It was billed as a “Collection for Connection, a Party for PADS and A Song for their Supper,” but last weekend’s fundraiser at the Knollwood Club was also, for most of the 200 guests, a trip down memory lane.
The travel agents for the journey were the International Ink Spots, a vocal group that began recording in the late 1930s. For two hours, the five-piece ensemble entertained with a selection of their own hits, such as “We’ll Meet Again,” “Only You,” and “You Always Hurt the One You Love,” as well as songs made famous by the Mills Brothers, Fats Domino and Nat King Cole. Organizers hoped to raise $10,000 for the Connection crisis line service and its affiliate, Lake County Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS), which provides temporary housing for the homeless.
Lake Forest resident Willamay Benton, a member of the Connection/PADS board of directors, helped organize the party. “We’ve had a lot of fun with this. It’s been a lot of work, too, but it’s a worthwhile cause. Everyone feels really strongly about it,” she said.
Marion Christoph of Lake Forest designed the party invitations, which, appropriately, portrayed a friendly little house that opened its doors. Christoph has been working with the PADS program, which provides two or three shelter sites each night, for two years. The shelters each house an average of 40 to 50 people, “and this winter they’ve been so full that they’ve been turning away people almost every night,” she said.
Ruth Weiler and Linda Wolff are the longtime directors of Connection, which last year answered 42,000 calls for help and information.