One of the biggest benefits of leasing space in a shared office center is the sense of community and collaboration among professionals from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Like many of our clients, who support each other’s businesses on a regular basis, we believe it’s important to give back to the companies and organizations that call Amata home.
For the past seven years, we have donated both time and money to the Israel Idonije Foundation, a local non-profit – and Amata client – that provides youth programming to children in underserved communities. Founded in 2007 by NFL defensive end Israel “Izzy” Idonije, the foundation offers a number of community-level initiatives that promote social and emotional life skills. To date, it has served more than 7,400 disadvantaged youth through its community-level initiatives, which include after-school programs, sports camps and medical missions to Africa.
One of the foundation’s most popular programs is the annual “Shop with a Cop” event, which pairs at-risk youth with the police officers who serve their communities. This year, Amata CEO Ron Bockstahler and Izzy Idonije made a special deal: Two members of Izzy’s team volunteered to act as impartial judges of Amata’s holiday decorating contest at the company’s six coworking/shared office centers in exchange for a $2,000 donation to the foundation, which used the money to fund gifts for 20 children who participated in the “Shop with a Cop” program. Ron also spent the day volunteering with the foundation to better understand how the program makes an impact on the life of each child.
Ron, Izzy, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, and dozens of IIF volunteers and Chicago police officers started their day at Arena Lanes, creating a celebration tunnel for the children to run through before entering the bowling alley. After working up an appetite on the bowling lanes, everyone feasted on pizza supplied by Gino’s East before boarding a bus to Walmart, where the children were divided into groups of five to begin the day’s main event: a $100 shopping spree. Working with an assigned IIF volunteer and two to three police officers, the groups combed the aisles in search of the perfect Christmas gifts for themselves and, more often, their loved ones. “It was amazing to see these children, some of whom didn’t have gloves for winter, get so excited about buying gifts, not for themselves, but for their brothers, sisters, moms and dads,” said Ron. “One of my children even bought a bathing tub for her newborn brother. It was both heartbreaking and inspiring to see how loving and selfless these children were, even when faced with the most challenging of circumstances. The only thing I would change would be finding a way to get more children involved next year.”
Pictured here are Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Izzy with children who participated in the 8th annual “Shop with a Cop” event, which took place on Tuesday, December 9:
The Amata holiday decorating contest was also great success, with the winning team at 150 N. Michigan Ave. receiving free days off as a reward for their great work. As part of the contest, Amata employees also organized a toy drive that benefitted children supported by the Salvation Army. In all, the Amata community donated more than 200 gifts to disadvantaged children in the Chicago area – a wonderful testament to the generosity of Amata staff and clients.
Below is a picture of the toys being delivered to the Salvation Army on December 23rd, as well as photos of each decorated center.
150 N. Michigan, 28th
150 N. Michigan, 8th
150 S. Wacker
161 N. Clark
180 N. LaSalle
225 W. Washington
To learn how you can support the Israel Idonije Foundation, please contact Marie at (312) 624-7714, or visit the foundation’s website at http://www.israelidonije.org.
Happy holidays from all of us at Amata Office Solutions!