DIVA Event: 12 Beers of Christmas

The DIVAs worked the "12 Beers of Christmas" event on December 8 to benefit Operation Santa, a program that buys holiday gifts for children in Champaign and Rantoul (specifically, through Crisis Nursery and Parent Wonders of Rantoul).

Our tasks at the event included set up, pouring the beer samples, restocking the stations, selling event tickets and 50/50 raffle tickets, and clean-up.


12 Beers was a HUGE success this year: The grand total this year was $2262 – doubling what we made last year! Thanks a million to everyone for all their help!

2012 Crisis Nursery Children's Holiday Shop

The DIVAs came together again on Wednesday November 14, to help set up the Crisis Nursery's Children's Holiday Shop. This is year TWENTY for the Holiday shop, and the DIVAs have helped set up tables and trees for several years. 

Check out the information about the shop and the hours below, followed by several photos of the DIVAs hard at work! Ho, ho ho!

From the Crisis Nursery's website:

2012 Crisis Nursery Children's Holiday Shop will again feature a full one week schedule, from December  1-8, at Lincoln Square in Urbana. Hours are:

Saturday, December 1: 9am-5pm
Sunday, December 2: 12-5pm
Monday, December 3: 4-7pm
Tuesday, December 4: 4-7pm (Parents Only! For one night, caregivers are allowed in the store to do their own holiday shopping!)
Wednesday, December 5: 4-7pm
Thursday, December 6: 4-7pm
Friday, December 7: 4-7pm
Saturday, December 8: 9am-5pm

The Children’s Holiday Shop is a wonderful place for children to do their own holiday shopping.  Children arrive at our store with their shopping list in hand and money tucked away safely in their pocket. A volunteer then assists the child through the store and helps them budget their money as they pick out gifts (between $2 and $8 dollars) for their family and friends.

Various groups in the community volunteer to help at the Holiday Shop. This year's event will feature a few 'celebrity' groups! Come out on the following days and shop with:

Sunday, December 2, 12-2:30pm: University of Illinois Athletes
Monday, December 3, 4-5:30pm: Parkland CollegeGolf Team
Thursday, December 6, 4-7: University of Illinois Cheerleaders

When the children are done picking out their gifts, they pay for them and wrap them in festively decorated bags. As they leave the shop, children are always full of pride with the items they have picked out on their own and an understanding that it is just as great to give as it is to receive!

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Ella's Rules

DIVA Kim's daughter has declared a list of rules, in their household, and upon review, we think they might benefit ours—and yours—too.

We think she is wise beyond her 3.5 years. 

Let the twirling begin.

DIVA Signature Event: Food Mobile, November 3

DIVAs and Eastern Illinois Foodbank

Mobile Food Pantry

Stone Creek Church

2502 S. Race Street, Urbana Illinois

Saturday, November 3

10:00 a.m. to Noon

For the last 3 years, one of the DIVAs four signature events has been sponsoring a mobile food pantry in the community and the 2012 event is just a week away!

It is interesting, sometimes, to realize how much it costs to help out and volunteer in the community. We can't always just provide (wo)man power and elbow grease. The cost of sponsoring this event is $2500. $1500 of that money was raised at our annual garage sale.

The rest of the cost of underwriting the foodmobile has been footed by $500 donations, each, from the McKinley Presbyterian Church, and the Psi Upsilon fraternity. The hard-working guys from the fraternity will also be proving "muscle" on Saturday morning, unloading and loading, and helping people back to their vehicles.


If you are interested in a flyer (in English or in Spanish) for this event, please email terimccartney@hotmail.com.

If you'd like to make a donation to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, click here. Every dollar you give buys $10 worth of groceries for a family in need.

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Here are some photos from last year's event, in which we provided 3 days' worth of food to over 200 families.


By 8 a.m., when we were scheduled to show up and meet the truck, there were hundreds  that showed up an hour earlier to take their place in line.

A few of us handed out coffee, hot apple cider, granola bars, and chips to try to keep them warm and fed while the rest got to work unloading the truck.

Our guys from the Psi Upsilon fraternity, unloading...

and helping to box and carry a myriad of pantry staples, canned goods, fruits and vegetables:

It was hours in chilly weather for so many people. A few asked us to take snacks to their children or parents that sat in cars to get warm. Every single person in that line was polite, patient, and thankful, and we left, humbled. 

Let Us Introduce Ourselves...

Hello! What's your name?

We are the DIVAs—the Downtown Independent Volunteer Association. We are twenty-five women from Champaign-Urbana and surrounding communities, that have been working in the community for over 10 years. We are diverse in ages, careers and life experiences. We serve to support the community, our mission, and each other.

Would you like us to elaborate?

For starters, we volunteer in the community. We are each committed to giving 25 hours of our time every year, to causes that mean the most to us.

We work together to sponsor four DIVA Signature Events each year.

When we are done working our fannies off, we celebrate one another, with each other. We rejoice in one another's accomplishments, and share each other's sorrows. 

We eat good food, and drink good wine, and we laugh. A lot.

 

With this blog we hope to heighten awareness about what we, as a group, and individually are up to. We hope to raise our voices about our causes, and invite you out into the community to play along, and support the causes you find interesting.

Rest assured: We will not ask you for money—unless you're at our annual garage sale, then bring a roll of quarters.

Don't worry. We'll let you know when it is.

DIVAs Mission Statement:

Enriching and supporting our community through volunteerism and patronage with an upbeat spirit of hope and giving.