THIRTEEN ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVE PORTION OF $100,000 DONATION

Pictured right to left: Everett Rand, of Chicago Football Classic, Reginal Steele, of Sherman Dodge, Larry Huggins, of Christmas in the Wards and Chicago Football Classic. Sherman Dodge partnered with Chicago Football Classic and Christmas in the Wards to donate $100,000 to 13 organizations across the Chicagoland area. Photos provided by J. Berry
Pictured right to left: Everett Rand, of Chicago Football Classic, Reginal Steele, of Sherman Dodge, Larry Huggins, of Christmas in the Wards and Chicago Football Classic. Sherman Dodge partnered with Chicago Football Classic and Christmas in the Wards to donate $100,000 to 13 organizations across the Chicagoland area. Photos provided by J. Berry

Thirteen organizations receive portion of $100,000 donation

BY TIA CAROL JONES

     Gloria Batey conceived of the idea for Hood to Hire in late 2020 as COVID-19 continued to change the way we all lived. She wanted to find a way for people to work in a COVID society and fulfill their career aspirations at the same time. Her goal includes preparing people for the new hiring market, with a focus on ways to make participants in the program employable for that hiring market.
     Batey has been looking at a fall 2021 launch for the program. Right now, she has been fundraising and finalizing the curriculum. When she was told she would receive a $5,000 donation from Sherman Dodge, in partnership with Christmas in the Wards and Chicago Football Classic, she was grateful.
     “I was over the moon happy because as a new organization and in the seed stages, it is hard to get people to donate to a concept and a vision at this point. So, to have the bigger guys reach back and uplift me at this point, in a start up state was huge,” she said.
     Batey said she will use the money to secure resources to help to make sure she is working toward her fall 2021 launch timeline. “The money will go to hire resources so that our curriculum can be the best as it relates to corporate onboarding and that level of academic proficiency that we’re going to bring into our neighborhoods,” she said.
     Batey’s Hood to Hire was one of 11 organizations which received $5,000. Two organizations, Black Men United and New Spiritual Light Youth Development, received $22,500. In all, 13 organizations received a portion of $100,000.
“Because of our longstanding relationship, Sherman Dodge asked Chicago Football Classic to identify community organizations they could support with the $100,000 donation,” Larry Huggins, founder of the Chicago Football Classic, said in a release.
    Reggie Steele, sales manager at Sherman Dodge, said giving is not just about making a donation, it is about making a difference. “For the past 10 years, Sherman Dodge has partnered with the Chicago Football Classic to support education within our communities,” Steele said in a release. “We started with the donation of a vehicle to raffle. After learning more about the game, scholarship program and the organization as a whole … we’ve increased the donation year over year.”
       Steele added that Sherman Dodge looks forward to continuing the relationship and partnership with Christmas in the Wards and the Chicago Football Classic. “We hope in the future we’re able to do more for the community and for everyone else,” he said.
    The Rev. John Harrell, president of Black Men United, said he was grateful to receive the money and for the work Huggins and Everett and Tim Rand have done with Chicago Football Classic and Christmas in the Wards.
     “All we’re trying to do with Black Men United is tell a different story, share a different picture, paint a different narrative about Black men in America, that’s positive, productive and progressive,” he said. “Because of partnership[s] like this with Larry Huggins and all the aldermen, we have been able to feed more than 7 million people around the city of Chicago.”

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

Sydney Blaylock-The local skater with national experience