LOCAL RESIDENT HELPS BUILD RECORD“BACK 2 SCHOOL” SUPPLY PROGRAM

On Wednesday, June 12, the Illinois Currency Exchange Charitable Foundation (ICECF) held its annual luncheon kicking off the “Back 2 School” campaign at Galleria Marchetti.  Guest emcees Daniella Guzman and Stefan Holt of NBC 5 News led the festivities to make it another record breaking year for the program.  Executive Director Matthew Kurtzman, of Wilmette (pictured with Daniella Guzman) was in charge of the initiative that raised $100,000.

Many awards were given out during the luncheon to acknowledge achievements in education including, Tim King, President and CEO of Urban Prep Academies being awarded the 2013 Education Award, the Ounce of Prevention Fund winning the 2013 Public Service Award and Kitz for Kidz leaving with the 2013 Corporate Sponsor Award. Two lucky high school seniors, Hei Chen (University of Illinois) and Emma Fisher (Stanford University) were also awarded scholarships.

With the growing help of so many supporters, ICECF will supply over 25,000 underprivileged Illinois children with much-needed school supplies—the largest program of its kind in Illinois.   In August, over 750,000 individual supplies will be distributed to help kids in need get started off on the right foot for the 2013-2014 school year.

As Tim King stated, “Dreams can become a reality when you believe,” and ICECF has done just that with the help of the community serving thousands of children to date.

Photos by JENNIFER GIRARD