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Glen Ellyn Mom Takes On Multiple Roles
Deb Ritter is a Glen Ellyn multi-tasking mother of two teens who manages to get the job done. She supports her children in their many activities. "My daughter Carrie is an Anima Singer and is part of the touring chorus," says Deb, referring to the Chicago-area youth chorus based in Glen Ellyn. "She has had so many great opportunities with that group including traveling to Spain and Morocco. My son Brian's passion is guitar and he gets together to play with others. He is also on the cross country team and church youth group."
Since her husband is one of the owners of Rite-Way Custom Homes, Deb helps out as needed with the twenty-year old firm. She is an interior designer but is often called upon to take on other tasks. "My role is sometimes to be an interior designer and sometimes to add architectural finishes. I do whatever else is needed from making finish choices to showing homes to office duty," says Deb.
In addition to being a busy mom and a supportive wife, Deb is involved with The Bridge Builders. "We are a group of women who support Bridge Communities but we seldom meet as a group. We just connect by phone or email to get things done. Bridge Builders was started by a group of friends who wanted to do something to help Bridge Communities and I joined them about five years ago. We do simple things like arranging childcare when needed to bigger things like raising funds for scholarships for Bridge Communities clients." Bridge Communities is a grassroots, non-profit organization that works with homeless families to help them move towards a goal of being self-sufficient.
Deb just finished the fourth annual Garage Party fundraiser for Bridge Communities. The event is an informal party with live music and great food that is held in the garage of Gearhead European Auto Repair in Glen Ellyn. "The Garage Party is the ultimate blue jeans party that always attracts around 300 people because it is so different," says Deb. More than $60,000 has been raised over the past three years at the event. The funds are used to help Bridge Communities clients with car repair bills so they can have reliable transportation.
Although she is always busy, Deb loves her lifestyle. "I keep a Microsoft Outlook Calendar linked to my Blackberry to keep everything straight," she notes. "It also helps that my two kids are very organized and my husband Marv is always supportive of all the things I do." -Judy Buchenot

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