As part of our long-standing partnership with the Chicago Bulls and Gallagher, Mercy Home for Boys & Girls kicked off its second annual Health and Wellness Challenge recently with an event on the West Loop Campus.

The challenge is designed to motivate kids to make intentional choices that will benefit their mental, emotional, and intellectual health during the winter months. “The winter can be a time of seasonal depression with the sun going down earlier and it just gets harder to move and stay on top of your wellness,” said Veronica Quintero, coordinator of tutoring and after school programs.

The tip-off event included remarks from the Bulls’ community relations team before participants competed in relay races for prizes such as Bulls jerseys and bobbleheads. The event then moved to the cafeteria where our kids received Vans shoes to design and decorate. The Bulls also brought in Sneaker/Cleat Design Expert, Anthony Amos, to help the kids with their wearable creations.

“I asked for them to give Vans [to] kick off the wellness challenge because they’ll be busy on their feet,” Quintero said. “I was really grateful that they were able to do that again. I know that a lot of [the kids] want to express themselves and have a little bit more control over their fashion and their identity.”

Volunteers from Gallagher Insurance, a partner with the Bulls, were also on hand to assist. Kim Patterson, a Gallagher employee and Englewood neighborhood native, said that while it wasn’t her first time at Mercy Home, she had never been to the Wellness Challenge.

“I’m from an underprivileged area so I like to be able to give back,” Patterson said. “I came from this exact same environment. I love being around the kids. I love their energy and I love what this represents.”

The Bulls connection with Mercy Home began decades ago during our Hoops for Homework program. Hoops for Homework started as a group of our young men competing in an organized league of weekly basketball games. The league featured volunteer referees, a draft, a weekly slate of games, playoffs, and a championship game. 

Participation in the league was also dependent upon success in school. But after COVID struck in 2020, the program shut down. “We pivoted to this health and wellness challenge and last year, built it from nothing up,” Jim Marrese, Mercy Home’s director of strategic initiatives and business, said.  “But what’s really cool about this program versus Hoops to Homework is it’s a lot more inclusive. You don’t have to be an athlete, you don’t have to play basketball, and it involves the Walsh [Girls] Campus. It’s a much better thing to do. It’s just building off our long-standing relationship with the Chicago Bulls.”

The program will run through March and include a shopping spree to a local bookstore, a job panel, and end with a Chicago Bulls game at the United Center. Throughout the challenge, the kids will be able to complete a bingo card of wellness challenges for a chance at raffle items such as Bulls autographed basketballs. 

“I’m trying to build enthusiasm around taking care of yourselves,” Quintero said. “I know it’s hard work that they do so just reenergizing them around investing in themselves is always really important to me. I think it takes an element of bravery to go through a full day of school, come back and do chores, do therapy, do tutoring, and then have to go be social and then do an after-school program once a week. It’s a lot of putting yourself out there and investing in yourself.”