Colleen Gleason Community Spirit Award -2025
May 20, 2025
The Junior League of Chicago (JLC) held their annual meeting on May 14. Among the awards is the “Colleen Gleason Community Spirit Award”. This award recognizes a member’s passion for helping others, earning the respect and admiration of their committee members, and is viewed as a both a dedicated mentor and reliable volunteer.
Congratulations to Catherine Anderson who volunteers with the Mad Hatters Program. She embodies the spirit of community, service, and leadership that defines the Colleen Gleason Community Spirit Award through her exceptional work with the Mad Hatters program.
Catherine demonstrated what it means to lead with heart, purpose, and a deep commitment to literacy and access for children across Chicago. This year, Catherine took it upon herself to reimagine what was possible for Mad Hatters, which is the oldest JLC community program, with a focus on literacy and promoting reading for children!
The 2025 Colleen Gleason Community Spirit Award was bestowed to Catherine Anderson!
Traditionally a beloved placement within the Junior League of Chicago, Mad Hatters brings joy, storytelling, and a love of reading to children at Chicago Public Libraries. Under Catherine’s leadership, this program didn’t just maintain its impact—it grew meaningfully. She opened up Mad Hatters volunteer shifts to the entire League, allowing New Members, Actives, and Sustainers alike to participate in the magic of live storytelling. By expanding access, she not only amplified the program’s reach to more neighborhoods and students, but also deepened engagement from our membership in a way that reinvigorated the program’s presence across the city.
Catherine’s vision and drive resulted in more children having access to a fun, engaging introduction to literacy—and more members finding meaningful ways to serve their community through the JLC. Her dedication, reliability, and positivity made her a trusted leader and mentor within the Junior League Chicago. Catherine exemplifies what it means to lead by example—showing that small changes, fueled by passion and commitment, can create lasting ripple effects.
“Catherine’s spirit and exception work reminds us why Colleen was involved with the JLC organization and that our Colleen Cares Organization continues to support. This annual award keeps Colleen’s charitable and generous spirit alive while honoring outstanding JLC members. This year it was even more touching as Colleen Cares held its first annual book drive.” - Christine Gleason
Junior League’s values of welcoming, camaraderie, commitment to the community, mentoring, thoughtful risk-taking and respect for the individuals they serve were evident in all the speeches and awards.
We also presented JLC with a $10,000.00 check. We are filled with gratitude to all our donors to Colleen Cares Organization which makes these donations possible.
Mike and Christine Gleason presenting the Colleen Cares donation to Sarah McCarron Burns (JLC President 2025-2026) and Becky Hogan (JLC President, 2024-2025)
“Thank you and the entire Colleen Cares team for your incredibly generous donation to the Junior League of Chicago. We are truly honored to be a recipient of your support. Thanks to your remarkable contributions over the last few years, we've been able to deepen our investment in community impact projects across Chicago and continue advancing women’s leadership through impactful training and hands-on volunteer programs.
It means so much to us to play even a small role in honoring Colleen’s powerful legacy of service and giving back.” - Becky Hogan (2025)
“Colleen embodied the restlessness to bring about meaningful change. The idea that service is not something you do in your spare time or after you have reached your personal goals, but is something you make sacrifices to do today because you want to be part of the solution. That sense of feeling connected to our neighbors but also responsible for what happens.” - JLC President Becky Hogan (2024)
