TEACH Honors Naperville Restaurateur at 10th Annual Benefit Gala

TEACH, Tutoring English to Advance Change, announces its 10th Annual Benefit Gala Saturday, May 9 at the Prairie Ballroom and Foyer, Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus, 2815 Jorie Boulevard. The evening of international food, entertainment and awards celebrates and honors community figures who represent the cultural unity that supports the work of TEACH, which reaches 40 communities at 19 sites in Western Cook, DuPage and Will counties. This year TEACH honors, Maribel Molina Cortes, with the Cultural Unity Award.

The Cultural Unity Award was established to honor immigrants who have succeeded in this country and individuals who have enabled others to share the American dream. Past recipients include the first graduating class of DACA students from Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine, missionary/doctors Celine and Don Woznica, and WGN’s own Lourdes Duarte.

Maribel Molina Cortes is an inspiration to many, she is an immigrant who has become a successful entrepreneur, a restaurant owner and is now a TEACH student studying to become a U.S. citizen.

From the young age of eight years old, Cortes was the queen of her family's kitchen in her native Mexico. Cortes moved to Aurora with her husband but, almost five years later, found herself divorced and struggling to support her daughter. Cortes would scrounge for scraps in the trash of restaurants and bakeries. She even lived in shelters for a time while trying to further educate herself and find better work. She eventually opened her own restaurant in Naperville, Totopos, and is able to look back on those times as learning experiences. Remembering what it is like to be hungry, Cortes, now in her third year as restaurant owner, lets people eat now and pay later if they are short on cash, not wanting to send anyone away.

The gala includes a cocktail hour at 6 p.m. and dinner, entertainment, and awards ceremony and paddle raiser starting at 7 p.m. Individual tickets are $125 or $1,000 for a discounted table of 10 and are currently on sale at TEACHEmpowers.org or 708.609.0945.