In Celebration of Women!

A Message from WLC Chair, Carla Zuniga

It’s been an absolute pleasure to serve as Chair of the United Way of Lake County’s Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) over this past year and to be a part of our dynamic community of women. Through philanthropic giving, volunteerism and leadership, the WLC is mobilizing women to positively impact the lives of children in Lake County.

In the last year, we invested $47,000 into four worthy early literacy programs for at-risk children in Lake County, bringing the total amount of dollars invested to almost $75,000 in the last two years. Our signature Power of the Purse event, was a sold-out success, netting $23,500 (a 56% increase) that will be distributed in May during our regular grant making process. We actively participated in Kindergarten Readiness Assessments, volunteering as Reading Buddies in the United Way of Lake County’s Summer Enrichment Collaborative, chaperoning a field trip to the Kohl’s Children’s Museum for Waukegan students, and supporting Waukegan school children during the long school strike. We also grew in numbers to over 80 women strong.

We are excited to build upon our successes and our momentum to 2016 even greater!  One new and exciting opportunity is our collaboration with Green Bay Early Learning Center in North Chicago, IL, which will enable us to serve 260 at-risk preschoolers with the support and resources they need to succeed and measure the difference we are making over an extended period of time.

Be on the look-out for information regarding our first Golf Fundraiser ‘Play A Round for Lake County Kids’ at White Deer Run…our intent is to raise funds for early childhood literacy.

We are proud to announce that through our Little Kids, Big Futures philanthropy fund, we will grant over $60,000 this year to change the educational futures for children living in Lake County’s most vulnerable communities.  What a great feeling!  This brings the total of grants we’ve sponsored to almost $135,000 in three years.

We aspire to be the leading philanthropic women’s affinity group in Lake County. So please join us.  We have the unique opportunity to make a significant difference in Lake County, and have fun while doing it.

To know more about United Way of Lake County’s, please visit Women’s Leadership Council.