Chicagoland West – Books and Brunch raises funds, friends for our own neighbors

I can’t even imagine how big a pile 2,300 winter coats would make, or how high the mound of matching hats and gloves would be.

That many coats would probably have to make several hills instead of a mountain, but the bottom line is that is a lot of coats, hats and gloves. It is also the number of winter coat sets the Assistance League of Chicagoland West bought and distributed to needy school children in DuPage County last year, according Heather Laughman.

Those 2,300 school children came from 30 different schools and eight different school districts, including our very own Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181. There is that much need right here at home.

Books and Brunch, the annual Assistance League of Chicagoland West November fundraiser which attracts more than 400 people, supports those coats.

Laughman is a co-chairman of Books and Brunch this year with Joanna Williams, and she insisted that the two of them are a small part of a large, well-oiled machine for the league’s largest and most important fundraiser.

She offered up a some more numbers for me. Besides those 2,300 grade school kids, the league was also able to offer more than 100 middle school kids, who are a little fussier, gift certificates to Kohl’s. There they could choose to spend the whole thing on a pair of sneakers or, as a few of them did, shop around to amass the greatest amount of clothing for the gift card amount.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 early readers, including some pre-school children, were given their very own books and/or backpacks as part of the league’s early reader program. And, at least 135 kitchen sets were given out to families making the transition from homelessness to having a home, directly affecting at least 350 people.

The league has about 80 members, women who are not afraid to get their hands dirty. They unpack the coats from the shipping boxes, sort them out by size and school district and then go themselves to distribute them. They create the backpacks, read to the children and assemble the kitchen sets.

“This fantastic group of ladies, is so fun, so hard working, so clever,” Laughman said.

It is also very productive. When Laughman moved to Hinsdale in 2008, she joined Newcomers and Neighbors and through that group came to know of the league. She has not looked back.

“It continues to be compelling,” she said.

Do the math: in excess of 3,000 of own neighbors right here in town or just a few miles away benefit from Books and Brunch, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Besides benefiting a super cause, the event features two favorites: books and food.

The “Books” part of the title refers to the authors who are always invited to attend and speak. This year’s authors include Jessie Ann Foley, a Chicago public high school English teacher and teen fiction writer. Her novel “The Carnival at Bray” won numerous awards, and her most recent novel, “Neighborhood Girls,” was published in September.

Journalist Miles Harvey is another author. He wrote the best seller “The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime.” He is also the editor of a compendium of stories called “How Long Will I Cry,” for which he sent DePaul students out to collect stories of violence in Chicago.

The third author is Renee Rosen, who has written historical fiction with strong female protagonists. Her latest novel, “Windy City Blues,” came out in February. She is apparently writing a book about Helen Gurley Brown, the famous editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine.

Tickets to Books and Brunch are $85 each. Get your table together or gather some friends and plan to go. Besides the authors, every year quite a few interesting vendors always show up selling distinctive handbags, holiday decor and all kinds of great gifts. The raffles and silent auctions are really good and worthwhile, too.

It will be held at The Abbington on Route 53 and Butterfield Road in Glen Ellyn. For more information, to buy tickets or to donate to the league, email info@alcw.org, go to www.alcw.org/booksbrunch2017 or call 630-321-2529.