Letter from Jack D. Rothstein

2005 President of The 20/30 Club of Chicago 

As the President of The 20/30 Club of Chicago for 2005, it gives me great pleasure to announce that we are entering our 14th year serving the needs of Chicago's underprivileged children.   I am happy and excited to report that The 20/30 Club of Chicago continues to prosper and grow. 

We are an all-volunteer philanthropic organization of young professional men dedicated to developing and maintaining long term relationships with selected children's organizations in and around our great city, Chicago. The Club accomplishes this by providing interactive volunteer support, and secondarily through annual fundraisers designed to raise money for specific programs.  Since our inception in 1991 we have provided thousands of hours of hands-on work with many of Chicago’s children in need, and raised over $940,000 in proceeds for multiple children's organizations.   Our members are provided multiple opportunities every month to volunteer in hands-on events with underprivileged children. Examples include tutoring, mentoring, visiting children on the pediatric floor of selected hospitals, our Hoops-to-Homework program (where children participate in a 9-week-long basketball tournament if they agree to participate in our tutoring program), and our annual back-to-school outing at the Museum of Science & Industry.

Our primary relationship is with Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. We have spent countless hours with the children who reside at Mercy Home tutoring, playing basketball, teaching the fundamentals of fitness training, and working hands-on with many of the teens that are a part of this program.   In addition, we've broadened our hands-on work during the last several years to include significant ongoing relationships with organizations such as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Pediatric unit (a specialty unit dedicated to children with significant physical handicaps), One Step at a Time Camp (a summer and winter camp for children and adolescents with cancer and leukemia), Horizons For Youth (a big brothers/sisters type organization that also provides private school tuition for the kids in their program), Starfish Learning Center, and Chicago Theater for Young Audiences.

The 20/30 Club of Chicago hosts two primary fundraisers each year. Each of the children's organization that benefits from one of our events is an organization that The 20/30 Club is actively involved with hands-on volunteer work.   Our signature event is Casino Swing. Casino Swing is a black tie event that is hosted in the late Fall. In the past 13 years Casino Swing, has delivered more than $780,000 to children's organizations in Chicago. Our other primary fund raising event, Winter Carnivale, raises between $10,000 and $15,000 each year. This past year alone, we grossed over $90,000 from these two primary events!

All of this could not have been realized without the hard work and dedication of over 200 men over the past 12 years.  What started in June 1991, when 12 ambitious young men sought to create the pre-eminent philanthropic men’s organization in the Chicago area has grown into a strong volunteer force in the Chicago community. Our success in impacting the lives of these children is the legacy of their commitment to developing an organization that truly makes a difference.  Thank you to all of our members and benefactors from the past and present who were able to witness the rewards of their dedicated efforts over the past decade.   

Each year, we set our sights on greater heights and this year is no exception.  So please join us The 20/30 Club of Chicago with our efforts, whether participating in one of our fundraising events or becoming a member yourself, as we continue to follow our mantra, "Help a Child, Change the World!"

Thank you!

Jack D. Rothstein, President
The 20/30 Club of Chicago