A tree-lined drive in Evanston. Photo: Anthony Fomin / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
GivingTuesday arrived on Dec. 2, 2014, the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving weekend, and Evanston had no shortage of places to send a gift that would stay in town.
The day began in 2012 as a project of New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation, pitched as a charitable answer to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Three local efforts stood out in early December 2014.
The mayor’s food and toy drive
Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl’s sixth annual Holiday Food & Toy Drive took donations of food, toys and money through Friday, Dec. 12. A basket giveaway for families followed on Friday, Dec. 19, and organizers asked for volunteers to help hand out the goods. Sign-ups ran through VolunteerEvanston.org.
The city also teamed up with Toys for Tots, the Marine Corps Reserve program that collects new, unwrapped toys. Gifts left at any of five Evanston Toys for Tots drop-off sites were routed to the mayor’s drive rather than to other communities.
Replacing the ash trees
The emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle, has been killing Evanston’s ash trees since at least 2006. By 2013, according to a city presentation to the City Council, it had wiped out more than 2,000 of them. The I Heart Evanston Trees fund was created to help pay for replacements, with each donation going toward buying a new tree for a spot where one had died.
City forestry staff have argued that replanting is also a chance to diversify the tree canopy. A mix of species is less vulnerable to the next pest or disease that comes along, and trees help absorb stormwater and clean the air. The planting seasons of 2014 and 2015 were the target for the money raised then.
The public library
The Evanston Public Library, which relies in part on private gifts, was the third local cause making a GivingTuesday appeal. Donations support collections, job-search help, internet access, literacy programs, children’s story times and book discussions. Gifts could be made online, or by mail or in person with a printable form.
None of the three asked for a large check. The tree fund, the toy drive and the library all accepted small amounts, and the drive in particular depended on the kind of donation that fits in a grocery bag.
Details drawn from City of Evanston announcements and Evanston Public Library materials.
Rachel Lindqvist covers community life, the lakefront, dining and the arts for The Evanston Edge.
