CC’s Wish List is a charitable organization administered under the Lavin Family Foundation. Created over 50 years ago by the family that founded the Alberto Culver Company, the Foundation historically supported groups working in health care, education and programs designed to better family life.
Today the Foundation, directed by the second and third family generations under the banner of “Innovative Philanthropy at Work”, has continued and deepened that focus while creating new, entrepreneurial initiatives that extend its passion and reach beyond traditional funding channels.
Other examples of the family's innovative practices are exemplified through the CAST Water Safety Foundation and Enchanted Backpack, and "Feed It Forward", a $3.5 million initiative the Foundation began at the onset of the COVID pandemic. "Feed It Forward" partnered nonprofits with mom-and-pop restaurants to feed those in need while keeping neighborhood restaurants open with steady business.
The CAST Water Safety Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on water safety education and expanding access to self-rescue swim lessons in the Chicagoland area and beyond. CAST strives to empower families and communities during their journey towards swim competency.
CAST's mission is to create safer swimmers sooner. CAST has supported the training of over a dozen self-rescue swim instructors who together have taught over thousands of children to swim, float, and self-rescue, including over 700 on scholarship.
CAST has created wide reaching water safety campaigns that have reached tens of thousands of nationwide viewers. CAST is now working to fund critical research to share the impact of self-rescue swimming, with a focus in the pediatric community.
Free water safety educational resources are available from the CAST printable library here.
Find information about self-rescue swim lesson scholarships here.
To learn more about CAST, visit CAST Water Safety Foundation
or contact Liz Huber, Director,
at liz@castwatersafety.org.
CC's Wish List leverages its purchasing power to maximize community impact with gifts in-kind, ensuring the donation of thousands upon thousands of cases of brand-new, quality soft goods to nonprofits of all types and sizes.
By partnering with fantastic nonprofit organizations, CC's Wish List shares crucial resources and extends a helping hand to those in need by donating adult and children's clothing, footwear, winter coats, personal care items, bedding and small household essentials.
Fostering wellness, restoring dignity, and helping children and adults feel seen...
the littlest things can indeed make the biggest difference.
To learn more, visit CC's Wish List or contact, Debbie Grinnell, Director, at DGrinnell@lavinfamilyfoundation.org
Enchanted Backpack’s magical, mystical vans deliver a year’s worth of materials to each school it serves. With an average retail value of $40,000, each delivery includes a year’s worth of brand-new school supplies for every student, plus books, art and athletic equipment, winter coats and much more, all at an Enchanted Backpack cost of only $10,000 thanks to its savvy buying.
Annually, 20,000 students and 1,200 teachers are supported through its Mobile Van Delivery program. In addition, through partnerships with outstanding teachers and administrators, Enchanted Backpack provides deeper community impact to qualifying schools through its Adopt-A-School, Teacher Appreciation, and Washer/Dryer programs.
To-date, Enchanted Backpack has supported over 160,000 students in 350+ schools across ten counties in Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana and Florida
To learn more, please visit Enchanted Backpack or contact
Joe Froelich, Co-Director, at jfroelich@enchantedbackpack.org.