While longtime friends Emma Francis and Caroline Kelly are home from their respective colleges for Easter break, the two Hinsdale residents are going to take a little time to be entrepreneurs.
On the day before Easter, Francis and Kelly will spend the day completing the final task of a business project they recently began. Egg My Yard! Is the name of their business for which they will bring Easter eggs they have filled with goodies and hide them in the yards of people who have signed up for the service.
Eggs will contain nut-free candy and toys and will be hidden in yards around the Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Western Springs and Oak Brook area. The cost is $30 for 30 eggs, $75 for 75 eggs, $100 for 100 eggs, and $10 for a golden egg with a special prize.
Francis said she got the idea just last week when she saw an online video of someone offering a similar service in another town.
“I texted Caroline and suggested we give it a try since we would both be home for Easter break, and here we are,” she said.
Kelly immediately liked the idea.
“We both knew we were going to be home for Easter, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to see if it would work in Hinsdale and also a fun way to spend time together over break,” she said.
The two young women, now college sophomores, first met as kindergarten students at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic School in Hinsdale. While attending Nazareth Academy, Francis and Kelly both played on the golf and lacrosse teams together and became best friends, Kelly said.
After graduating they went off to college at different schools — Francis to Indiana University in Bloomington and Kelly to Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia — but that has not put a damper on their friendship.
“We never planned on attending the same college, and it’s fun to compare our college experiences,” Francis said. “We talk pretty much every day and see each other at home for breaks. Caroline also came to visit me last fall, which was so nice to be able to show her around and introduce her to my friends.”
Kelly, who is co-majoring in Marketing and Business Analytics, said she very much enjoyed her visit to see Francis, a Business Management major, at Indiana University.
“That was so much fun to see her life there and meet all of her friends,” Kelly said. “Emma and I have stayed super close.”
Francis said she decided to attend Indiana University because “everyone speaks so highly of it, it has such a beautiful campus and a great business program.”
“My twin brother, dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins all went or go to IU as well,” she said.
Kelly’s choice of Villanova came quickly.
“I knew I wanted to go to Villanova when I toured the campus and was able to experience the sense of community firsthand,” she said. (It’s) similar to the community present at Naz. Everyone looks out for each other and wants their friends to succeed.”
As for their Egg My Yard! business venture, Kelly and Francis have promoted it with posts on the Real Housewives of Hinsdale Facebook page and sending information about it to local families for which they have done babysitting.
“The response has been great,” Francis said. “We were not sure if people would need help with Easter, but we thought it was worth a shot to post our flyer and see.”
Francis said they are using colorful plastic eggs along with jumbo glittery golden eggs, which they will hide “sometime after sundown” Saturday night.
“Our goal for Egg My Yard! is to help out some local families,” she said. “It can be a lot to get everything ready in time for Easter, especially when you have young kids, so we wanted to give people the opportunity to outsource their tasks. I have worked as a babysitter and nanny in Hinsdale for the past seven years, so I know tons of local families and wanted to be able to help them out this Easter.”
Kelly also said she liked the idea of helping some local families for Easter.
“We also were excited to do this together and be able to spend time with each other,” she said, “But also, in all honesty, we are college students who are both going abroad for a semester in the next year, so we were hoping to be able to add to our college funds as well.”
While not finished, yet, with their inaugural effort, both Kelly and Francis said they hope to do Egg My Yard! again.
“We would love to continue it for years to come, and are so grateful for the response we’ve gotten from everyone in Hinsdale,” Kelly said.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
