If you’d like to donate gifts for children and teens in our Santa’s Workshop program this holiday, you can order directly from Together We Cope’s “Wish List” at Amazon. Just scan the QR code and it will take you to a listing of the most needed items this year. Your donation can be shipped directly to Together We Cope’s office via a “Wish List” purchase.  

TWC is proud to announce the appointments of two longtime staffers to the position of director.

Gina Rydz is the new Director of Grants and Programs, where she monitors the vital flow of financial resources coming to the agency and directs those funds to various programs provided by TWC. A south suburban native, she recently moved to Indiana. Gina did an internship with TWC in 2011 while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, then was hired as a housing program coordinator before becoming grants manager.

Together We Cope’s shuttered building at 17010 So. Oak Park Avenue in downtown Tinley Park is getting a facelift as repairs pick up some speed after a fire in November that also did extensive smoke and water damage to the office, food pantry and resale shop.

A new local contractor, Dominic Kowalczyk, owner of Construction Concepts of Illinois, has taken over renovation work after loss of the original contractor who was assigned by our insurance company.  Dominic is a longtime supporter of our mission in the south suburbs.

Dozens of south suburban residents were honored in April during Together We Cope’s annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at the Garden Chalet in Worth. Earning top honors for volunteer hours logged at the Tinley Park-based homeless prevention agency during 2022 were Len Schaafsma of Oak Forest at 1,069 hours, Jean Milligan of Posen at 850 hours, and Sharon Marth of Orland Park at 763 hours.

Together We Cope’s food pantry will remain closed until Spring as building repairs continue after a fire Nov. 21 that shut down the agency at 17010 So. Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park. In the meantime, people needing food assistance can go to the Greater Chicago Food Depository website http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org and click on the “Find Food” button to find a food pantry near them.

Together We Cope’s main building at 17010 So. Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park remains closed while repairs continue after a November fire there shut down our client services office, food pantry and Nu2u resale shop.  Nevertheless, we have been able to continue assisting families in need in a variety of ways because of the generosity of our donors.

Thrift shops always have been popular because of the delightful “finds” shoppers can discover in those resale shops, everything from brand new merchandise to collectibles from times gone by. Once, a mysterious donor left outside the shop’s back door during the night a high quality meat grinder of German manufacture that turned out to be worth thousands of dollars!

Trina Arvetis manages staff and volunteers at Nu2u, Together We Cope’s resale shop at 17010
South Oak Park Avenue in downtown Tinley Park.