Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky with 2014 Honoree and Reproductive Rights Project Director Lorie Chaiten

Thank you for supporting the ACLU of Illinois’ Bill of Rights Celebration this past Saturday. Nearly 500 of our members and supporters joined us for the gala, and together, we raised more than $575,000 to support the ACLU’s work to extend and protect civil liberties and human rights.

We are so grateful to our dynamic co-chairs, Sylvia Neil and Carrie Newton, and the truly fabulous dinner committee who worked so hard and creatively to make the evening such a tremendous success. Very special thanks go to our generous sponsors, host committee members, and many volunteers without whom the event would not have been possible. And, a huge thank you to our keynote speaker, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky.

Event co-chair Carrie Newton

The evening celebrated the 35th anniversary of our Reproductive Rights Project with a call to action by our project director, Lorie Chaiten:

“Efforts to marginalize women persist. Efforts to limit access to contraception and deny women reproductive healthcare persist. So, there is much work left to do. Even after more than three decades of great success, the Reproductive Rights Project at the ACLU of Illinois cannot rest, and we still need your help.”

It was an incredible evening in support of this work and all of the ACLU’s efforts in defense of freedom, equality, and the rights guaranteed by our Constitution. We thank you for this support, and look forward to working with each of you!
 
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We are excited about the diverse array of auction items this year including:

• Two tickets to see The Daily Show;
• A vacation in Malaga, Spain;
• Scrumptious food and wine packages;
• Tours, posters, portraits…

And SO much more!

Click the button below to be taken to an external online auction website (Auctions by Cellular):

Brown, Kaplan & Liss LLP
Conant Family Foundation
Dentons
Development Specialists, Inc.
Faegre Baker Daniels LLP
Foley & Lardner, LLP
Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation
Kirkland & Ellis, LLP
Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law
Miller Shakman & Beem, LLP
OnShore Networks
Robert R. McCormick Foundation
Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy LLP
Schiff Hardin, LLP
Sidley Austin, LLP
Winston & Strawn, LLP

Jan Schakowsky has been a lifelong consumer advocate and a champion for what she sees as the disappearing middle class.  From her days as a young housewife who led the campaign to put expiration dates on food products to the 2008 passage of legislation she helped write  making children’s products and toys safe, Jan has worked to make life better for working and middle class Americans. Jan was elected to represent Illinois’ 9^th Congressional District in 1998, after serving for eight years in the Illinois General Assembly.  She is in her eighth term, serving in the House Democratic leadership as a Chief Deputy Whip and as a member of the Steering and Policy Committee.  She is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where she is the Ranking Democrat on the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence where she is the Ranking Democrat on the Oversight Subcommittee.  For decades, Jan identified her top priority as winning affordable, quality health care for all Americans.  Jan lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband Robert Creamer and two Golden Retrievers, Lucky and Buddy.  She has three marvelous children, Ian, Mary, and step-daughter Lauren, and six exceptional grandchildren – Isabel, Eve, Lucy, William, Aidan and Alice.

Sylvia Neil

Sylvia Neil is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School.  She founded and chairs the Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and Law at Brandeis University and co-edits its book series (Brandeis University Press).  Ms. Neil currently sits on the boards of the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Vice Chair), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago (vice chair), Chicago High School for the Arts, and is president-elect of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Ms. Neil also serves on the Visiting Committee for the Humanities at the University of Chicago, the national advisory committees of Human Rights Watch Women’s Rights Division, WomenOnCall and the national board of NARAL.  In 2013 she received the Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Award from the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs

Carrie Newton

A longtime member of the ACLU, Carrie is a lawyer and political activist who is currently working as a consultant to law firms and in-house attorneys that want to improve their pro-bono footprint. This business endeavor is a natural marriage of Carrie’s professional experiences, which include having practiced corporate law at Katten Muchin Rosenman and Edwards Wildman, and serving in leadership roles in the non-profit community as the Senior Director of United Way’s Volunteer Center and Executive Director at Camp of Dreams. Carrie’s greatest role is as mom to toddler Ariella, who reminds Carrie every day why it is so important to continue the fight for civil liberties. Newton earned her bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Michigan.

Click the button below if you’re interested in joining the Host Committee.
We will follow up with you to discuss details of your sponsorship package shortly. Your payment will be collected at a later date.