5 Orland Park Nonprofits To Support This Holiday Season

ORLAND PARK, IL — If you’re like many of your Orland Park neighbors, you may spend a good part of the holiday season with your credit card in hand buying gifts for family and friends. Coming up soon is a chance to give back to the local community.

Giving Tuesday, which in 2024 falls on Dec. 3, is a day dedicated to supporting nonprofit and community groups. Since 2012, nonprofits worldwide have used the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to galvanize fundraising, rally volunteers and add momentum to their causes.

Maintaining funding is a constant challenge for many nonprofits that fill gaps and meet other needs in the Orland Park area.

Here are five local nonprofits to consider getting behind on Giving Tuesday:

1. Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation: The hope, dream and goal of the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation is to have a Treasure Chest in al lpediatric oncology facilities in the nation. The Treasure Chest Program allows pediatric cancer patients to choose an age-appropriate toy or gift card as a reward for having the courage to undergo painful but necessary procedures.Each month, the Treasure Chest Foundation comforts thousands of kids and teens fighting cancer across the nation. Donate here.

2. The Bridge Teen Center: The Bridge Teen Center is an innovative grassroots nonprofit community center that was designed around the interests and needs of teens in the suburbs. It opened in Orland Park in 2010, and has served over 13,500 different teens and families from 128 Chicago Southland and Northwest Indiana communities. ITs mission is to provide free programs during after-school and unsupervised hours where students can develop mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually in a safe environment. The vision of The Bridge Teen Center is to provide teens with a place to find hope, purpose, and direction. Find out more.

3. Crisis Center for South Suburbia: The Crisis Center for South Suburbia is a non-profit community organization that provides emergency shelter and other essential services for individuals and families impacted by domestic violence and addresses the societal issues that contribute to domestic violence. The crisis center offers a 24-hour hotline and other victim services, including emergency shelter, housing, prevention, outreach, advocacy and education. Make an online donation here.

4. Peoples Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) of Tinley Park: PAWS is a no-kill animal shelter dedicated to the protection of domestic animals and to prevent animal cruelty in the surrounding communities. PAWS provides shelter to abandoned, lost and relinquished pets, adoption and community education. The shelter strives to prevent the overpopulation of pets by offering spay/neutering services. To adopt a pet (there are a lot of kittens this year) or to make a donation, visit PAWS of Tinley Park.

5. Christmas Without Cancer: Founded in 2003 by an oncology nurse, Christmas Without Cancer has aided thousands of people across Chicagoland by providing holiday gifts as well as daily necessities to local families hit emotionally and financially by a cancer diagnosis. The Evergreen Park-based grass roots organization quietly identifies and adopts multiple families through the year, supplying gift cards for gas, groceries, medications and other “need” items, as well as help with mortgage payments, rent, tuition and travel-related expenses for treatment. Make an online donation here.