Allsup Charitable Services’ partners gear up for year-end giving

Let your heart be your guide this season

This year Allsup Charitable Services is encouraging its team, families, and friends to put some extra focus into the joy of giving during the upcoming holidays. Instead of focusing on Black Friday, they are going to focus on Giving Tuesday, and really, just giving in general for the rest of this year.  They invite the community to join them.

What are your plans to serve this season? ACS knows of five dedicated East St. Louis nonprofits that could use your help.  Readers are invited to explore their guide, select the organizations that you hold near and dear, and provide that donation and/or sign up for that volunteer shift today.

Organizations in Alphabetical Order:

Catholic Urban Programs
Mission: Guided by the principles of Catholic social teaching, CUP advances human dignity, remediates the effects of poverty, and empowers people to become self-sufficient through crisis intervention, housing security, and out-of-school time programs.
Vision: To break the cycle of poverty and rekindle hope in those they serve.
Programs/Services: Crisis Intervention, Out of School Time with sites throughout East St. Louis, Food Pantry and Housing Security.
Special for the Holiday Season: Please consider a donation to CUP’s Amazon Wish List to support their daily food pantry, shelter needs, and other crisis intervention and out of school time efforts.
Donate

Christian Activity Center
Mission: To embrace kids with the love of Christ & equip them to thrive spiritually, academically, and physically.
Vision: Healthy alumni transforming their communities.
Programs/Services: Out of School Time programming including Homework Assistance and Tutoring, Health and Wellness, Martial Arts; Foreign Languages, Learning Groups, and extracurricular enrichment education; Summer Sessions, Community Gardening; Adult High School Diploma Program; Go International Partner in Programming.
Special for the Holiday Season: Adopting a Child for Christmas ensures that kids in East St. Louis wake up full of joy on Christmas morning! You get to play “Santa” by either shopping and providing wrapped gifts, or by donating $150 to have a CAC representative shop for a child on your behalf. Contact Lisa Floore at christmas@cacesl.org to get paired with a child’s wish list!
Donate

Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation
Mission: Carry out Jackie’s dream to provide youth in East St. Louis the opportunity to Win in Life.
Vision: To see the Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation transform a community that inspires the world.
Programs/Services: JJK Academy for young students K – 3; After School and Summer School Programs including transportation for students in public schools; offering Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s Winning in Life Curriculum, STEAM, Arts & Crafts, Fitness, Recreation, Athletics, Food Agriculture and Nutrition Innovation Center (FAN), Foreign Language, and more.
Donate

Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School
Mission: Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School prepares grades K-8 students through holistic learning, academic excellence, personal empowerment, and a deepening faith in Jesus Christ within the Catholic tradition.
Vision: Graduates are ethical, responsible, and dedicated leaders inspiring good in their community and the world.
Programs/Services: Grades K-8 Catholic School; Peacemakers; Liturgical Dance; Violin; Access Academy Partner in Programming.
Special for the Holiday Season: Inspire. Prepare. Empower: today Sister Thea Bowman asks for you to prayerfully consider giving to their 2023 Annual Fund Appeal to help them close the gap to provide a Catholic education for their families. Your investment helps grow healthy minds and bodies for their students, families and community. With your help they are eliminating poverty through education!
Donate and mention “Annual Appeal”

St. Vincent de Paul in East St. Louis
Mission: The Belleville Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is dedicated to helping the poor of Southern Illinois. Members are committed to fighting hunger, homelessness, and poverty. The parish conferences and special works conference reach out to offer assistance with utilities, rent, food, clothing, automobile, gas, medical, prescriptions, and many other needs. They partner with other agencies, churches, and organizations and utilize community resources to help in the best way possible. Their faith guides their desire to serve.
Programs/Services: Outreach Ministry Service Center, Jobs Program, Soup Kitchen and Mobile Bus; Thrift Store; OverNite Center Emergency Shelter for those experiencing temporary homelessness.
Special for the Holiday Season: The Santa Bus will be out and about the first three Sundays in December in East St. Louis and on December 17 in Fairmont City. Kids will jump onto a bus full of holiday fun, take photos with Santa, and enjoy taking home holiday stockings loaded with love from Bank of O’Fallon, as well as hats and gloves to keep everyone warm this winter. If you’d like to donate hats, gloves, or other winter items please bring them Monday – Friday from 9:00 am until 1:30 pm to the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store located at 3718 State Street, East Saint Louis, IL, United States, Illinois; Garage door on east side of the building for thrift shop donations; ring the bell.
Donate

Make a difference in your community – Donate and volunteer with one of the ACS partner organizations-now and in 2024:
Catholic Urban Programs – https://catholicurbanprograms.org/
Christian Activity Center – https://www.cacesl.org/
Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation – https://jjkfoundation.org/
Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School – https://stbcs.com/
Saint Vincent de Paul Belleville Council serving East St. Louis – http://svdpsouthil.org

The Allsup Charitable Services (ACS) mission is to strengthen youth and family focused non-profit organizations in the Metro-East by providing consultative services, administrative support, and program development to grow and sustain the organizations that are providing educational and economic well-being programs for the community. To learn more about Allsup Charitable Services visit www.allsupcares.org.