CYC STEAM Decathlon – October 2021
Pangea Cares partnered with Operation Warm and SGA Youth & Family Services for a “Summer Kicks” shoe drive! On Wednesday July 28th, 20 Pangea volunteers gathered at the parking lot of the SGA Youth & Family Services center at 3152 W 47th St. Families with toddlers and young children arrived between 12pm-3pm to pick up brand new shoes in their sizes. They also received a swag bag from Pangea that included fun items for the children like bubbles, hacky sacks, sunglasses, and more. While waiting to pick out shoes, volunteers played games with the children like hopscotch and ring toss. Pangea employees also led a fun card game for larger prizes like a flashlight, water bottle, or notebook.
Pangea Cares donated $7,000 in new shoes for children in need in Chicago. The donation supports Operation Warm’s “Warm Soles” program, bringing warmth, confidence, and growth to children and a sense of relief to their families and caregivers.
In the past, Pangea has partnered with Operation Warm to donate winter coats in October, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with this great organization.
WARMTH: Operation Warm creates brand new, high-quality coats for children in need, offering a child both physical and emotional warmth.
CONFIDENCE: The gift of a brand new coat empowers children by sparking self-confidence in a way that second-hand clothing cannot. A new coat can help students attend school, socialize with their peers and play outside with pride.
HOPE: Many families living in poverty struggle to provide necessities like food, housing, clothing and child care. The gift of a brand new coat offers hope to both children and their parents, reminding them there are those in their community that care about their well-being and future.
Learn more at www.operationwarm.org
Operation Warm – July 2021
Pangea Cares partnered with Operation Warm and SGA Youth & Family Services for a “Summer Kicks” shoe drive! On Wednesday July 28th, 20 Pangea volunteers gathered at the parking lot of the SGA Youth & Family Services center at 3152 W 47th St. Families with toddlers and young children arrived between 12pm-3pm to pick up brand new shoes in their sizes. They also received a swag bag from Pangea that included fun items for the children like bubbles, hacky sacks, sunglasses, and more. While waiting to pick out shoes, volunteers played games with the children like hopscotch and ring toss. Pangea employees also led a fun card game for larger prizes like a flashlight, water bottle, or notebook.
Pangea Cares donated $7,000 in new shoes for children in need in Chicago. The donation supports Operation Warm’s “Warm Soles” program, bringing warmth, confidence, and growth to children and a sense of relief to their families and caregivers.
In the past, Pangea has partnered with Operation Warm to donate winter coats in October, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with this great organization.
WARMTH: Operation Warm creates brand new, high-quality coats for children in need, offering a child both physical and emotional warmth.
CONFIDENCE: The gift of a brand new coat empowers children by sparking self-confidence in a way that second-hand clothing cannot. A new coat can help students attend school, socialize with their peers and play outside with pride.
HOPE: Many families living in poverty struggle to provide necessities like food, housing, clothing and child care. The gift of a brand new coat offers hope to both children and their parents, reminding them there are those in their community that care about their well-being and future.
Learn more at www.operationwarm.org
June Beautification – June 2021
Pangea Properties, through its 501c3 arm Pangea Cares, brought together over 50 volunteers the first four weeks in June to do gardening and other beautification work on the south and west sides of Chicago.
The morning of June 2, a group of 15 got together on the 7000 block of South Merrill, the location of the South Merrill Community Gardens in the Jackson Park Highlands neighborhood. The volunteers spent a few hours tidying up the garden and getting it ready for use. They weeded and added new mulch to the garden beds where fresh herbs would be planted. They also built a new edge and fence around the front walkway between the sidewalk and the street, adding mulch to the area too.
The next week, Pangea Cares joined Eco House – a nonprofit they have partnered with in the past – to help beautify Vernon Park Gardens on the 6000 block of South Vernon. Another 15 volunteers braved the heat and spent the morning on a few projects. Some did extensive weeding on the garden while others sanded and varnished a stage at the front of the garden that Pangea Cares volunteers built a few years ago. Pangea’s maintenance team also built an archway in the entry to be a welcoming opening to the garden.
Finally, the next two Wednesdays – the 16th and 23rd – Pangea Cares spent time adding to the curb appeal of some of the buildings Pangea manages across the south and west sides of Chicago. Over 20 volunteers showed up over the two days, and some Pangea residents even joined in to plant flowers and clean up the front walks and entryways.
Hope Academy – May 2021
In Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhood just off Historic Route 66, sits a limestone building that has been home to Hope Academy and its family of faculty, staff, and students since welcoming the first class of Freshmen and Sophomores in August of 2005. Since then, the school has grown and built a reputation of preparing students to become well-rounded members of society, ready for college, trade school, or wherever life takes them after graduation. In the past 15 years, the private Christian school boasts impressive 100% graduation and college acceptance rates and continues to commit to small class sizes, averaging 12 students per class with a student to teacher ratio of 10:1.
Hope Academy also partners with the University of Chicago Booth School of Business’s Alumni Club to offer more experience to students interested in entering the business world, which is how Pangea learned of the school and subsequent partnership. Since the start, Pangea has been invested in the lives of our young residents and neighbors, and through our 501c3 nonprofit Pangea Cares, has partnered with local organizations and developed programs of our own such as our paid summer internship (accepting applications for summer 2021 now!). When a Pangea employee and Booth alumna brought us an opportunity to join Hope Academy’s series on personal branding earlier this year, we had no issues finding volunteers for the virtual event. Then when in-person events started happening again, Pangea had another opportunity to present on the real estate industry specifically.
Little Free Library – May 2021
One of the goals of Pangea from the start is to be more than just a real estate company. We know we have a unique opportunity to help the communities we serve from the inside out, by partnering with local and national organizations like Little Free Library.
Little Free Library is a nonprofit that expands book access through the work of volunteers, building and curating “little libraries”, boxes built to withstand the weather and offer a free book for anyone who wants one. Once installed and filled with books for the first time, they work with an honor system of sorts, allowing anyone to take or replace a book at their convenience, 24/7/365. No fees, library cards, or hours of operation needed!
Pangea volunteers came together to build, decorate, and install 19 Little Free Libraries across our neighborhoods in Chicago, Indianapolis, and Baltimore. Employees also donated books to stock the libraries once they were installed. We are so excited to become stewards of these new little libraries and help bring the joy of reading to our residents and neighbors.
Holiday Giving – December 2020
Pangea Cares, partnered with Marillac St. Vincent Family Services (MSVFS) to source and donate over 175 toys, books, and other gifts to their Christmas Store. The Marillac St. Vincent Christmas Store has been a holiday tradition for Chicago families in need for over 60 years, and we are so proud to support such a worthy cause in 2020.
Pangea Cares donated toys for the event and Pangea’s Marketing Manager Maggie Druffel, who serves on the Associate Board for MSVFS and Pangea Operations Manager Kelsey Lake volunteered the morning of Friday, December 18 to fill bags for each family registered for the Christmas Store. Since families weren’t able to “shop” for themselves this year, volunteers carefully curated each bag for the children in the family. Families were also sent home with the traditional turkey and bag of food for Christmas dinner. The next day, 234 families with 678 children received big bags full of toys and groceries for the holiday season.
Pangea Cares also recently participated in Love For Our Elders’ holiday card push. Pangea employees at the Chicago headquarters location gathered (at a safe distance!) during the week of December 14 to write letters to seniors that were then sent out by the organization to elders who are in need of a kind word, especially this year.
In addition to the Christmas Store and letter writing, Pangea Cares promoted Progressive Community Church’s food drive and donated to Another Chance Church’s toy drive. The former event was brought to us by Property Manager Natalie Prater who asked Pangea to share about the event on our social media channels the day before the drive to get the word out. For the latter event, Pangea donated $1,000 to Operation Cover Chicago, helping give toys to 20,000 Chicagoland families with children 3-15 years old.
Turkey Giveaway – November 2020
In the past, Pangea Cares has volunteered with a local nonprofit to assemble and deliver Thanksgiving Day baskets to deserving families. In November 2018, Pangea Cares wanted to make a greater impact on our own residents and decided to host a Turkey Giveaway ourselves. With several months of planning, Pangeans identified residents in need for the holiday, selected and ordered food, prepared packaging, printed themed recipe cards and letters, and assembled 175 baskets that included a turkey, sides, and dessert. For our first year, we prepared to make 119 baskets, and our second year 125 baskets. We intend to continue growing the program year after year and increasing the number of baskets we’re able to prepare and deliver.
In order to keep both employees and residents safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 we had a few volunteers meet up with masks on to assemble the baskets, filling each with over 15 food items such as packets of instant mashed potatoes, stuffing, lemonade mix, ingredients for an Oreo pudding pie, and an entire turkey. The baskets also included a turkey pan and recipe cards to prepare the perfect Thanksgiving dinner.
All leftover food from the pallets were donated to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Every year, volunteers from the GCFD deliver 66 million pounds of food, or just about 135,000 meals every single day to the hungry and food insecure. This amounts to 812,000 individuals in 232,100 households
COVID Care Package Delivery – May 2020
On May 8 and May 29, Pangea Cares successfully completed our COVID-19 Care Package Delivery initiative with more than 20 volunteers! We wanted to give back to our communities and help those most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns, and we were able to pack and deliver over 100 care packages to Chicago residents.
The packages included non-perishables like pasta, canned soup, ramen, harder-to-find items like toilet paper and bread, and special requests for families like fruit, diapers, and body wash. We also partnered with a local nonprofit, The Amour Genesis Project, run by Genesis Emery who donated PPE and sanitation items such as hand sanitizer, gloves, and face masks.
Breakthrough Meal Service – February 2020
Pangea Cares spent an evening at the Breakthrough Urban Ministry Center to prepare and serve a meal to 40+ homeless men. This center is located on Chicago’s West Side, in one of the many neighborhoods we operate in, so the cause hit close to home for Pangea Cares. Along with meal preparation, 16 Pangeans mingled with the men and helped Breakthrough staff clean up after the event.
Breakthrough is an organization striving to connect with youth and families in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. They work with adults to empower them within the community to achieve self-sufficiency and break the cycle of poverty. Breakthrough partners with those affected by poverty to building connection, develop skills and open doors of opportunity. We are grateful to have an ongoing partnership with them for Pangea Cares to volunteer whenever needed.
Homeless Intervention, Youth Development, and Neighborhood Transformation are the three pillars of Breakthrough. Meal Service is a program within the Homeless Intervention pillar and it has been approached quite differently from traditional shelters. Breakthrough aims to first meet the immediate needs of food and shelter through their kitchens, on-site laundry, and showers. Guests then receive on-site primary and mental health care, employment training, and housing search assistance and placement. Breakthrough strives to help get people off the streets and start a better life. This organization’s mission aligns closely with our own goals of Food & Nutrition, Education Enrichment, and Community Development.
Learn more at www.breakthrough.org
CHA Backpack Giveaway – August 2019
During the summer, our Pangea Cares team and 25 Pangea employees head to Brookfield Zoo to help with the Chicago Housing Authority’s Back-to-School Backpack Giveaway. August 2018 was the seventh consecutive year that we partnered up with CHA for this event. Pangea is the sole sponsor of the event and we donate $6,000 to help kids start off the school year right.
The Chicago Housing Authority identifies 400 at-risk elementary and middle school students that live in their subsidized housing to invite to Brookfield Zoo for the day. Children spend the carefree day feasting on pizza at the Pavilion, exploring all the animals the zoo offers, and enjoying the dolphin show.
At the end of the event, they are provided with a new backpack filled with supplies for the upcoming school year. The backpack and supplies are donated by Pangea. It is always an honor to be able to give back to the community and invest in the education of the youth in the communities we serve.
Race Against Gun Violence – June 2019
Pangea sponsored and participated in the 6th Annual Race Against Gun Violence hosted by Strides for Peace! With a mission to heal Chicago communities from the inside out, Pangea Cares strives to make the areas where they provide housing, ones that residents and other members of the community can be proud of. They believe that a beautiful and safe neighborhood brings communities together.
Exactly 32 Pangeans joined 1,862 registered runners and walkers, 47 participating non-profits, and 200+ volunteers to embark on a journey along the lake. Participants had the opportunity to join the 8k Run, 5K run, or the 2-Mile Walk. One of our very own Pangeans finished the 8k in 31:24 putting him in 3rd place overall!
According to Strides for Peace, there were $115,000 in donations which is a 70% increase from 2018 total and almost 10 times what they raised two years ago. We are proud to have been apart of such an amazing initiative for the first time and celebration of peace and hope in Chicago that greatly affects our residents and the neighborhoods they reside in.
Learn more at www.stridesforpeace.org
Mother’s Day Makeover – May 2019
Pangea Cares sent 50 deserving mothers who are Pangea residents to the annual Mother’s Day Makeover at the Swissotel. Sponsored by Benefit and the Daisie Foundation, mothers listened to speakers while having their hair styled, make-up done, selecting a new outfit and participating in a mini professional photo shoot.
“Many moms are battling cancer or going through the healing process, many of them are military moms, some of them are unfortunately homeless and we want to celebrate them,” said Julie Hightower, a Board Member from the Daisie Foundation in an interview with ABC7 News. “We will not turn anyone away because we realize the sacrifices that moms make. It creates an opportunity for a mom to bounce back. So it’s a full look… [and] a headshot to use to market themselves.”
The Daisie Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in the memory of Daisie Robinson, a woman who believed in hard work, commitment, and service. The organization strives to help women and children in the most overlooked neighborhoods in Chicago.
For the past three years, Daisie Foundation has invited 50 Pangea mothers to participate in the makeover event. A handful of Pangeans have also volunteered their time to attend the event and help out where needed. This year, Pangea Cares additionally donated cut flowers from the EcoHouse Garden, another proud partnership, in Woodlawn for all 500+ mothers.
Pangea Cares is proud to work with an organization that recognizes the struggles of our residents on the South and West sides of Chicago and organizes events throughout the year to make them feel special. Pangea Cares looks forward to a continued partnership with the Daisie Foundation so we can support the many women and mothers who reside in our apartment homes.
Learn more at www.daisiefoundation.org
ECO House – April 2019
Chicago Eco House aims to use sustainability to alleviate poverty in the city of Chicago. The organization identified and purchased a lot in Woodlawn to cultivate a flower garden where residents can tend and cut flowers to sell. This lot is located next to a Pangea building, 6033 S Vernon, and they reached out to us about helping get the garden started.
Through the past 18 months, Pangea has been consistently present at the community garden with 15+ volunteers each time to assist with improvement projects. In July 2018, we weeded, built a stage, and turned over the ground. Pangea also provided access to the downspout to the roof of our building, which is being used to collect rainwater through a hose connected to the Eco House lot. This rainwater is used as an irrigation system for the flower and plants to reduce water costs and promote sustainability. In September 2018, we sponsored the garden ribbon cutting and witnessed firsthand how the community garden had grown from just a flower garden to a community gathering space, farmers market and place where residents have access to grow fresh vegetables. In April 2019, we returned to build handicap accessible flower boxes and to landscape. In May 2019, Pangea Cares purchased flowers from the community garden for 500+ mothers for the annual Daisie Foundation Mother’s Day Makeover. This is the first year we have done this and we plan on continuing this donation in the future.
Learn more at www.chicagoecohouse.org
Health & Fitness Festival – July 2018
Pangea Cares headed to Soldier Field with 21 volunteers as a supporting partner in #ChicagoFit Health & Fitness Festival hosted by Chicago Sky and The University of Chicago. This festival was free and open to the public and had several Pangea residents in attendance. During the event, attendees received access to free health and wellness assessments and screenings, free massages, free Chicago Sky branded basketballs, giveaways and prizes.
“The Chicago Sky and UChicago Medicine wanted to do something that brings our shared values to life, and we felt this health and wellness event would further serve our collective community,” commented Sharon O’Keefe, president of the UChicago Medical Center. “We are determined to get everyone of all ages moving.”
We assisted Sky as official counters in the successful attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest multi-venue basketball clinic with 1,442 participants.The previous record holder was Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors with 1,150 participants. In addition, Pangea Cares volunteered at the water tent to make sure all 4,000 people stayed hydrated and handed out hacky sacks and sunglasses at our booth.
