Lake County, Illinois
Breakfast with Santa
Each December in Lake County, we host families for a pancake breakfast and pictures with Santa, and children receive new bicycles.
The bicycles arrive in boxes, and volunteers build them the night before, so they are ready and waiting when families walk in. We work with local partners who know the families, and a host business lends us the room. We share the date and place each year once they are set.
The first one, December 2024
The first Breakfast with Santa was held at McGrath Evanston Subaru in Evanston, with the Education Foundation of Niles Township, for more than a hundred guests of the Niles Township Food Pantry. Forty-five children went home with new bicycles that morning.
When we learned that some families with more than one child had picked out a single bike, we made sure every brother and sister got one too, seventy in all.
McGrath Evanston Subaru supported the morning with a grant. The founders bought most of the bicycles themselves.
A bicycle is $55
$55 buys one new bicycle. The founders share the Foundation’s operating costs, so donations go to the programs.
Give one new bicycle for Breakfast with Santa.