What's New?
The essence of Listen to the Wisest of All is to illustrate life through the retelling of the experiences of extraordinary people ages 88 to 104, some of them from Champaign County.
These sages of the Great Depression/WWII generation provide lessons that will inspire readers facing today’s challenges.
The Leave Your Legacy section at the back of the book provides space and questions for readers to record their own family’s life lessons for generations to come to savor.
Our new friends, authors Rita Blockman and Kim Morin, have reserved 2,000 books to support the work Family Service does with older adults.
One-half of the proceeds of the sales will come to Family Service!
Check out sample sections of the book and/or order the book directly by clicking this link to their website.
We want to recognize a generous allocation of additional funding of $27,000 from United Way of Champaign County. United Way had funds previously committed to another use become available this fall. They decided to distribute them to local programs that have been particularly hard hit by the increased costs in food and transportation. is using the funding to support services to seniors with need in this manner: : $7000; : $6000; : $5000; : $5000; Senior Transportation: $4000. Family Service has been proud to partner with United Way for more than eighty years!
Editor’s note: These additional allocations have been particularly crucial to senior services this year in light of delayed reimbursements by the State of Illinois.
made a wonderful show of support for local seniors with a $2,000 donation to for direct client assistance. These funds are used strictly for senior needs such as purchasing the bath seat that allowed a man to bathe for the first time in two years or the button tool that allowed a woman to dress herself after a stroke. This annual support returns independence and a quality of life to many local seniors each year. It’s the little things that make all the difference! Thank you Fraternal Order of Police for making such a big difference to so many.
Many groups in town were busy this year making the holidays brighter for families and seniors in need. Our staff braved icy roads delivering the food, blankets, toys, and gifts to make the season have a little more joy and hope for many people. People were so touched by your generosity that we wanted to pass the thanks along!
• The faith community rallied with 118 food baskets to families at Thanksgiving including: Sinai Temple, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, and St. Patrick’s Church.
• Meijer gave $225 in gift cards to be used to buy food for families at Thanksgiving. They also made generous donations to Food for Seniors. Meijer donated 228 turkeys and tote bags for low income seniors and they additionally gave $50 gas cards to reimburse mileage for RSVP volunteers who bag and drive for the Food for Seniors program twice a month all year.
• Fraternal Order of Police Illini Lodge # 17 provided 76 food baskets with all the trimmings for seniors and about 50 baskets for younger families.
• Optimist Club filled the wish lists of children in seven families identified in need by our counselors. They gave incredible toys with clothes and candy to please!
• University of Illinois College of Engineering staff adopted a family and filled their wish list with lots of presents and goodies.
• empty tomb accepted and filled special referrals for food and gifts for families.
• BLDD Architects provided holiday baskets for five seniors in need in December.
• Sam’s Café provided a holiday breakfast for the men’s coffee group at the Stevick Senior Center served by our RSVP program.
• Prudential Landmark Real Estate provided twenty twin and full-sized blankets to keep some of the elderly in our community warmer this winter.
Thanks to all our community angels for giving brighter holidays and a new year with greater hope to so many. We are grateful.
The latest version of the HelpBook is hot off the press! partnered with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and United Way of Champaign County to create a single community resource guide for human and social services in our county. We included additional services and made format changes, so this is one of the most encompassing and user-friendly directories to date. Format changes include:
• Services are listed by category instead of by organization name in alphabetical order
• A comprehensive Category Index allows users to quickly scan for categories and/or a particular service listing
• Websites are listed in a larger font with more white space on multiple pages for reading ease
• Service descriptions are written in an easier-to-read 2 column/page format
Fifteen thousand copies of the HelpBook are available for distribution. Call Dawn at 217-352-0099 to reserve copies or stop by Family Service at 405 S. State St., Champaign or C-U Public Health at 201 N. Kenyon Rd., Champaign to get your copy today.
The 12th edition of the Support Group Directories listing hundreds of area support groups are available for pick-up at Family Service, 405 S. State St., Champaign. Please call Sharon at 217-352-0099 if you are interested in a complimentary copy. The new version is also online by clicking on the link at the top left of this page.
Upcoming Events and Information
Community Presentations
The Family Service Counseling program sponsors monthly community presentations by area professionals. The presentations are free and open to any interested community professional to attend. They are usually held the second Tuesday of each month, 9:30-10:30 am. Please call 217-352-0099 to make your reservation, as space is limited to 35.
The January presentatation will feature ABC Counseling.
Senior Task Force
Anyone in the community interested in learning about or being a local voice for senior issues is invited to join this collaborative group. It is sponsored by a partnership of the and Health Alliance Medical Plans. They meet monthly, usually on the third Wednesday, from 9:00-10:00 am. Check out their website at www.seniortaskforce.org or call Rosanna at 217-352-5100 for more details.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 9:00-10:00 am
The Center for Healthy Aging at Provena Covenant
“Who and What We Are”
Speaker: Tom Cottrell, Halo Coordinator
Our 2007 Annual Report
Our 2007 Annual Report is available for download in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Download PDF file (2.2MB)
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Listen to the Wisest of All
Sponsors of the Month
You made brighter holidays & lighter hearts
Support Group Directories Available
