Naperville CARES helps those who are in f inancial dif f iculty

As Saturday night came ever closer to becoming Sunday last weekend, I was sitting in the Cabaret room at the Naperville CARES "Cuisine for a Cause," drinking caramel-flavored lattes.

At one point the Cabaret room had been filled with music, but by this time it was blessedly quiet except for the murmur of the voices of the folks who were left as they conversed.

It was our second fundraiser of the day, so Kathy and I were pretty tired.

The first was the United Methodist Homes and Services Foundation's annual fundraising brunch, held at North Park University on the North Side of Chicago - about an hour and a quarter's drive through surprisingly heavy traffic for a Saturday.

After crawling along Chicago city streets from the Kennedy to the college and then back home again, I may never complain about Naperville traffic again. Oh, of course I will, but just not as much.

It was a nice brunch and carried me along the road of at least a dozen cups of caffeinated coffee I would consume during the course of the day.

The day's coffee had started at about 7 a.m., picked up again at about 9 with a couple of cups of espresso at home, carried through the Methodist fundraiser and ended up late at night at "Cuisine for a Cause," held at Northern Illinois University's Naperville campus.

This was the fifth year of that last event of the day for us, and if you've never been to "Cuisine for a Cause," you should give it a try some time. Next year's event is April 25.

It's a chance to sample food from Naperville's fine restaurants - this year 23 participated.

There are also wine tastings as well as other alcoholic beverages and live musical entertainment, with everything included in the $75 ticket price.

Both live and silent auctions are held as part of the effort and this year's featured a whole lot of neat stuff including a couple of autographed guitars - one of which was from the members of the Marshall Tucker Band when they appeared at RibFest last summer.

Many local sponsors and patrons support the event as well, with this year's platinum sponsor being Van Kampen Investments.

The affair was crowded, and it's good to see so many come out to support such a worthy charity.

Naperville CARES provides support for our residents who are in financial distress.

It does this by writing rent checks for people who can't afford it, providing needed transportation for people to get to work, and even paying for prescriptions if needed.

The charity accomplishes all this through donations and a couple of fundraisers a year.

Like Naperville's other front line for helping those who need it - the Loaves and Fishes Community Pantry - Naperville CARES is helping people directly with the vital necessities of life.

Fortunately, most of us who live here will never know what it's like not to be able to pay the rent, or to finally get a job but not be able to get there because the old car finally gave up the ghost.

But Naperville CARES can help, as long as we are willing to help Naperville CARES.

Contact Tim West at west@scn1.com or 630-416-5290.