{"id":447655,"date":"2025-12-15T01:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T01:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/447655\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T01:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T01:42:12","slug":"sweet-home-chicago-benefit-at-four-seasons-hotel-in-chicago-raises-money-for-wings-services-for-domestic-violence-survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/447655\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Home Chicago benefit at Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago raises money for WINGS&#8217; services for domestic violence survivors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; Christmas cheer made its way to the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, where hundreds gathered to raise money for a cause that is lifting spirits and changing lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Sunday marked the 22nd year of Sweet Home Chicago, an annual benefit that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for WINGS, a nonprofit organization that provides emergency shelter and services for survivors of domestic violence.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/watch\/live\/11064984\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Money raised at Sunday&#8217;s benefit went directly to WINGS&#8217; two critical safe houses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Guests go into the Christmas spirit by spending time with Santa and Mrs. Claus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Kiddos built gingerbread houses, created ornaments, and were greeted by Christmas carolers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Service dogs were even on hand to provide some peace and relaxation for guests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The CEO of WINGS, along with the event&#8217;s co-chair, say they are so grateful for the public&#8217;s generosity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We&#8217;re the only ones in Illinois who have two safe houses. It&#8217;s still not enough, but we are doing what we can. And everyone who comes here today to have fun, while they are having fun, they are helping people in distress to not stay in that situation,&#8221; said WINGS CEO Rebecca Darr.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It really is remarkable. It&#8217;s something you can&#8217;t even explain, because it&#8217;s just that good, you know? One event, and all these people coming together for a good cause,&#8221; said Sweet Home Chicago Co-Chair Shea Mausser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Sweet Home Chicago is a family tradition for many of the guests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">ABC7 spoke with some of the youngest attendees about what they look forward to most each year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It&#8217;s a great way to get in the Christmas spirit. I always remember coming and making the gingerbread houses,&#8221; said guest Jeffrey Podjasek.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;I feel like kind of like the scene and the setting, the carolers and all that,&#8221; said guest Carmella Lupo. &#8220;I really like to make the little jingle, or like the ornaments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Just this year alone, well over $720,000 was raised, bringing the grand total collected to more than $14 million since the event&#8217;s launch back in 2004. And it is all supporting WINGS and its mission to fight domestic violence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">You can contact the Illinois domestic violence hotline at 1-877-863-6338 click <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.state.il.us\/page.aspx?item=30275\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; Christmas cheer made its way to the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, where hundreds gathered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":447656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[205915,960,205913,5462,200451,62766,205912,5386,1818,112981,205914,14378],"class_list":{"0":"post-447655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-205915","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-events","11":"tag-chicago-news","12":"tag-christmas-2025","13":"tag-downtown-chicago","14":"tag-four-seasons-hotel","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-illinois","17":"tag-safe-house","18":"tag-sweet-home-chicago","19":"tag-wings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115721046774775509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}