Best Seats in the House

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August 2019 View more

  • John and Alicia Rasnic with Kay and Skip Searcy.
  • Zachary Mestek and Stephanie Price.
  • (Top row) Gail McLaughlin, Dawn Saviano-Kahn, and Mary Barnett with (bottom row) Elizabeth Gretz, Alma Martinez, Talina Thornton, and Pam Saviano.
  • Yesenia Sanchez and Andrea Carradus.
  • Carolyn and Mark Milligan

On June 13, more than 200 supporters and friends of Bridge Communities celebrated art, community, and philanthropy at the sixth annual A Chair Affair event. Held at the Elements at Water Street event space inside the Naperville Riverwalk’s Hotel Indigo, the event featured 17 outstanding handcrafted pieces of artwork—ranging from chairs and tables to benches and bars, which were sold in live and silent auctions that evening. A Chair Affair also featured raffles, an exclusive Kendra Scott jewelry pull, a client graduate sharing her inspirational Bridge story and more.

Bridge Communities partnered with the Naperville Parks Foundation this year to feature four pieces of artwork made of wood specially harvested from Naperville’s historic Hobson Oak, which was carefully taken down in 2016. Through this partnership, Bridge Communities and Naperville Parks Foundation split the proceeds for these four items, resulting in a donation of more than $2,400 for the Naperville Parks Foundation.

In total, the event raised more than $70,000—the funding equivalent to housing six homeless families each for an entire year in the Bridge Communities Transitional Housing Program. “We are incredibly thankful to our guests, sponsors, volunteers and the Naperville community at large for your support of A Chair Affair,” says Bridge Communities senior director Amy Van Polen. “Because of you, six homeless families will find a safe haven in a Bridge Communities apartment this year and begin recovering from the traumas of homelessness. Thank you for being there when they needed you.”—MD