I have volunteered here several times doing different roles such as sorting and stickering books…read more The facility here is amazing, with an enormous warehouse and the other areas being a great place to socialize as well, surrounded by tons of books, coat area, and lots of Bernie's Book Bank branded items. The staff here is always super friendly and great at helping new volunteers with understanding their roles and how to perform their jobs. If going with a group from work, this is a great way to meet others and socialize, while doing your volunteer job.

I went there for a yelp event. it was calledneon night and it was a fundraiser. I have never been…read morehere prior to it nor was I familiar with it. It seems like a wonderful organization. You can donate books or money, and it helps children that don't have the means to buy books and you donate money or books, and it helps them. The CM of the North Shore suburbs Keisha and her assistant were kind enough to organize this.

Tails of Hope is a non profit organization that takes in the pets of individuals who pass away or…read moreare terminally/chronically I'll and can no longer care for their dog or cat. They do make exceptions and take in pets that would otherwise be put down at another location as well. To me that was an amazing mission statement. And they are a no kill shelter. Who could ask for a better shelter?! These ladies truly love the animals and provide them with the best care possible as they try and find the perfect families for these animals that have fallen on hard times. My coworkers and I took a group of students here to learn about the animals and the work that goes into running a shelter. Tails of Hope was super accommodating and helped us organize an engaging field trip!

As the other reviewer pointed out, Tails of Hope is a non profit organization that takes in the…read morepets of individuals who pass away or are terminally/chronically Ill. Kelly and the ladies and gentlemen take extreme care with the dogs and cats at Tails of Hope, and it costs a great deal of money to keep a no kill shelter running. Tails of Hope offer boarding to help offset their expenses, on the recommendation of a friend, I boarded my pup with Tails of Hope and my doggie was very happy with her stay, and met a few friends there waiting to be adopted. It was very clean, considerably cleaner than some other facilities I have been to. If you need to board your dog or cat, please give Tails of Hope a call, at least you'll know your money won't be going towards the owner's BMW lease payment, but helping find all these loving animals a new forever home.

Did you ever wonder what you can do to make a difference? I know I have. One of my passions since I…read morewas a child was Foster Care. I did a lot of research on that topic in college and wrote my undergraduate thesis on Foster Care. I always wanted to do something more... This year a wonderful movie came out, Instant Family. At the end of the movie, a link went up on the screen telling the audience that if they want to help a foster child to check out the link. That's how I found CASA and I am so lucky that I did. I remember walking into the building for the very first time for my interview with one of the trainers. I was nervous and excited, not knowing what to expect. On my drive back home, my friend called and asked me how the interview went. The first word that came into mind was inspiring. That's a strange word to describe an interview, but that was the one word that kept coming to mind every time I talked about it. We had 40 hours of intense training, split into twice a week sessions starting mid April. Living in Chicago, it was quite a long drive to get to Vernon Hills. However, after every session I felt blissfully happy and inspired. Mondays and Wednesday became my favorite days. The training sessions included videos, presentations, speakers and super interesting activities. We were put on an emotional rollercoaster and given tools to become the best advocates we could be. At the end of our 40 hour session, we were sworn in in-front of a judge and became official Court Appointed Special Advocates and assigned our first case. Thank you to the amazing staff at CASA Lake County who make a difference in people's lives. Thank you Debra for training me to become the best advocate I can be, Monica for becoming my advocate manager, Brendan for having me join Young Professionals Board; Margaret, Shannon, Elizabeth, Laura, Debby for being guest speakers and wonderful resources if we ever needed anything. Sherri for being so friendly when we went to visit court to observe. Of course, thank you Terri for managing this incredible organization for so many year. If you want to learn more about how you can help a child and have an unforgettable, one of a kind volunteer experience, you should check CASA Lake County out. I bet you won't be disappointed. :)

From the owner: CASA Lake County is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the best interests of abused and…read moreneglected children within the juvenile court system. Based on the belief that every child is entitled to a safe and permanent home, thoroughly trained CASA volunteers work in collaboration with key agencies, legal counsel and community resources to serve as the child's advocate and represent the child's best interest in juvenile court.

Friendly staff, great variety/selection of items, clean and tidy dressing rooms. I always find at…read moreleast something here and you never know what'll grab your attention.

Decided to stop by since there was nothing else to do. This goodwill has a lot of random stuff and…read moreI'd say it's relatively organized.

I wasn't aware this place existed, as it's a bit out of my usual distance for going to events. But…read moreI saw an instagram ad for Michael Cavanaugh and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see him (Movin' Out is one of my favorite Broadway shows). The location is very convenient to the Metra, and there's free parking in the lot for the building, which is always appreciated. The venue itself is nice -- intimate and a community-based feeling (there was a community band of some sort rehearsing in a room outside the theater when I left, which is charming). The theater itself isn't elaborate, but it's a nice space. It's great for this type of event. The show itself was great -- he's a fantastic performer, and I loved the set list and how interactive he tried to be with the audience (more on that later). I also loved that I was able to get a discounted seat because I bought a single seat in between seats that had already sold, so it was half price. (I don't know if they always do this, or if it was just because there were still quite a few seats left at the time I bought my ticket 2 weeks beforehand. Regardless, my frugal self appreciated it. I wish more places did that.). There were a few times during the show that the house lights randomly came on during a song, and it didn't seem like it was intentional. Maybe it was the light board operator hitting the wrong thing, or maybe a house manager bumped a switch. It was a little odd though and it happened a few times, which kind of took me out of the performance and made me think something was going on. But oh man, the crowd itself was an interesting experience from a people-watching perspective. It must be a Lake Forest thing? 96% of the audience seemed to think they were in the waiting room of a dentist office waiting for a root canal, and about 1% of the audience thought they were at Coachella (including the three 55-65 year old women next to me, who I'm pretty sure were drinking vodka out of a water bottle because they were getting progressively more wasted during the show despite only drinking from a clear water bottle lol. No judgement. We've all been there...I just haven't been there since I was 21 and trying to sneak my own alcohol into a street festival because I was cheap and not going to pay for overpriced drinks. But hey, you do you. YOLO!). The other 3% were like myself and wanted to get into it, but because everyone else seemed like they were afraid to move, we were holding back (because we didn't want to be "those people", like the ladies next to me...although honestly they seemed like they had a GREAT time, by the way they were grooving and had their hands up in the air even though not another soul in the theater did lol. I can only hope I'm that carefree when I grow up. I'm certainly not at this stage in my life). I almost feel bad for Michael, because I assume he wanted the audience to be a bit more into it than they were. He asked people to clap along a few times and he would start it and then as soon as he put his hands back on the piano to play, people stopped clapping (then he would start clapping again to try to get people going, and they would until he went back to playing. My dudes....he wanted you to clap along to the beat during the song. That's literally how that song works). I tried to keep it going but it was awkward (and bless the people next to me...they tried to clap but the alcohol was definitely impacting their ability to find and stay on the beat. I was fighting a losing battle trying to guide them haha). Also, the crowd here could stand to learn a few things about technology to avoid annoying everyone around them. Obviously people are going to take videos and photos, which is fine. I did too. But it seems like no one knew to turn down their screen brightness in a dark theater so you don't blind the people around you. It was super distracting and headache-inducing to see super bright phone screens out of the corner of my eye every few minutes (maybe it was just the section where I was seated). It would be nice if the ushers or house manager could've said something to folks or reminded people at the beginning not to let their phones be distractions. I was a house manager out in the western suburbs for a similarly sized theater while I was in grad school, and I worked at a theater that held concerts like this in high school, so I've worked at (and attended) hundreds of concerts just like this. This was definitely the strangest experience of an audience I've ever encountered. Apparently this is par for the course, though, because I made an IG story post describing my people observations during intermission and my friend asked me if I was at Gorton Center...I asked her how she knew and she said it was because of the audience description I gave lol. I'd go back and I'm glad I went. I'd just need to prepare myself so I'm not so jarred by the bizarre audience vibes.

Great community center! I had an office here for about 10 years and ran a non profit and watched…read morethe center grow from well appointed but not fully utilized community center into a bustling hub of classes, shows, private events, parties for the town. Rents are reasonable for private events. Shows are very reasonably priced. Classes are well attended.

What's not to like?…read more You're volunteering for an important cause, it's fun and social, and you're done in about an hour and forty-five minutes. All ages are welcome from 5yo and up and if you are unable to stand, there are other options for serving that allow you to sit. I serve here about 3-4 times a year with my company and I'm taking my family here soon! This is a great Christian-centered organization that you should support, even if you're not Christian. There are also a lot of items for sale that serve as additional donations!

What a great idea and effort to support the less fortunate abroad. It's educational, team fun and…read morerewarding! DO IT!