Each year, the organizers of the 9/11 LemonAid “Kids Helping Kids Charity Lemonade Stand” held on the 700 Block of Bonnie Brae in River Forest bestow local charities dedicated to helping children with a generous check to support their programming. On Thursday, October 24, LemonAid organizers proudly announced that $16,500 was raised from this year’s event to benefit Hephzibah and presented the check to support Camp HepSIBah – a summer sibling camp that reunites foster children separated in care for a week of summer fun and life-long memories.
Thanks to this LemonAid award, up to 75 children will have the opportunity to participate in Camp HepSIBah – a special summer camping experience for children in foster care who have been separated from their biological siblings. When children enter the foster care system, most are separated from their siblings because many foster families do not have the room or the resources to care for sibling groups. It is a devastating loss for children who have already been separated from their parents, their home, their school and their community.
“We are incredibly grateful for this generous support,” says Julie Dvorksy, director of Family Based Services. “Camp HepSIBah gives children in our foster care and group home the chance to reunite with their brothers and sisters in a fun, camp environment that promotes family bonding and positive childhood memories.”
Camp HepSIBah is funded completely through private philanthropy, so the LemonAid support will make it possible for us to create a special experience for more deserving children.
The residents of the 700 block of Bonnie Brae in River Forest created the 9/11 LemonAid event in 2002 as a positive way to commemorate a solemn day in our nation’s history. The event has grown significantly over the years raising more than $320,000 to date. Hephzibah was the first recipient of the 9/11 LemonAid stand grant and we are honored to have been selected again this year sharing the proceeds with Beat the Streets, a nonprofit wrestling program for boys on the west side of Chicago.