What's New?
Charity from faith groups brings hope
The tough economy has made hard it a hard year for many of us. Five local faith groups made significant charitable contributions to this past year to help people with critical needs. First Call for Help is the community’s entry point to access all other services in town. First Call specialists make thousands of referrals to food pantries, shelters, and other assistance sources each year. Donated funds allow us to fill urgent needs in pressing situations—such as buying critical medicine to cover a holiday weekend. We have also been able to help with power bills, medical supplies, and some rent assistance. We want to honor the following groups as our for their generosity this last year. Together, they doubled previous years’ support and provided $9,450 that we allocated directly to First Call clients.
Thanks for the hope and the cheer—some days it’s made all the difference in the world.
• Council of Congregations
• Faith United Methodist Church
• First Presbyterian Church of Champaign
• First United Methodist Church
• Mattis Avenue Free Methodist Church
Staying Cool when it’s Hot ‘n Humid
Our tropical summer has been especially tough on seniors who are more prone to heat stress than younger people. Many don’t have central air or even fans and they take medication that makes it harder to regulate their body temperature. Two local nursing homes--Heartland Healthcare and C-U Rehab decided to get some cool relief to local seniors.
Pam Britt of Heartland Healthcare called the and asked Rosanna McLain if we could help them distribute fans. She delivered 15 box and 4 oscillating stand fans on June 16. We had so much demand that all the fans were gone in two days!
More people called and we started a waiting list, so we were ready when Heather Gudgel of the Champaign-Urbana Rehab Center called us about more fans. Heather, Tiny, and Laura drove over a van equipped with a mechanical lift and stuffed with 20 fans to the ceiling. We called all 15 people on the waiting list to get their fans in time for the holiday heat wave.
Many thanks to Heartland Healthcare and C-U Rehab staff—you’re our kind of COOL!
Employment Opportunity: Part-time position
Family Counseling Clinical Supervisor/Clinical Therapist
Responsibilities: Under the supervision of the Family Support Program Director, the Clinical Supervisor is responsible for clinical supervision of the Counseling Program staff, including interns. In addition, the Clinical Supervisor is responsible for the direct clinical counseling services to families, couples, individuals, and groups, as well as communicating and networking with collateral and community resources as appropriate.
Qualifications: Master's degree in social work. Advanced clinical certification or license (LCSW, LCPC, LMFT) or can verify has started process. At least three years of direct clinical service and minimum of one year of supervisory experience.
Part-time Position: This is a 24 hours a week exempt position with pro-rated vacation and sick leave accrued.
To apply, please submit a letter of interest, resume, copy of transcript and three references by August 5, 2010 to: Annie Clay, Family Support Program Director, 405 South State Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Interviews have begun and the process is ongoing.
All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, gender, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, mental or physical handicap unrelated to ability, or unfavorable discharge from military service (other than dishonorable). Any individual who is subject of a pending investigation by the Department of Children and Family Services is not eligible for employment.
collaborated with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and United Way of Champaign County to improve this community resource guide for human and social services in our county. We are excited to announce that the alphabetical listing (in larger font) has returned in addition to the comprehensive category index.
Other exciting features include:
• Government-at-a-Glance lists area offices of local, state, and federal agencies
• A comprehensive food pantry listing gives all the details including eligibility and services provided for local resources.
• 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.
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 and ask for Dawn McKinley to make your reservation, as space is limited to 30.
Next class is Tuesday, July 13, 2010--9:30-11:00
1.5 CEU's available for $5, sponsored by TECC
Anyone in the community interested in learning about or being a local voice for senior issues is invited to join this collaborative group. They meet monthly on the third Wednesday, 9:00-10:00 am at Lincoln Square Mall outside the Health Alliance offices unless otherwise specified. Call Rosanna McLain, Family Service Senior Resource Center Director at 217-352-5100 for more information.
Next meeting: July 21., 2010, 9-10 am
Recent & Popular Scams Involving Older Adults
Dan Walsh, Champaign County Sheriff
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. If you order from us directly at 217-352-0099 you can get the additional promotion of buy 2 books and get 1 free.
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. (Note: If you order from their website, you get free shipping.)
Support Group Directories Available
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.
Our 2009 Annual Report
Our 2009 Annual Report is available for download in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Download PDF file (2.0MB)
Back to top.
Senior Task Force
