GECRC Events
Glen Ellyn Children’s Resource Center (GECRC) events offer a great opportunity to benefit GECRC while connecting with your friends, family, neighbors, or customers.
Author Amity Gaige Shares her Best Selling Novel Heartwood at Glen Ellyn Children’s Resource Center’s Annual Literary Event Fundraiser
The Glen Ellyn Children’s Resource Center (GECRC) welcomes The New York Times best-selling author Amity Gaige to its annual Literary Event Fundraiser, held on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton. Proceeds will support GECRC’s efforts to empower nearly 300 under-resourced children living in the greater Glen Ellyn community to realize their full potential through after-school and summer tutoring and mentoring programs. The event is held in partnership with The Bookstore of Glen Ellyn and supported by the generosity from many loyal businesses and community partners in Glen Ellyn and Wheaton.
“We are delighted to welcome Amity Gaige, author of The New York Times' bestselling novel Heartwood as our featured author at GECRC’s 2026 Literary Event, held once again at Arrowhead Golf Club,” says Sarah O’Donnell, GECRC Executive Director. "We’re looking forward to an engaging evening as Ms. Gaige discusses her critically acclaimed novel Heartwood in an insightful Q&A format led by The Bookstore of Glen Ellyn owner Shannon Burgess.”
Heartwood has been called “the best thriller of the year” by The Boston Globe, and was named a Best Book of 2025 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Public Library, Audible, She Reads, Goodreads, Vulture and NPR. Heartwood has been described as “gratifying as a daffodil at the end of a long winter” (The New York Times) and “a terrifically moving and tense thriller… genius” (The Washington Post). Gaige is also the author of similarly lauded novels Sea Wife, Schroder, O My Darling, and The Folded World.
Tickets are $80 in advance or $90 at the door. A $95 bundle of a ticket and a discounted paperback copy of Heartwood is available from The Bookstore in Glen Ellyn. Tickets include light bites, two drink tickets, and an abundance of literary-loving friends. Guests are welcome to purchase additional drink tickets and raffle tickets for amazing curated baskets from book clubs and favorite local businesses. The event takes place on Thursday, April 30, 2026 starting at 6:30pm at Arrowhead Golf Club, 26W151 Butterfield Rd, Wheaton, IL. Tickets can be purchased online now at https://literary26gecrc.
Past Events
2025 Literary Event: A Tremendous Success!
What an incredible night! Our annual Literary Event featuring author Catherine Newman was a tremendous success! More than 170 attendees listened to Catherine’s remarks on her New York Times best selling novel 'Sandwich'. We are so grateful to Catherine for traveling to Glen Ellyn to share her insightful wit and candor with us! And thank you to Shannon Burgess from The Bookstore of Glen Ellyn for moderating a delightful question and answer session. Nearly $32K was raised to support the students of GECRC!
We would like to thank the Bookstore of Glen Ellyn for their partnership in making this event possible. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading ‘Sandwich’ yet, you can purchase a copy from the Bookstore.
Thank you so much to all of our generous sponsors, including our Fundraising Event level sponsors Glen Ellyn Bank & Trust, Ball Foundation, Foundation Wealth Strategies, and the Kiwanis Club of Glen Ellyn.
For a complete list of sponsors, raffle and silent auction donors, please see the lists on this page.
Thank you to Arrowhead Golf Club for their wonderful hospitality. We also want to recognize the incredible efforts of the Literary Event committee, especially chairperson Katie Prescott who dedicated a tremendous amount of time and carried the torch from chairperson and former board member Janis Pfister whom we sadly lost earlier this year. Janis' spirit and love for the Literary Event shone brightly last evening; she is so missed, and we were honored to host her husband Jerry and family at the event. Thank you also to Maureen Winans, Angela Fanella, Shannon Burgess, Melissa Walti, Karen Winter, and Jodi Herbold for all of their hard work. Thank you to all of the many book club members in town who donated items to create incredible raffle baskets, and thank you to the businesses and individuals who donated, as well. Finally, thank you to the GECRC board members and staff for their support at this event. All of these efforts make such a difference in the lives of our students!
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Literary Event Sponsors:
- All State Insurance - Mulcare Insurance
- Amy Storm & Co.
- Midge* and Dan Anderson
- Balance Yoga + Pilates
- Ball Foundation
- The Bookstore of Glen Ellyn
- Casey’s Gas Station
- Compass Realty - the Carrie and Renee Group
- Custom Direct
- Ellyn & Main
- Exploring Flooring
- Foundation Wealth Strategies
- Gayle Bartell
- Glen Ellyn Bank & Trust
- Glenwood Station
- Identity Graphics
- J. Umlauf Designs
- Julia Smith Architecture
- Kiwanis Club of Glen Ellyn
- Laubinger & Associates, LLC
- Marcel's/Marche
- Nourish Well Counseling
- Park & Oak
- Theresa Hiser
* remembered
Raffle Donors:
- Arrowhead Golf Club Wheaton
- Balance Yoga + Pilates
- The Bookstore Glen Ellyn
- Bourbon Belly Hospitality: Burger Social
- Celebrate in Style
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
- D41 Kids Foundation
- Dick Pond, Carol Stream
- Ditkas
- Enchanted Petals
- Fantastic Straps
- Four Brothers Handcrafted
- Gather & Collect
- Gia Mia
- Glenbard South Boosters
- Glenbard West Boosters
- Good Roots
- Goodman Theatre
- Guiding Light Studio
- Hale Street Cantina
- IL Songo
- Ko-ze
- Lenox Road Collective
- Lettuce Entertain You
- Marcel's
- Marche
- Nothing Bundt Cakes
- The McAninch Arts Center
- M/M Frame Co.
- Nourish Well Counseling
- Proof No. 5
- PRP Wine International
- Rise Fitness + Wellness
- Satori Hair Studio
- Tasting deVine
- Two Brothers Artisan Brewing
- Chocolates
- Village Links Glen Ellyn
Book Club Donors:
- 2nd Tuesday Book Club
- Arrowhead Book Club
- Beach Reads & Bubbly
- Bound By Books
- Gather & Grow - The GardenWorks Project
- Glen Ellyn Senior Center Book Club
- Go! Go! Sporty Girls Book Club
- Greenfield Book Club
- Lincoln Hill Book Club
- Novels & Neighbors
- Smile Sweat Shine Coaching Book Club
- TBC (The Book Club)
- Women on Fire Book Club
- World’s Greatest Book Club
Previous Literary Event Featured Authors and Books
2024 - Mary Beth Keane, ‘The Half Moon’
2023 - Mary Laura Philpott, ‘Bomb Shelter’
2022 - Abra Berens, ‘grist’ and ‘ruffage’ cookbooks
2021 - Claire Lombardo, ‘The Most Fun We Ever Had’
2020 - canceled due to pandemic
2019 - Rebecca Makkai, ‘The Great Believers’
2018 - Christina Henriquez
2017 - Ronald H. Balson
2016 - Luis Urrea
2015 - Melanie Benjamin
2025 Mahjong Fundraiser
Our first ever Mahjong fundraising event at the Glen Oak Paddle Hut June 18 checked all of the boxes!
Learned something new and challenging(!) Connected with friends & made new ones Supported a great cause! (GECRC)A tremendous thank you to Missy Mahjong* for donating her time and expertise to teaching two SOLD-OUT sessions of beginner Mahjong lessons to our friends and supporters! It's safe to say that an incredible time was had by all! A special thank you to board member Jen Dietzler for introducing us to her awesome sister-in-law Missy and getting the ball rolling on this super fun and successful fundraiser! Thank you to Griffin Harvey Group - Compass Real Estate and GECRC leadership for sponsoring the wine raffle, and thank you to the wonderful staff at the Glen Oak Paddle Hut for their excellent hospitality and service! We had such a long waitlist for this event that perhaps we could do it again sometime?? Make sure to follow GECRC on instagram and social media for potential future Mahjong opportunities!
*Check out https://www.missymahjong.com/
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Rock Around the Block
We are incredibly grateful to all of the members of our tremendous community who came out to support GECRC at the four Rock the Block parties on Saturday, Sept.7! Attendees enjoyed listening to talented local musicians, catching up with neighbors and learning more about GECRC. Generous donations have topped $4000 and counting - thank you to everyone who donated! Extra special thanks to our block party hosts: the Winters, the Lobdells, the Stortzs, the Buttimers, and a new block party in the Mary Knoll neighborhood this year, hosted by former GECRC board member Judy Cheney and long standing Lincoln tutor Kim Tolliver. Thank you also to the incredible musicians: Exmoor Avenue: Justin "Bronco" Ullman, Barry Dupuy and GECRC tutor Courtnay Roberts; Cottage Avenue: Gabi Winter, Ryan and Carrie O'Halloran, Jenny Mauzer and Drew Tedford; Sunset Avenue: Lincoln Elementary teacher Amy Bishop and her band Altered Suburbia; Mary Knoll: The Arts Department - former GECRC board member Lucy Dallman and Ben Franklin music teacher Billy Van Duzor.Our community is talented, generous and amazing!
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Picklepalooza
What an amazing time we all had in August at Pickled Wheaton for our second annual sold-out Picklepalooza 2 fundraiser! Congratulations to our Intermediate/Advanced bracket winners Team "Wolfie," Sue Kamphuis and Barb Iverson, and to our Beginning/Intermediate bracket winners Team "Shorty," Kristen Short and Lisa Leuer!! Thank you so much to all of our sponsors, players, attendees, volunteers and the Picklepalooza committee for all of your hard work on this incredibly fun event that raised $8000 in sponsorships for GECRC and had 50 pickleballers and fans attend!
Thank you also to Pickled! in Wheaton for being such wonderful hosts!
Sponsors and In-Kind Donations for Picklepalooza:
- Foundation Wealth Strategies
- Glen Ellyn Bank & Trust
- Mulcare Insurance Company
- Centerpoint Properties
- Davey Tree Experts
- Laubinger & Associates, LLC
- Umlauf Design
- Rakuten
- Berkshire Hathaway - Daniel Maurer
- Compass Real Estate - Griffin Harvey Group
- Culligan Water
- Custom Direct Integrated Marketing Solutions
- Identity Graphics
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