With the return of the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade and other celebrations throughout town, Mercy Home is ready to step out with its annual March for Kids campaign, presented by Google, and help young people build brighter futures.
Anyone can make a difference in the lives of kids in Chicago with a donation to Mercy Home during March, either online or on the streets surrounding area St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, March for Kids volunteers will be out once again near St. Patrick’s Day parades and other events, collecting donations that help Mercy Home for Boys & Girls give at-risk children a safe place to live, therapy to heal from the trauma of abuse and neglect, and tools like education and job skills to help them build independence.
Further, anyone can make double the difference in the lives of children this March. Donations made to mercyhome.org/marchforkids throughout this month will be matched by a generous donor. Funds generated by its March for Kids effort help Mercy Home care for children 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Following a two-year delay caused by the pandemic, Mercy Home is pleased to bring back its casual, family-friendly party downtown following the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The event will be held at Venue SIX10 on Michigan Avenue, a short walk from the parade route, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mercy Home’s March for Kids Post-Parade Party will feature
- Live Irish music performed by Dyed in the Wool and Jimmy Keane & Pat Broaders
- Irish dancers from the O’Hara School of Irish Dance and the Hogan Irish Dance Academy
- Kid and adult beverages
- Irish-themed food buffet including a build-your-own mac-n-cheese bar for the kids
- Special children’s activity section featuring carnival and arcade games, great prizes, balloon artists, a caricaturist, a temporary tattoo station, and more
General admission for adults is $75, and $20 for ages 6-20. Kids ages 5 and under are free. Pre-sale tickets will be available online until midnight on March 11, then available at the door (adult tickets will increase to $85).
Mercy Home’s Associates Board, which is made up of young professionals, will officially kick off Mercy Home’s March for Kids with a party and fundraiser at Butch McGuire’s, 20 W. Division Street, Chicago on Saturday, March 5 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Mercy Home’s March for Kids has been held annually under different names, since 1996 when it was known as A Touch O’ Green. For ten years, it was known as Shamrocks for Kids before being renamed and expanded in 2014. Today, Mercy Home’s March for Kids involves significant promotion from media and corporate partners, involvement in several area parades and events, fundraisers in restaurants and other business, and hundreds of volunteers who donate their time and energy to help kids at Mercy Home.
The campaign is supported by friends and donors of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls and our generous sponsors, including the campaign’s presenting sponsor, Google. ABC7 Chicago and US99 have stepped in once again as media sponsors. Party sponsors include Blue Plate Catering, Bullsitoy, Chicago Beverage, and the City Lights Orchestra. Gold are Barnes & Thornburg, LLP, The Bobby Rahal Foundation and Libertyville Happy Hyundai. Silver Sponsors are The Caromody Clan, UL, and Focuscope. And Bronze Sponsors are Outdoor Interiors, and Wintrust.
To learn more how you can make this month a March for Kids, visit mercyhome.org.
About Mercy Home for Boys & Girls
Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (www.mercyhome.org) has been a solution for kids in crisis since 1887. It offers a safe home, emotional healing, education, and life-changing opportunities for more than 1,100 young people and members of their families every year. It gives children who have suffered abuse, neglect, poverty and even abandonment the therapeutic, academic and vocational support they need to heal from the traumas of their pasts and build success for their futures. Mercy Home is almost entirely donor funded and operates at two locations in Chicago – a campus for boys in the West Loop and a campus for girls in Beverly-Morgan Park.
