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Chicago Yacht Club asks all participants to consider making a generous donation to one or more of our designated charities or become a benefactor by making a Medal Level Donation. Each of our designated charities makes a difference in the lives of Chicago’s children in different ways.
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CHARITABLE PARTNERS
The Chicago Yacht Club Foundation is a charitable organization that exists to bring the joys and benefits of boating to all, with a primary focus on youth from underrepresented communities. Through our nautical education programs, grants & scholarships, and collaboration with community partners, the Chicago Yacht Club Foundation advances this mission across Chicagoland. Learn more about what we do, and support the Foundation at
www.chicagoyachtclubfoundation.org
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This year, the Chicago Yacht Club Foundation launched a brand-new Community Sailing Program at CYC's Monroe Station, complementing the opportunities we've historically offered in Belmont Harbor. Groups of aspiring young sailors from community organizations such as the Union League Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, One Family Illinois (formerly known as SOS Children's Villages Illinois), St. Paul Parish, and the South Loop Elementary School are learning to sail aboard Whaat's Up, a donated J-100 and one of the Club's Sonars. At Belmont, we're running five Adventure Boating Camps for kids from Youth for a Better Future, McCartin Boys and Girls Club, BUILD, and St. Joseph Services. We've greatly enhanced our support for swimming lessons, providing grants to enable 600 kids to learn this vital skill. Also new this year, thanks to a generous bequest from longtime CYC member Dr. John-Paul Spire, we are offering postsecondary scholarships to Foundation program alumni/ae. We're continuing our support of the oldest Sea Scout Ship in the nation, CYC's Privateer; and continuing our flagship Lead HER Ship program that teaches young women teamwork, sailing, Great Lakes ecology, navigation, and more, aboard the 77-foot ship Inland Seas. We couldn't do any of this without the generous support of our donors; funds raised in 2024 will enable us to do even bigger things in 2025!
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago (BBBS) is an affiliate of the oldest, most respected mentoring organization in the US. BBBS, which is 100% free to youth and families, makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”) from age seven through high school graduation across four counties in Metro Chicago: Cook, DuPage and Lake Counties in Illinois and Indiana.
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By engaging with historically marginalized communities, BBBS provides equitable access through exposure to new mentoring relationships, experiences, and opportunities. Their programming fosters behavior modeling, educational achievement, and social emotional learning, all of which are critical to a child’s development and future promise. BBBS programs are proven to keep kids in school, out of trouble and on the path to post-graduate success. Learn more and get involved at bbbschgo.org.
Thousands of kids across Chicagoland are waiting for a mentor. Choosing which one to help, that shouldn’t be an option. That’s why BBBS is committed to ultimately doubling the number of youth they serve annually and transforming communities through the power of one-to-one mentoring.
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No one organization, family or adult can take on all the challenges facing our kids today. But we know mentoring works. Big Brothers Big Sisters has a proven solution to help Chicagoland youth stay on the path to a successful future. Your support allows them to make more matches between caring, committed adult volunteers and children waiting for a mentor than ever before.
One Family Illinois (formerly SOS Children's Villages Illinois) offers an innovative approach to traditional foster care. Their model of care gives children the opportunity to live in a nurturing, stable, single-family home with their brothers and sisters in the care of a full-time, professionally trained Foster Parent in one of the Villages. Children benefit from the stability of remaining with their siblings as well as the support of neighboring One Family Illinois Foster Parents and the entire community.
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The kind and generous funds from the Chicago Regatta helps One Family Illinois at a most crucial time to support the educational and emotional needs of the children in our care. This level of support significantly aids our efforts to address many of the educational gaps that occurred during the pandemic.
In addition, this gift allows us to enrich clinical services for the children and families to find security and stability to keep their lives moving forward. One Family Illinois is most grateful to the Chicago Regatta Committee for all the resources they provide to children in need and for being a consistent beacon of hope to many.