CHICAGO (WLS) — Mercy Home for Boys & Girls is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day while raising the funds and awareness it needs to care for children and families in crisis. Mercy Home’s March for Kids campaign will help young people heal from trauma and adversity while giving them the tools they need to build brighter futures.

Anyone can make double the difference in the lives of young people throughout the entire month of March. Contributions to mercyhome.org from now until March 31st will be matched by a generous donor. Funds generated by its annual March for Kids effort help Mercy Home provide safety, healing, education, and opportunity for children 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

No matter where you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year, South Side, North Side, or downtown, Mercy Home’s March for Kids has Chicago covered. Friends of Mercy Home will join several events throughout the city, including the annual March for Kids Post Parade Party, a casual, family friendly affair at Venue SIX10, following the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. Highlights include:

• Live music by St. Stephen’s Green
• Dancers from the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance and the Hogan Irish Dance Academy!
• Kid and adult beverages
• Irish and Chicago-themed food buffets for the whole family
• Special children’s activity section featuring carnival and arcade games, great prizes, balloon artists, a caricaturist, a temporary tattoo station, and more

Located on Michigan Avenue, the modern and spacious Venue SIX10 is just steps from the parade and features sweeping views of Chicago’s Grant Park and Lake Michigan.

General admission for adults is $75, and $20 for ages 6-20. Kids ages five and under are free!

Pre-sale tickets will be available mercyhome.org until midnight on March 14, (adult tickets purchased at the door increase to $85) and proceeds benefit Mercy Home for Boys & Girls.

Mercy Home will continue to paint the town green on Sunday, March 16, by marching with its young women in the South Side Irish Parade. Mercy Home’s Walsh Girls Campus lies just blocks from the end of the parade route.

Want to celebrate sooner? Mercy Home’s Associates Board, which is made up of young professionals, will officially kick off Mercy Home’s March for Kids on March 1 with a party and fundraiser at famed Gold Coast establishment Butch McGuire’s, 20 W. Division Street, from 3 to 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $35 (until noon on March 1), or at the door for $40. Tickets include beer, wine, seltzers, and appetizers.

Mercy Home’s March for Kids honors the organization’s rich Irish history. Founded by Irish American priests in 1887, Mercy Home has been led by priests of Irish decent for the past 138 years. March for Kids has been held annually under different names, since 1996 when it was known as A Touch O’ Green. For years, it was known as Shamrocks for Kids before being renamed and expanded in 2014.

To learn more how about you can make this month a March for Kids, visit mercyhome.org/marchforkids.