From donations of blood all the way to shoes drives, Franciscan Health Fitness Centers Chesterton, Staff and Members alike have repeatedly proven they are dedicated to helping the community and others in need.
We have been a host site for Blood Drives in the region for 15+ years and continue to support blood donations through our new partner Versiti Blood Center of Illinois, formerly known as Heartland Blood Centers. In 2022, 280 individuals generously donated blood at our location and with your help, we have even higher hopes for 2023. Help us meet our donation goals by clicking here to sign up for the next blood drive.
Donating blood wasn’t our only drive for the year. With your help, we were able to successfully complete six not-for-profit donation drives this year alone.
- April’s Shoe Drive brought in an amazing 533 pairs for Changing Footprints, supporting disaster stricken Ukrainian Refuges.
- In July, Duneland Schools were given an incredible donation of 356 school supplies to help the children start the new year off strong.
- A total of 212 items of cat and dog food, toys and cleaning supplies were donated to the Porter Humane Society in August to help all those animals who are waiting for their forever home.
- In October, members pulled together with an impressive 352 food items donated to 500 Turkey, Inc. to help feed more than 500+ families for Thanksgiving. Many thanks to the Duneland community for being so giving and really coming together to support each other in a time of need.
In November and December, we decided to take part in three drives at once. A goal many may say is a stretch but with the Duneland community behind us, Franciscan Health Fitness Centers Chesterton was able to help many children and families in need. With our Giving Tree drives, we collected a total of 1,108 items for Chesterton High School and Yost Elementary.
- All the angel tree tag for Yost Elementary were collected and turned in with 118 items
- Chesterton High School received a whooping 990 items collected.
Christine Roberts, Chesterton High School teacher and Angel Tree coordinator said, “The guardians were all able to take home extra donations that we received from you guys. Thank you and your members so much for helping our kids this season.”
- The third drive, a gently used coat collection for Brothers Keepers in December, resulted in collecting 418 coats, hats and pairs of gloves for those in need.
We are so grateful for the on-going generosity of our Members! Without you, this wouldn’t be possible.
Our thanks to Alexandria Montanez, Programs Specialist Chesterton, for writing this blog.