Billy Duffner, founder of Heat4Homeless, presses bricks with recycled paper to provide warmth for the homeless. 

EVERGREEN PARK, IL —  An Evergreen Park Community High School student’s simple idea to help the homeless kept people throughout Chicagoland warm this past winter, and now he’s turning the initiative into an official nonprofit organization with hopes of expanding it to a greater scale. 

Billy Duffner, an EPCHS senior and player on the school’s baseball team, said the idea for his organization Heat4Homeless, H4H for short, started when he was making paper bricks out of recycled paper for his own family’s fireplace. 

“It made me think that something like this could help homeless people,” Duffner said. “I always thought about how they are able to deal with the winter months, and wanted to do whatever I could to help.” 

Duffner’s grandparents are active with several local charities, and were able to connect him with people who work closely with the homeless. These “distributors” quickly realized the bricks Duffner was making would help immensely. 

“Then it really took off,” Duffner said. “We started out by giving them just 1, but the next week they were asking if they could get 10 packages. We went from pressing one at a time to several at once. At one point we were worried that we’d have to turn some (requests) down.” 

As the demand skyrocketed, Duffner has recruited a small number of friends and family members to help make the bricks. Recycled paper donations is all it takes, as Duffner himself mushes the material together and then presses it into the form of a brick. 

The entire process takes just minutes, although the bricks do need a little more time to dry before they are ready to be lit. A package of two bricks and a firestarter can create warmth for more than an hour.

“The fire it creates can also be a good base for cooking,” Duffner said. 

When the bricks are ready, Duffner hands them off to the distributors, who deliver them to the homeless at various locations throughout Chicagoland. Several hundred have been used already. 

The brick-making process is the basis for H4H, which has created the following mission statement: 

Our mission is to create sustainable heat solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness by repurposing recyclable materials. We aim to provide warmth and comfort while reducing environmental impact, ensuring that no one has to endure the cold. Through innovation and community collaboration, we are dedicated to improving lives and offering a sense of dignity to those in need. 

A website, Facebook page, and official 501(c)(3) non-profit status is in the works, Duffner said. 

The Evergreen Park senior and Central Middle School/Southwest Elementary School alum has “a really good heart,” said Mikki Carping, Duffner’s grandmother and one of the first to help him advance the project. 

“He’s really perfected this process,” Carping said. 

Now, as Duffner’s high school graduation approaches, he’d like to hand off the local operations for H4H. In the fall, he’ll begin college as a finance major at Butler University in Indianapolis. 

“I didn’t expect it to get this big,” he said. “I just saw it as something fun, and I like (brick) pressing.” 

With a wood shop space near Evergreen Park already fitted to make the bricks, Duffner would love to speak with a younger high school student, possibly someone looking for additional service hours, to continue the work locally. 

He’s also hopeful that people in other cities across the country will take notice and start similar organizations there. 

“I’ve put a lot of time into this,” he said. “Some days when there were baseball practices and camps, I’d go straight from there to work on the bricks.” 

“It’s a good way to spend time doing something that’s not only environmentally-friendly, but going to a good cause, too.”