WINGS Invites You to Celebrate it’s 40th Anniversary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 12, 2025

Printable Press Release Here

40th Anniversary Celebration

40 Hours of Giving Challenge

WINGS 40^th Anniversary Celebration

Culinary Extravaganza with Live Music & 40 Hours of Giving Challenge

CHICAGO (March 12^th, 2025) –WINGS invites you to celebrate its 40th Anniversary. Here are two ways to participate: WINGS 40^th Anniversary Celebration on March 20^th at Middleby Residential Showroom in Chicago and WINGS 40 Hours of Giving Challenge on April 25^th – 26th.

WINGS 40th Anniversary Celebration

To honor this milestone, a special event is being held on Thursday, March 20^th at 6:00pm at Middleby Residential Showroom in Chicago.

Attendees will enjoy cooking demonstrations, live jazz music by Elaine Dame and her quartet, an open bar, raffles including Viking Cookware, and more. This event is possible thanks to event sponsor Middleby Residential.

All proceeds from the 40^th Anniversary Celebration will be used towards WINGS housing programs and critical support services to domestic violence survivors.

Middleby Showroom Chefs: Kristen Brogan and Amy Lukasik

Elaine Dame

WINGS 40 Hours of Giving Challenge

WINGS 40 Hours of Giving Challenge will start midnight on Friday, April 25^th and run through Saturday, April 26^th. Top fundraising teams will receive special recognition.

Thanks to a generous $100,000 match, all donations from new donors and increased giving over last year will be matched.

Each team will have their own webpage, making fundraising secure and convenient.

Federal Funding Uncertainty

WINGS 40^th Anniversary comes at a time of uncertainty and increased contacts to the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline. Currently, 22% of WINGS annual budget comes from federal funding that is in jeopardy. At the same time, the Illinois Statewide Hotline year has year over year received increasingly more contacts for domestic violence assistance.

Rebecca Darr, WINGS President & CEO

Rebecca Darr, WINGS President & CEO for over 26 years shares, “Throughout WINGS 40 years of service to the community, we have overcome many uncertain times. We’ve overcome a recession, a fire that destroyed one of our WINGS Resale stores, a pandemic, and more.

Empowered by our community of supporters, we have grown from a grass-roots organization to the largest domestic violence agency in Illinois. These 40^th Anniversary events celebrate our collective impact: over a million nights of safe housing provided and thousands of families who have broken the cycle of abuse.”

Sponsorships, raffle tickets, and event tickets to WINGS 40^th Anniversary Celebration can be purchased here: https://wingsprogram.com/upcoming-event/wings-40th-anniversary-celebration/

More information about WINGS 40 Hours of Giving can be found here: https://wingsprogram.com/wings-40-hours-of-giving-starts-friday-april-25th/

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About WINGS:

With 40 years of experience, WINGS Program, Inc. is a premier provider of domestic violence solutions. As the largest domestic violence agency in Illinois, WINGS creates high-quality, customized, domestic violence programs for survivors of all ages, ethnicities, and gender identities. WINGS programs have provided over one million nights of safe housing, life-changing community-based counseling, award-winning mentoring programs and much more. Anyone experiencing domestic violence can receive help by calling the 24-hour hotline at 847.221.5680. For more information, visit www.wingsprogram.com.