Chuhak & Tecson celebrates 15th anniversary of its pioneering Women Helping Women program with mix-and-mingle event supporting #LovePurse

This fall, Chuhak & Tecson, P.C. is celebrating a milestone anniversary for its award-winning Women Helping Women program. For 15 years, this groundbreaking initiative, designed exclusively by women, for women, has fostered professional empowerment and strengthened bonds among women professionals while partnering with not for profit organizations to provide resources and expand opportunities for women throughout Chicagoland.

The cornerstone of Women Helping Women is the annual, two-hour Mix-and-Mingle networking event that draws women from scores of industries across the business and professional spectrum. For each invitation-only gathering, which consistently brings together more than 125 women, Women Helping Women identifies and partners with a local not for profit organization dedicated to helping women or women and their children.

For its 15^th Mix-and-Mingle, to be held on September 18, 2024, Women Helping Women will be supporting #LovePurse. This innovative not for profit organization and its volunteers collect new purses, fill them with necessary toiletries, personal items, small gifts and inspirational notes of encouragement and distribute them to organizations supporting women coping with personal tragedies, living in emergency shelter situations or facing domestic violence, human trafficking or homelessness. Since its inception in 2021, #LovePurse has gifted more than 12,000 purses with more than 360,000 toiletries to women in need in the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Turkey and Ukraine.

Janet Wagner, a principal in Chuhak & Tecson’s Financial Services practice group and active participant in the Women Helping Women program, learned of the mission for #LovePurse and says she is thrilled to help bring more resources and awareness to the organization and the women it serves.

“A purse may seem like such a basic, unremarkable thing, but when you think about it, a purse and its contents are really an indispensable part of the woman carrying it,” Wagner says. “For women who have experienced trauma or lack this fundamental aspect of day-to-day living, #LovePurse provides them with a sense of much-needed normalcy, independence and strength. I am so gratified that we get to be a part of those efforts.”

Maria Castro, who started #LovePurse in March 2021, is also excited about the partnership with Women Helping Women and looks forward to a great event for the organization that she is so passionate about.

“We are so proud to be able to participate in Women Helping Women’s 15th anniversary. It is such a blessing and inspiration to see all of these accomplished professionals coming together to support fellow women and let them know that they are seen, supported and loved,” Castro says. “It is not an understatement to say that these purses, materials and personal messages can change lives.”

Those who would like to support Chuhak & Tecson’s Women Helping Women and #LovePurse’s important efforts can click on the unique Women Helping Women/LovePurse Amazon link to purchase a purse and select a variety of the essentials to be included in the purse.

To learn more about Women Helping Women or about how to receive an invitation to this year’s event, contact Sydney Iglitzen, Manager of Marketing & Communications, at 312.201.3437 or siglitzen@chuhak.com.