Friends Organize Fundraiser for Algonquin Family

Kim Ulbrich has done many things for her community, from volunteering at the Algonquin Lake in the Hills Food Pantry to co-founding the Lake in the Hills Parks and Recreation Department.

Now, the community and her friends are doing something for Ulbrich, whose family lost their belongings and home in an April 8 fire.

A unique raffle fundraiser will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, May 19 at Moretti’s, 220 N. Randal Road, Lake in the Hills. Moretti’s is donating pizza and appetizers.

Admission is free, but raffle tickets are $20 for “arm’s length” or $40, for “wing span,” depending on how many items one wants to try to win. There will be a cash bar.

The raffle prizes vary from a $200 AMC gift card for its remodeled Lake in the Hills theater, certificates from Taylor Stevens salon, Free Spirit Doggie Day Care and much more.  Homemade jewelry, Gems for Friends, will also be sold.

Elizabeth Felt Wakeman, Denise Wasserman and Ann Lacy organized the fundraiser to help the Ulbrich family, which includes Kim, her husband and their 22-year-old twins. The family lost everything.

“They are trying to approach this as an opportunity for a fresh start, but it is an opportunity with huge challenges,” Wakeman said.

“In all the time I’ve known Kim, no matter what bad things happen, she has the most positive outlook. Even on my worse day, she can make me laugh hysterically,” Wakeman said. “We wanted to help someone who always makes us laugh.”

Kim Ulbrich has been overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity, Wakeman said.

Wakeman’s law firm is donating an estate planning set worth $700 each. Wasserman’s father donated a carpet extractor. “People are donating some really cool stuff,” she said.

Wakeman and everyone who organized the fundraiser tried thinking out of the box. Her husband came up with the idea of a Pass the Balance jar where people can drop in unused gift cards or cards with leftover balances.

“People were very, very open to giving,” Wakeman said, adding most of the donations came from people and businesses that do not know the Ulbrich family. What she thinks has resonated with donors is that “this is the kind of thing that can happen to anyone,” she said.