. creative community and tie that community were backed by Mark Cuban who invested the incubator for a number of over- The first collaboration, pairing whimsical around investing in the next generation of $250,000 in the program early on. O achieving startups from Groupon to indie rock band Violet Crime with painter local artists.” “Today we’ve raised over $10 million in Grubhub and most recently the health tech Julius Bautista, benefits Intonation Music, Gandham (also the bassist in Violet capital to date and over a quarter million hub Tempus. One of the most exciting new a group that serves children ages 6 to 17 Crime) and Tenuta (a painter) met as under- students across the U.S. have used our entrants is Play Together. Co-founded by the in Chicago’s underserved communities by grads at Illinois State University where they service,” says Gandham of the company that husband-and-wife team of Kasey Gandham providing after-school music instruction studied education, which led to the launch now has 80 members. and Jessica Tenuta along with friend An- and opportunities for performance. Violet of their first incredibly successful startup With Packback fully grounded, he and eesh Kudavaralli in late 2018, Play Together Crime’s first record on Play Together was Packback before they even graduated. Tenuta wanted to find another way to give calls itself a “social impact record label” that released in June with a release party at The “ed tech” platform uses AI technol- back. changes the way that music is released and Bottom Lounge that featured Intonation ogy to support “online discussion software “We feel really fortunate we were able the purpose for doing so. students. that’s used in colleges and universities to to have chances to pursue art and music; The model pairs musicians with artists “We view ourselves as a big product of the help students be more curious in the class- not everyone has that opportunity,” says for a unique collaboration while the pro- Chicago ecosystem,” says Gandham. “With room,” says Gandham. He and another Pack- Tenuta. “In Chicago in particular seeing suntimes.com | The Hardest-Working Paper in America | Sunday, September 29, 2019 | 7 “WE FEEL REALLY FORTUNATE Rapper’s management team. WE WERE ABLE TO HAVE “They attribute a lot of hip-hop artists’ CHANCES TO PURSUE ART growth and rise in Chicago as a direct result of after-school music and writing programs; AND MUSIC; NOT EVERYONE as such, we are looking at literacy and HAS THAT OPPORTUNITY.” poetry programs and pairing with a hip-hop JESSICA TENUTA, co-founder of Play Together artist for a collaboration next year,” says Gandham. “We are very intentional about how we put those together.” the way funding has changed in the CPS Of the unique concept to combine art and system, seeing the school closures and arts music in one platform — Bautista listened programs being cut, a lot of that is the space to Violet Crime’s music to create prints that where students develop intellectual confi- are sold at shows — Tenuta says, “It started dence and creativity and interact with their out of a conversation around the way that world.

Load more

  20

Copy Link