By Elizabeth Vassolo
Triblocal.com reporter

Three businesses, one school and a musician will join forces from 6 to 8 p.m. May 21 in West Chicago to help raise money for World Bicycle Relief, a national non-profit that provides bicycles to Third-World populations.

Based on a seven-year initiative by Wheaton Academy to help support students in Zambia, Africa, the money raised will be used to purchase bikes for high school students who would otherwise travel upward of 12 miles one way to school each day on foot.

The event will take place at Capelli Bella Salon and Spa and Starbucks both located at 200 W. North Ave., West Chicago.

The event will feature live music by Matt Rome a West Chicago musician and a bake sale with goods provided by Thomas O’Brien of Bloomindale. Attendees also can participate in a raffle as well as treat themselves to hair and body services with a percentage of the proceeds benefiting World Bike Relief.

“Wheaton Academy has an amazing group of kids, and we want to do anything we can to help them,” said Paulette Theodosis, owner of Capelli Bella Salon and Spa.

Throughout the course of seven years, Wheaton Academy has raised $600,000 for the World Vision organization, which is the parent organization of World Bicycle Relief.

“With that money, we built a schoolhouse and funded it in the Zambia community,” said Chip Huber, Wheaton Academy’s dean of spiritual life and project coordinator. “This year, we are focusing on those [African] students who can’t get to high school because it is too far to travel on foot.”

The academy’s goal for this year is to raise $15,000, which would provide 125 bikes to one school. To date, the academy has raised nearly $10,000 through fundraisers like art festivals and poetry readings on campus. The school will continue to raise money through new partnerships from local businesses and vendors.

“It has been fantastic to partner with the local community,” Huber said. “It has been a great new piece of fundraising we haven’t done in a significant way until this year. It allows more people to hear about what we do and have the community respond to it.”

The fundraiser is the second time local businesses have come together to help Wheaton Academy’s cause.

“Our first one was Feb. 12,” Theodosis said. “We raised $1,200 in two hours and were so pleased by the turnout that we wanted to try and host a quarterly fundraiser for the school.”

For more information, contact Capelli Bella Salon and Spa at 630-562-2200 or visit www.wheatonacademy.org.


—Elizabeth Vassolo |Triblocal.com reporter