After 65 years, Help Them To Hope collects $35k in final campaign

An annual bit of good news people rely on at the start of the new year has been related to the collection of donations from the community made to the Help Them To Hope holiday campaign.

For decades, HTTH has distributed those funds to social service agencies in the county, but recently announced that the campaign ending Saturday will be the last.

In this, the organization’s last year, the final figure for the 2023 campaign is $34,572. Those funds will be distributed to seven community organizations.

Donations since the campaign officially began in 1959 total $2,921,066.

Nearly $3 million raised to help those who need aid during challenging times is not bad for an organization that started with one simple act of kindness, board members said.

Throughout the years, much has been written about that act of goodwill that started it all inside the walls of the Lake County News-Sun pressroom in 1958.

Letters to the editor written by HTTH board president Rich Ribando detailed in chronological order the group’s work, and all who have been involved throughout those 65 years.

This month, a column by Charles Selle also provided context on the organization’s “bittersweet” goodbye, and how difficult it was for its members to shut the lights off on something so meaningful to them and to the community as a whole.

“A small number of people can make a big impact collectively,” board member Robert Haymaker said.

The retired News-Sun pressman knows all about those early days of the holiday campaign because he was there. He started as an apprentice in 1962 right out of high school.

“No one realized how important this would be,” Haymaker said. “I’m very proud to represent the guys who started it.”

Some of the social service agencies’ executive directors who have gotten to know the HTTH board said they will miss them, and are grateful for their collaboration.

Paula Turelli, executive director of Mothers Trust Foundation, said it was “a wonderful partnership” they had with HTTH.

“This generous funding has impacted the lives of hundreds of Lake County children, which is something that all involved can be proud to know,” Turelli said.

Catholic Charities of Waukegan officials said the HTTH grants have been used to help further the work of their Emergency Assistance Program.

“We congratulate all those associated with Help Them To Hope for all they have accomplished, uniting individuals, businesses, and community groups in charitable kindness to support their neighbors in need,” said Katie Bredemann, director of communications at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Anne Marie Mathis, executive director of Keeping Families Covered, said the organization has been “blessed” to have been a recipient.

“HTTH was a fantastic organization run by an amazing group of people who were dedicated to assisting people in need, and they will certainly be missed,” Mathis said.

“The absence of HTTH will certainly impact the nonprofit organizations that have been fortunate enough to receive support from them over the past 65 years, and hopefully they will be able to fill the gap with new grant opportunities,” she said.

The one parting message all of the HTTH board members expressed — along with their gratitude for the innumerable donors and their immeasurable support — is for people to continue giving.

“I like the saying, ‘Every flame eventually dims,’ and ours has, but the giving is what should continue,” Ribando said.

Help Them To Hope may be done collecting and distributing donations, but the baton can be taken up by new blood, he said.

“I would hope that’s the future of the next generation,” Ribando said. “After all, our job as human beings is to care for one another.”

The Lake County organizations that will receive funds thanks to the 2023 campaign are: A Safe Place, Beacon Place, COOL Ministries, Keeping Families Covered, Love In The Name of Christ Lake County, Mothers Trust Foundation and Roberti Community House.

The funds will be distributed no later than March, officials said.