If Only Abigail Adams Were Here: Abby Foundation Celebrates 30 Years

NBC 5’s Zoraida Sambolin will be featured speaker in August at the Abby Foundation luncheon, which also features a silent raffle.

Abigail Adams would be delighted.

Hundreds of women and men are about to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Abby Foundation, named in honor of this nation’s second first lady. As future president John Adams went off to help write the new nation’s laws, his forward- thinking wife would remind him, “Don’t forget the ladies.”

For three decades, the annual Abby Foundation’s Women Together celebration in the South Suburbs has recognized the accomplishments of women following Abigail Adams’ dreams, improving the future for women.

More than that, the Abby Foundation’s annual August luncheon gala has been where old friends reconnect and everyone makes new friends. It’s where people visit some 50-plus booths that promote a potpourri of resources; women’s and children’s healthcare, non-profit agencies that assist families and also businesses owned by women; and it’s where attendees learn more about the Southland’s often unsung amenities.

But first of all, the annual Abby Foundation Women Together gala continues to spotlight, support and promote local women and their never-ending accomplishments with academic and athletic scholarships and agency grants and awards.

The foundation has awarded more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships over the years.

In addition, each year, the foundation names a Woman of the Year whose community service and involvement have reached the stars.

Zoraida Sambolin, veteran NBC 5 Morning News co-anchor, will take the podium as keynote speaker at this year’s gala on Aug. 7 at the Holiday Inn-Tinley Park Convention Center, 18451 Convention Center Drive.

Booths open at 9 a.m., luncheon and awards ceremony begin at noon. In between those hours, Abby members will be selling raffle tickets, grand raffle tickets and helping out at the always-eclectic silent auction – with something for everyone’s taste.

Winners will be announced after lunch.

Launched in Chicago’s South Suburbs, the Abby Foundation grew out of concerns that women and children’s health issues were usually left on the back table, under-funded and equally under-acknowledged.

Then state-Rep. Loleta Didrickson of Flossmoor, Gloria Morningstar of Harvey, Susan Gowen of Flossmoor, Joanne Zerkel, features editor at Star Newspapers, and Orland Park businesswomen Bess and Wendy Friedheim were among a group of community activists who took the pro-women Abby concept and brought it to life.

“Joanne Zerkel became our microphone,” Didrickson, later elected state comptroller, recalled. “We launched in August 1985, 60 years after the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. With that law, women finally gained the right to vote.”

In fact, the Abby Foundation’s annual gala always takes place in August to commemorate the hard-fought success of the 19th amendment, Morningstar said.

The Silent auctions, the annual grand raffle, as well as individual donations fund the thousands of dollars for organization grants and tuition scholarships. Abby membership fee of $100 a year also helps fund the awards.

The Grand Raffle prize this year is a seven-night, eight-day condo stay in Beaver Creek, Colorado, courtesy of Thrall Enterprises Inc., a longtime Abby supporter. Members will sell raffle tickets at the event.

Luncheon tickets may be purchased by check sent to Abby Foundation, P.O. Box 121, Olympia Fields, and IL 60461, and online at www.abbyfoundation.org/events.