Children's Home Mision

• Prev
• 1 of 2
• Next

to support high-risk youth and homeless kids

It isn't easy being the chief support system to more than 1,000 children, making sure they have a place to sleep, food in their bellies and opportunities to learn.

Children's Home of Peoria has been doing that and more for almost a century and a half and its services are needed now as much as ever. But like anything else, it takes money and the commitment of volunteers — including numerous foster parents — to supplement the 400-plus professionals if the Children's Home is to succeed in its mission.

While the bulk of its expenses are paid through fee-service contracts with other agencies and grants from the state, fundraisers are key to helping the organization meet its financial needs and one of the top annual event it hosts, the Spring Gala, is scheduled at the Country Club of Peoria on April 28.

"This is a very important event for us, certainly one of our top events every year," said Clete Winkleman, president and CEO of Children's Home. "The proceeds go to our homeless youth programs and can make a huge difference in how well we are able to serve those youth and get them engaged in the community."

Proceeds from the dinner and the silent and live auctions and raffle "help ensure that the homeless youth in our community get the support and guidance they need to build a better future and that youth who are at high-risk for juvenile delinquency receive the crisis counseling, skill building and advocacy they need to keep them on the right track... and keep families together."

More than $860,000 has been raised through the Spring Gala to date, the Children's Home said. The annual tally is usually about $50,000, Winkleman said.

Last year Methodist Medical Center and former CEO Michael Bryant were honored at the Gala, something done at previous Spring Gala events. But Winkleman said the organization is experimenting with some changes this year, including making what was a black tie affair into a more casual event. There will be no special honorees this year.

Entertainment will be Captain Rat & the Blind Rivets and they will do a high-energy 50s and 60s rock and roll show full of humor and satire with their show, featuring props, silly hats, funny faces and more. "You can leave your tie at home and instead join the fun by wearing the silliest, most whimsical hat you can find," the agency said.

The live auction will include some spectacular items and the silent auction is going to feature artwork created by Children's Home Staff and the children in our care. The cash raffle will remain, so six lucky winners will receive $10,000 the night of the event.

Tickets for the event are $175. A table of 10 is $1,750. To reserve seats call (309) 687-7275.

Children's Home has two other premier events each year, both in warmer weather. The Maui Jim Golf Outing brings in professional golfers from the PGA senior's tour and the Cattle Auction raises money for the Youth Farm.

The golf outing raises about $350,000 a year and the auction about $125,000, he said.

Programming offered by Children's Home includes, according to the organization:

• Behavioral Health Services: Provides treatment for children who experience emotional and behavioral problems, as well as services to the family. Services are aimed at reducing emotional distress experienced by youth while improving relationships and general functioning. Services are provided in the home and community and include: Caregiver Connections, Early Childhood Mental Health, Family-Based Intervention, Family Leadership, Mental Health Juvenile Justice, Outpatient Mental Health Services, Tri-County Child & Adolescent Program, School-Based Services and Screening Assessment & Support Services.

• Family Preservation & Placement Services: Provides programming aimed at preventing the placement of children into foster care after allegations of abuse or neglect (Intact Family Services), keeping children in foster care stable in their foster homes (System of Care), offering services to families under stress who need help to avoid abusing or neglecting their children (Differential Response), and the recruitment/licensure of foster parents and placement of foster children for the foster care program (Resources).

• Foster Care: Provides temporary homes for children and adolescents who have been removed from their parents due to abuse or neglect. Services are given to the children, their natural parents and current foster parents. The goal is to help all foster children find permanency in their lives, either through being unified with their parents or, if that isn't possible, through adoption or guardianship with loving, capable caretakers or a transition to independent living.

• Good Beginnings: Provides education and support to first-time, at-risk pregnant and parenting young women in Peoria and Tazewell counties through home visiting, prenatal and parenting groups and Doula services. A Healthy Families program, all services are intended to strengthen the parent/child bond and foster positive attachments that have been proven to reduce the incidences of child abuse and neglect. As a family-focused, strength-based program, it promotes healthy prenatal and post-natal care, enhanced parenting skills, self-sufficiency and linkages to other community services.

• Group Home: Provides 24-hour care and highly-structured treatment services in a group home setting to youth who are preparing for independence. The goal is to stabilize their behaviors so they may return home or transition to the community. Intensive, specialized treatment services are provided through counseling, psychiatric assessment and treatment, skill development and educational programming.

There are several ways to get involved and help and the Children's Home website tells how to do it, whether through donations or volunteering or becoming a foster parent.

The ultimate goal of the foster parent program is to help families reunite. All foster parents must be licensed and there are strict set of guidelines to which they must adhere.

The Children's Home uses 100 or so volunteers each year to assist with such things as mentoring, tutoring, office support, maintenance and fundraising.

For more information about Children's Home, including how to donate money or time, go to www.chail.org.

About the Author