The I Am Who I Am Foundation’s 8th annual “HollyDays” fundraiser is offering two for one fun, adding a second venue this year for shopping and socializing.
“This is the first year we’re having it at two local bars, right next door to each other,” said Holly Simon, founder and executive director of the I Am Who I Am Foundation. “This gives us more room for more artists.”
Cork & Kerry and Barney Callaghan’s Pub, neighboring bars on Western Avenue, will host “HollyDays” from 6-10 p.m. Nov. 4 to benefit teens and adults with special needs.
Dual venues offer room for about 20 new vendors, Simon said, with handmade and unique items such as candles, jewelry, home décor, essential oils, art and vintage clothing, among other one-of-a-kind items.
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Simon encourages people to bring their kids to this family friendly event. There is no admission charge and multiple rooms — some away from the bar area — are available to enjoy the complimentary food and desserts and to take photos with special guest speed skater Tommy Shimoda, the first Special Olympian to be inducted into the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame.
Simon said this year’s casual atmosphere is a “completely different change of pace” than in previous years. Guests can move freely from building to building to shop, play split-the-pot, eat, drink and socialize.
“We’re calling it the Holly Hop, which will just be an open forum to mingle,” Simon said.
Much of the mingling will be right on track with the foundation’s mission to raise awareness of the need for inclusion and acceptance of people with special needs. Foundation members will be accessible throughout the event.
Simon said for the first time, the teens and adults with special needs will be directly involved with managing the event from start to finish, and they will also be part of the vendor group, selling products from the foundation’s new business venture “I Am…” bath and body products.
Simon said the foundation members studied business practices, formed a business and then “came up with the labels, logo, colors, wording” for the products.
“This year, we’re coming alive,” Simon said. She said at previous fundraisers a gallery of photos represented the foundation’s members. “We’re going to have real people with real stories, real issues, real special abilities who will be on hand not only to talk about themselves and share about themselves, but to proudly represent a company that is all their own.” Simon said proceeds from the event will provide the teens and adults with a salary. For some, it will be their first working wage, she said.
“Many of them can’t work a 9-to-5 job,” Simon said. “We will find something they can do. Nobody will be left behind.”
Proceeds of the not for profit will also benefit the foundation’s goal to raise awareness and to provide baby blankets and welcome literature to new parents of “differently-abled” children, Simon said.
The founding of I Am Who I Am Foundation eight years ago has its roots in the birth of Simon’s fifth child Nate, now 14 years old, who was born with Down syndrome. Simon said the lack of congratulatory remarks at the birth of her son — unlike that for her other four children — was unsettling to her and her husband.
Simon said, “Millions of ‘sorries’ are being said to every parent of a child born differently, and I knew that needed to change.”
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
‘HollyDays’ fundraiser for I Am Who I Am Foundation
When: from 6-10 p.m. Nov. 4
Where: Cork & Kerry, 10614 S. Western Ave. and Barney Callaghan’s Pub, 10618 S. Western Ave., Chicago
Cost: Admission is free. Donations welcome.
Information: iam-whoiam.com.
Etc.: Raises funds for awareness, inclusion and acceptance of people with special needs.