GIVING BACK
WELLNESS HOUSE SILVER BALL Wine auction cochairs Kevin and Tiffany Knaul, and ball co-chairs Stephanie and Freddie Brzozowski
WELLNESS BEYOND WALLS by Mike Ellis | Photography by Marco Nunez Wellness House is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and will be doing so in style later this month at its annual ball at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in downtown Chicago on Saturday, Oct. 24. The Hinsdale-based non-profit organization provides an array of nonmedical programs and services for cancer patients and their families at no cost to guests, making fundraising initiatives like the annual ball and walk, held the first Sunday each May, all the more significant. “Most non-profit organizations do have some fees for service, and then they supplement those fees with fundraising,” executive director Jeannie Cella said.
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“Everything we do here is fundraising.” Cella said this year’s ball, celebrating the organization’s silver anniversary, is expected to be its “biggest ever,” welcoming an estimated 500 guests. “Because this is our 25th anniversary, we anticipated in planning that we would have more guests,” she said. “So, we went to a place where we could take up to 500 people. We think we’re going to sell out.” The ball will be co-chaired by Freddie and Stephanie Brzozowski of Hinsdale, two active philanthropists devoted to a number of causes in the community, while the wine auction will be co-chaired by Kevin and Tiffany Knaul of Hinsdale.
Among the highlights of the ball will be a performance by recording artist Vladimir John Ondrasik III, a/k/a Five for Fighting. Cella said invitations were sent out last month, but tickets may still be purchased online at www.wellnesshouse.org.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION
Wellness House opened its doors at 131 N. County Line Road in July 1990. While a number of individuals were involved in the development process, Cella said a Hinsdale woman named Diane, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the late 1980s, developed the original idea.