Wilmette area Jeep Wrangler fans who want to help some of their senior and disabled neighbors stay in the village can do the latter – and perhaps win the former – by taking part in a raffle organized by Housing Our Own-Wilmette, the non-profit group charged with raising money for Wilmette’s now-private housing assistance program.
The $100 per ticket raffle is the organization’s first official fundraiser, according to board member Nancy Canafax. The deadline to buy a ticket is Aug. 19, she said, and the winning ticket will be drawn on Aug. 30.
Canafax said she hopes it will raise money and awareness of Housing Our Own-Wilmette’s mission, and of the need to keep the housing assistance program, which provides rent and mortgage help for more than 20 Wilmette residents, going and growing.
“We would like to expand the number of people we can serve, and perhaps the level of grants we can make in future,” she said.
The housing assistance program helps low income Wilmette residents who are senior or disabled citizens with property tax payment subsidies of up to $1,800 annually, and rent subsidies of up to $200 a month.
“It’s always a revelation when people realize that people in Wilmette need this kind of help, but they do,” Canafax said. “And I think when people realize that this (housing assistance) program has been ongoing for over 20 years, they also realize that it helps citizens we want to continue to protect and provide for.”
The housing assistance program, known as HAP, began in 1981 and was originally funded solely by tax revenue. In 2010, Wilmette began paying for the $48,000-a-year program partly from an affordable housing escrow account, which came from money paid by developers of the former National Louis University property on Sheridan Road.
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In 2013, as the escrow account neared its end, Wilmette trustees voted to privatize the program. In late 2014, Housing Our Own-Wilmette was formed as the financial and fundraising arm of the assistance program.
Michael Braiman, assistant village manager, said Housing Our Own-Wilmette now has approximately $100,000 in its coffers.
Since 2014, the fund has received an $80,000 donation by M&R, the developer of The Wilshore project on Green Bay Road; a $39,000 transfer from the village’s escrow account; and more than $22,000 in private and organizational donations. The account also includes lien collections that home-owning program recipients must pay if they sell that home.
“It’s enough to keep going for awhile, but it isn’t enough to allow us to expand the program to more people in need,” Braiman said.
The raffle could help keep Housing Our Own-Wilmette’s fund balance healthy, Canafax said. The group has 1,000 raffle tickets and must sell a minimum of 700 tickets on the $40,000 Jeep Wrangler from Fields Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Glenview to recoup the vehicle’s cost, but money from the final 300 tickets will go into the housing fund, Braiman said.
Canafax said Housing Our Own-Wilmette’s board, which is currently headed by Village Trustee Cameron Krueger, plans future fundraisers and will meet later this year to discuss them.
To purchase a raffle ticket, visit www.housingwilmette.org/raffle purchase by mail at 1189 Wilmette Ave., #248, Wilmette, IL 60091, or at the manager’s office, Wilmette Village Hall, 1200 Wilmette Ave.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy