The holidays will be a little brighter for children in foster care and those waiting to be adopted, thanks to Let It Be Us. The child welfare nonprofit, based in Barrington, will host both a Toy Drive and a Candy Cottage for a Cause: Gingerbread Holiday Fundraiser for Foster Care and Adoption, an event for adults that will benefit foster care and adoption.
New, unwrapped toys will be collected from 2-7 p.m. Dec. 10 and 11 at the headquarters of Let It Be Us, 145 W. Main St. in Barrington. Requested toys are listed on the Toy Drive Event Page, https://letitbeus.org/event/toy-drive-for-children-in-foster-care-2. The organization will also purchase gifts on behalf of donors through its Toy Drive Donation Page, Donate | Let It Be Us. They are especially in need of gifts for older kids. The organization also collects wrapping paper and bows.
“The Toy Drive has been going on almost since the inception of Let It Be Us,” said Dr. Susan McConnell of Barrington, who founded the organization in 2014. “It’s a way for people to be involved in a tangible way and to give something that will directly go to a child,” she said.
Let It Be Us, a Barrington-based child welfare nonprofit, is holding its annual Toy Drive, Dec. 10-11, to support children in foster care and those waiting to be adopted. (Let It Be Us)
McConnell reported that they usually collect around fifteen hundred toys. The organization will deliver the toys to DCFS offices and group homes. The case workers at those locations wrap the toys and distribute them to the kids.
Candy Cottage for a Cause: Gingerbread Holiday Fundraiser for Foster Care and Adoption will be 5:30-8 p.m. Dec. 4 at Butterfield Country Club, 2800 Midwest Rd. in Oak Brook. This is the 4th year of the event.
“We’re going to have a chef lead the people who attend, and they’ll go home with a beautiful gingerbread house that they constructed themselves,” McConnell said. The event will include hors d’oeuvres, an open bar, and some surprises. The ticket costs $100. For tickets, visit https://letitbeus.org/event/candy-cottage-for-a-cause-gingerbread-holiday-fundraiser-for-foster-care-adoption-2/. Proceeds will support the organization’s programming to place children in homes.
McConnell said that she started Let It Be Us because she had worked with the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) on a recruitment project for adoptive parents for over ten years. “I was an adoptive parent and I saw that there were a lot of children in need,” she said. “I started Let It Be Us to bring some innovation and to help.”
She chose that name for the organization “so that people could belong,” McConnell said. “The name means come on and help.”
McConnell noted that the goal of the organization is to “always provide innovative solutions for foster parent adoption.” She added that they have built very comprehensive databases of parents who are licensed and people who want to become licensed to facilitate this process.
The organization’s proudest accomplishment so far is procuring a contract with DCFS to do foster parent adoption statewide in Illinois.
They work on about 500 cases each year. “We’re able to make placements in about 25 percent of our cases,” McConnell reported.
The latest accomplishment of Let It Be Us is being contracted to serve as consultants with the organization that handles foster recruitment for the State of Ohio.
Kaycee Coles of Barrington has been a volunteer with Let It Be Us for about five years and on its board for two years. She has been serving as Vice Board Chair for around six months.
“I love their mission,” Coles said. “I started volunteering through their Toy Drive and organically grew more involved as I helped out.”
Coles encourages people to contribute to the organization’s Toy Drive because “most of those toys are going to kids who aren’t in a home or in a shelter and won’t receive any Christmas gifts at all,” she said. “It’s a great time to be giving so why not give to a little kid who’s hoping for a happy Christmas. Without those toys, they might not have it.”
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
