Photos: Chicago Bears Players Help Raise $100,000

More than $100,000 was raised at a fundraiser hosted by Johnny Knox, Lance Louis and the Burgess family of Barrington on Monday evening at Algonquin’s .

In addition to raising money to assist children and families in New Orleans and Africa, guests in attendance could mingle and bowl with Chicago Bears players like Devin Hester, D.J. Moore, Caleb Hanie, Zackary Bowman.

Louis, who is from New Orleans, said he wants to use the money to help encourage kids from that area to stay positive.

“There’s been a lot of hard times since Hurricane Katrina,” Louis said, “and this is about giving those kids the opportunity they deserve to play sports and be active.”

Knox’s half of the proceeds will be spent on digging water wells in drought-stricken Africa and providing hearing aids and medical treatment. He, along with several other athletes, will go to Africa to offer their assistance.

“I heard about the mission work in Africa and I just wanted to be part of something special,” Knox said. “I want to help out and put smiles on the kids' faces.”

Although the fundraiser was smaller in comparison to the , it had more high-ticket items up for raffle, including tickets to ESPY’s, a diamond ring and two first-class round trip tickets from Air Canada to anywhere in the world.

For the second year in a row, McHenry resident Bill Mears won the plane tickets in the auction with a bid of $3,400. The tickets are valued at $15,000.

Last year, Mears said, he and his wife went to Paris and Barcelona with the tickets. This year he plans to take his wife to Sidney, Australia, he said.

Another high-end item auctioned off was a 1.1-karat diamond ring that was purchased by Tom Gust, of Barrington. The ring, valued at $6,000, was won with a bid of $2,100.

He bought it for his girlfriend, Angela Valencia.

“She’s the love of my life and she deserves it,” Gust said, adding that it was also for a great cause.