WINGS Program's 26th Annual Purple Tie Ball will take place at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel on October 3, with tickets priced at $350 and a masquerade theme, “Behind Every Mask is a Story of Strength.” The gala is billed as the WINGS Program's biggest fundraiser of the year, and this year it carries an unusually specific deadline: a government grant that funds several counselor positions at the organization's Foglia Family Resource Center expires at the end of September 2026.
WINGS Program, Inc. says the ball will spotlight the Foglia Family Resource Center, where increased funding is needed to fill a financial gap. The Foglia center, which opened in Rolling Meadows in November 2023, provides counseling and support groups for adult and child survivors of domestic violence. WGN-TV has highlighted the fundraiser.
The 5,218-square-foot Foglia center offers more than counseling rooms: its services include safety planning, individual and group counseling, virtual and in-person appointments, teen relationship groups, parenting groups and bilingual Spanish support. WINGS also says its staff use approaches including play therapy and trauma-focused treatments such as EMDR, broadening the center’s role beyond the support groups described in the event announcement. The center’s service offerings include support for adults, teens and children.
A Statewide System Under Strain
The timing lines up with a surge in demand across Illinois. The Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline received nearly 70,000 contacts in 2025; combined calls, texts and chats were up 181% from 2019, according to data reported by CBS Chicago from The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence. The hotline is statewide and offers crisis intervention, safety planning, and shelter referrals in over 240 languages by phone and text, per the City of Chicago's Department of Family and Support Services.
The hotline’s 69,748 contacts in 2025 included calls, texts and chats—not calls alone—and shelter was a prominent need: it logged 20,623 shelter requests, about 30% of all contacts. The shortage extended beyond Chicago: the Network counted 157 days without available beds or cribs in Chicago shelters and 71 such days in the suburbs. The Network’s 2025 data show how requests for help and the capacity to provide shelter have diverged.
ABC7 Chicago reported that Chicago shelters had no available beds or cribs for 157 days.
WINGS' Four Decades of Shelter Work
WINGS Program describes itself as Illinois’ largest domestic violence agency, with more than 40 years of experience. The organization says it has provided more than one million total nights of emergency shelter and safe housing over its history. Its broader mission, per WGN-TV, spans housing for survivors, integrated services, education, and advocacy to end domestic violence.
The strain reaches service providers well beyond WINGS. In state fiscal year 2025, Illinois domestic-violence agencies recorded 621,130 direct-service hours for 52,191 survivors; 9,324 clients received emergency-shelter or transitional-housing services. Those figures place the gala’s focus on counselor jobs in a broader statewide system handling substantial demand across multiple kinds of support. Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority data capture the scale of that work.
Recognizing Survivors and Funding the Work
The Purple Tie Ball also serves as the venue for the David K. Hill Award, which will be presented at the 2026 event to an inspirational WINGS graduate.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month Ahead
The Purple Tie Ball also arrives just ahead of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, observed each October. Those wanting details on tickets or sponsorships for the October 3 event can call 847-519-7820 or visit wingsprogram.com. WGN-TV's Spotlight Chicago segment previewed the fundraiser and airs weekdays from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
