“Windy City,” the musical adaptation of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play “The Front Page,” brought good news to Family Service of South Lake County. The Highland Park-based organization raised about $50,000 at a recent dinner-theater benefit at Marriott’s Lincolnshire Resort.
What was more important to board member Rosalind Hodgkins of Lake Forest was the read-all-about-it angle. Because the benefit attracted about 260 people, she hoped it would spread the word about the agency’s services.
“This whole benefit idea is more a friend-raiser,” Hodgkins said. “That is even more crucial than raising funds. The agency has been around a long time, but its services are not well known,” she said, adding that the agency helps people deal with such things as job-loss stress and substance abuse.
“It helps with every conceivable aspect of family life from aging parents to problems with teenagers,” she said.
Family Service’s friends included Kristine Forsyth of Palatine, director of community relations for Baxter International Inc. Baxter was a benefit guarantor because several employees had become active in the agency.
“It is reinforcing their volunteer involvement,” Forsyth said. “Also the agency gives wonderful service to the community.”
Aside from coming as a show of support, Forsyth had another good deed in mind. Struggling with a Rube Goldberg balloon structure that she said was a tricycle-she got it during the cocktail hour, when a balloon sculptor was creating all manner of objects-Forsyth said she intended to take it to a 96-year-old former neighbor living in a nursing home.
Alyce and Tom Ransom of Highland Park greeted guests entering the Grand Ballroom. Alyce chaired the benefit; Tom is president of the Family Service board.
Active in United Way, Tom became involved when he heard the board needed help. “The reason I’m doing it is because this is where we live,” he said.