13-03-2025
Balloons Over Vermilion gives back more than $150k to area orgs helping children
Each year, people come from miles away to attend two charity events in Danville: Balloons Over Vermilion, in July, and the Festival of Trees, in November. Every dollar they spend, from admission tickets to purchases of cookies, beer, and more, goes right back into Vermilion County communities, according to Balloons Over Vermilion co-founder Pat O'Shaughnessy.
'It's 100% of the net proceeds. There's no salaries, no extras,' he said.
At Tuesday's Community Impact Awards at the Historic Fischer Theatre, Balloons Over Vermilion awarded more than $150,000 in grants to area organizations that focus on helping kids in need.
'The whole community gave away this money today, which is the neat part,' O'Shaughnessy said after the ceremony.
Arts
A $2,500 grant was given Tuesday to the Danville Municipal Band to help cover costs of extending their summer season another week. Another $3,000 was awarded to the Vermilion County Museum in efforts to help them continue offering free tours to students all across the county.
The Red Mask Players received $3,000 which will help cover costs for their free children's theatre programs throughout the year. Danville High School's music department received a $5,000 grant. The high school's Madrigals Singers performed three songs at the ceremony.
Danville Art League received a grant of $7,500 to help pay for art classes for youth, and sponsor art exhibits for Danville Dist. 118 students.
Basic needs
Georgetown-Ridge Farm's Miss Piggy Project — which supplies necessities to students in need, including paying rent and utility bills and providing students food and clothing, eyeglasses, and more — received a $5,000 grant.
The project began over 40 years ago as an initiative of the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Teachers Association when teachers were noticing how lack of basic necessities was impacting some students' ability to participate in school.
Another similar organization, From Your Heart to Their Soles — a grassroots program started by Tricia Keith that provides shoes to students in need across the county — received a grant of $7,500.
Fair Hope Children's Ministry also received a $10,000 grant to help supply new clothes, layettes, and pack 'n plays to pregnant teens and young families in need.
St. Vincent dePaul Food Pantry and the Salvation Army Food Pantry — which provided 31,320 meals to area residents in need last year — both received $5,000 grants. Food for the Children, which provides students all across Vermilion County with food to take home over the weekend, also received a $5,000 grant.
Feed My Lambs, a weekend/summer food program that supplies Hoopeston students with food over the weekend and during the summer, received a grant of $7,500.
Sports and Play
Winterview Youth League and Hoopeston Youth Baseball each received a $5,000 grant. Danville Christian Academy received a $7,500 grant to help cover costs of replacing their gym floor.
The Vermilion County Conservation Foundation which supports playground equipment projects at county parks, received a $7,500 grant.
A new organization, East Central Illinois Athletic Association, received a $10,000 grant to help cover costs for improvements and maintenance of several sports facilities across the county, including the installation of a new fast-pitch stadium at Winterview Park.
Other organizations
The Boys and Girls Club of America received a $7,500 grant to help them purchase a new security system. The Center for Youth and Family Solutions, which supports adoption and foster child placement programs in Vermilion County, also received a $7,500 grant.
Crosspoint Human Services in collaboration with the That's What She Said project, received a $10,000 grant to support participants in the 'That's What Teens Say' program, which provides teen girls with training and support in telling their own stories on stage each year to help remove the stigma around some of their struggles.
'Trust me. We feel your support. We feel your love. And we feel the community's love and appreciation for your generosity, time, and commitment,' O'Shaughnessy said in closing.
'We're confident that you will use the award funds to strengthen our children and their families,' he said. 'Because, as we all know, it truly is for the kids.'
OSF Labor and Delivery
The largest grant of $21,000 was awarded to OSF's Sacred Heart Medical Center to help them continue providing support in their newly renovated Labor and Delivery ward, which was re-opened in 2023.
Unlike the other organizations receiving grants, OSF is a for-profit hospital. According to O'Shaughnessy, the reason they received such a large grant comes down to an agreement made with the hospital when Balloons Over Vermilion took over the Festival of Trees project four years ago.
'We came to an agreement with them that a portion of the proceeds would go back to the hospital for the first five years,' O'Shaughnessy said, adding that in 2027, the organization will be able to donate 100% of their proceeds to children's organizations.
Award Considerations
As to how organizations are chosen to receive grants, O'Shaughnessy said there is no application process; it's all about choosing the right people for the Board and letting them choose organizations in need.
'We're not like some foundations that have an application process. We look throughout the year on organizations that we deal with,' he said. 'Many of these people volunteer through the festival or balloons ... so we learn about the needs of the kids in the community.'
Still, they have never had to turn anyone away.
'We have given to everybody that's asked us in the eight years we've been doing this. We haven't turned anybody away,' O'Shaughnessy said.
Balloons Over Vermilion will take place Friday, July 11, and Saturday, July 12, while the Festival of Trees will take place Saturday, Nov. 15 through Wednesday, Nov. 19. To learn more, visit
