Neighbor News
Could your charity use $5,000 and recognition?
Amy and Vince Logan hold a "red-carpet" gala every year in October and raise funds for local charities.
For the past seven years, the Kindness Gala has been awarding funds and bringing awareness to local charities and having a great time doing it. The "red-carpet" gala is held on the first Thursday in October, the cancer awareness month. To date, they have raised almost $300,000.
In 2014, Amy and Vince Logan founded the Kindness Gala Foundation after Amy's sister passed away from breast cancer. Amy's sister, Michelle, was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. It went into remission. Then in 2012, it returned as metastatic breast cancer, which refers to the spread of cancer to different parts of the body and vital organs, typically the bones, liver, lungs, and brain. And that’s precisely what it did. She endured another 15 months of chemotherapy. That is, until her body quietly said, “enough.” On April 13, 2014, at around 7 o’clock in the morning, Michelle passed away peacefully.
During the time that she was undergoing chemo, she was very tired, and it was very hard for her to travel, let alone work. Local charities, such as Tinley Wish, granted her money for bills and even made Christmas possible by giving her and her daughter presents to put under the tree. "If it weren't for the generosity of other people, Michelle would not have had 'normalcy' during a time when normalcy wasn't even in the picture," says Amy Logan, the founder of the Kindness Gala.
After Michelle passed, Amy and Vince Logan founded the Kindness Gala. They wanted to create an event that would highlight and recognize local charities. In the process, they were able to raise money and give back to local charities. Since the first gala, they have been able to give money to over 20 different charities and plan to continue to their goal of a million dollars.
The Logan's just wrapped up the 7th Annual Gala, and it was an amazing night filled with laughter, crying, raffles, auctions, winning (at casino games), and friend-making. Pictures of the event can be found on both the Kindness Gala website (KindnessGala.com) and Facebook page (Facebook.com/KindnessGala).
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The Kindness Gala is now taking applications for charity recipients for the 2023 gala. If you know of a charity that could use some funds and some recognition, please forward this information to them. Visit KindnessGala.com/nominate.
Plan on making October 5, 2023 date night or a night out with the girls or guys.
