The Chicago Jewelers’ Association is 145 years old and is the oldest jewelers’ organization in America. The organization is made up of jewelers both retail and wholesale as well as watchmakers and designers many of whom have been impacted twice by the disheartening and demoralizing looting in Chicago’s downtown area. The impact on the merchants in Jeweler’s Row is immeasurable. Many of them had just reopened a week or two prior to the second round of looting.
In the tradition of being there for others in their history in times of economic downturn and strife i.e. assisting the Red Cross during WWII to provide essentials to troops overseas from Chicago and assisting the Mayor’s office to work with the jeweler’s network to keep the jewelry district viable in 2009’s economic downturn and there are many other examples. The President of the CJA Rodger Kadet, upon hearing of the unconscionable destruction and damage to The Ronald McDonald House which is located in our city, that houses and brings comfort to families of children who are terminally ill felt the need to act. Kadet reached out to the CJA Board of Directors and on Friday, August 28th, Rodger Kadet on behalf of the Chicago Jeweler’s Association presented a check to Ronald McDonald’s Executive Director Holly Buckendahl in the amount of $10,000.00. The CJA wanted to be a part of correcting this totally unjust act against this so important facility.
