Lingerie Shop Offers Gifts To Nurses On Coronavirus Front Lines

WILMETTE, IL — A North Shore lingerie shop has provided hundreds of nurses with personalized gifts of comfortable sleepwear to thank them for their work on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Larisa Olson, owner of Chantilly Lace, 1515 Sheridan Road in Wilmette, responded to the developing COVID-19 crisis by delivering items from the inventory of nightwear at her Plaza del Lago shop to nurses she knew.

Once her customers got wind of the effort, dubbed the "Chantilly Lace Comfort Project," they wanted to help out.

"Though this is a very trying time for me as a business owner, I am most definitely enjoying the Comfort Project," Olson said. "It's a time when I’ve been able to source my energy to help others [and] get the customers involved [and] supporting the business in a way that's meaningful to them."

As of Tuesday, the community had provided nearly $16,000 to sponsor 315 gift bags, with 290 already delivered to nurses and nursing assistants at Swedish Hospital, Evanston Hospital, Glenbrook Hospital and Saint Francis. Olson said the focus of the project would be on Swedish, Glenbrook and Saint Francis hospitals due to how hard they have been hit by the virus.

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The recipient nurses are selected by their respective department supervisors, who have allowed the nurses to come down one at a time to pick up their gifts, she said. Each bag contains a personalized note, along with gifts provided at cost by Chantilly Lace or at a workable rate by the Canadian company Montelle Intimates.

A trio of other lingerie shops around North America have subsequently joined as a way to give back to their communities and keep their businesses afloat at the same time, Olson told Patch. They include A La Mode Intimates in Annapolis, Maryland, Lace & Day in Buffalo, New York, and Bliss Beneath in Barrie, Ontario, she said.

The cost is $50 per gift bag to sponsor a nurse gift. Upgraded donations and gift certificates are also available.

"Our revenue is much lower than it would normally be, I'm grateful to scrape by till we can get back to normal," Olson told Patch. "For now, the nurses and CNAs absolutely love the gifts. Brings smiles to their faces. And that's the point. So it's awesome."