Volunteers from Quill helped with several community events in 2010-2011, including Special Olympics swim meets, assisting burn victims at Camp I Am Me, donating to students in need via Donors Choose, painting homes for homeless families, book drives for schools, running in the Bears Care Midtown 5K, fundraising for animal shelters, walking for cancer research, sorting donations for a food bank, providing gifts and donations for families in need during the holidays, and planned activities with residents at the historic Winchester House long-term care facility. They also organized drives to collect essential items for domestic violence shelters.

1. 2010-2011 Events

2. The Special Olympics Swim Meet March 2010 15 volunteers from Quill helped with score keeping, registration, awards, crowd control, athletic assistance and logistics for 117 swim events. Most importantly, they provided moral support and cheered on all of the athletes throughout the day.

3. The Illinois Fire Safety Alliance June 2010 20 volunteers truly enjoyed the day spent at Camp I am Me helping kids with burn injuries play 3 games (the marker toss, tape toss, and relay race). For this event we gave something back to kids who, on any other day, would be reminded of why they are different, but on THIS day, they fit right in!

4. Donors Choose “Pay it Forward” July 2010 Volunteers from previous events attended a recognition event where they were each given a $50 gift card to spend on a project on the Donors Choose web site. This opportunity brought all Quill Soul participants together in one room to “pay it forward” once again. Donors Choose is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need.

5. Lake County Haven Painting Project August 2010 Volunteers for this event rolled up their sleeves to wash, repair and paint the homes of previously homeless women and children in the Libertyville area. Not only did their work brighten the lives of these families, it created an engaging opportunity for associates to build camaraderie and teamwork cross-departmentally – all for a good cause!

6. Bernie’s Book Drive August-September 2010 This month-long drive brought in more than 2,000 books that were donated to needy school kids. We were lucky enough to get help from Boy Scouts Pack #37 and Girl Scouts Troop #41324, who went door-to-door collecting books in their neighborhoods, to make this such a successful event!

7. Bears Care Midtown 5K September 2010 As one of the event’s sponsors, Quill.com got a lot of attention while supporting a great cause. We gave out water and our name was prominently displayed on the event’s T-shirts. 40 employees and their families participated in this race. We had such a great turnout, we even won the award for most participants entered!

8. Save-a-Pet Adopt-a-Pet September 2010 Our employees really love animals! During two fundraising events for this worthy cause, Quill associates raised a total of $697 and delivered 6 SUV loads of donated items. Also, almost all of our furry visitors were adopted!

9. City of Hope Walk for Hope October 2010 30 Quill associates brought friends and family to participate in the City of Hope’s annual event at The Glen in Glenview. More than $900 was raised, plus we gave away chocolate bars (just like Willy Wonka did) with a golden ticket inside. The winner received an HP multifunction wireless printer.

10. Northern Illinois Food Bank November 2010 23 associates inspected, sorted, re-labeled and boxed 24,791 lbs. of frozen meats. The food was donated by area grocery stores and will provide nutritious food for those in need.

11. Change Wars and Raffle December 2010 These 2 events raised $1,736! The money was used to provide 1 family with clothes, household items and holiday gifts for their children. $300 in Target gift cards was also given to the Vernon Area Township Office to help other families in need and $600 was donated to the Northern Illinois Food Bank. This donation provided for the purchase of 20 Holiday Feast gift boxes that were distributed to local families in need.

12. Winchester House March 2011 The Winchester House is a long-term health care facility owned and operated by Lake County government. It opened in 1847 and is one of the oldest continuously operated health care centers in Northern Illinois. The Quill Soul Board will be bringing a group of 20 volunteers to the Winchester House for a day of service. The day will include interaction with the residents and participation in their group activities such as bingo, craft projects, music, and games.

13. A Safe Place/The Haven/PADs April-May 2011 We are planning a drive to collect basic needs items for these shelters. Some of the items being requested include toilet paper, paper towels, new socks, new underwear, hygiene products, etc.