Susan Gould was ready to run for her son on Monday.
The Carpentersville mother of three was one of 200 people signed up to either walk or run in the Association for Individual Development’s 4th annual Summer Solstice 5K in Elgin. The event was originally set for June 21 — the actual summer solstice — but thunderstorms postponed it.
That was OK with Kathy Hazelwood, vice president of marketing and development for the association, which provides services for area children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The delayed allowed them to pick up another 25 more entrants for the event that started and ended at their 1135 Bowes Road location, Hazelwood said.
Gould, 59, has walked in and volunteered for the event before. But after the last year, when she walked the route, she made it a goal to train so she could run it this time around.
Although the exercise was also recommended by her doctor, Gould got involved because of her son, David.
He’s been working with the association since he graduated from high school three years ago and has moved into one of the social service agency’s group homes.
The organization’s programs “are vital for my family,” Gould said.
Both she and her husband work, she said, and her two daughters are grown. “We can’t stay at home” with David, she said, and he is unable to live on his own. They have set up a trust for his future care.
“It is a transition we are making” to ensure that if something happens to them or to his sisters, David is always taken care of, she said.
The 5K event was expected to raise about $50,000 for the association, President Lynne O’Shea said. That money, like the funds from other events, goes into the organization’s general operations budget.
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“This will raise much needed funds for various programs,” she said.
In addition to housing programs, the agency provides mental health programs for children, work training for adults with intellectual and physical disabilities, crisis intervention services with area police departments, respite programs for families and other services.
The state picks up about 70 percent of its total budget, and events like the 5k and an upcoming dinner and auction in October help fill the funding gap, O’Shea said.
The association is also coming to the end of a capital campaign to raise $2.5 million to pay off mortgages on its group home and other housing facilities. Money now being spent on mortgages will be able to be used for services, O’Shea said.
The total operations budget is about $32 million, and the agency services 6,500 people in Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties, parts of McHenry and DuPage counties, and the Hanover Township part of Cook County.
Gould said the programs offered by AID, beyond housing her son, will help make him more independent, “as much like real life as possible.”
“Kids are supposed to grow up and move out. We all need to have a place to do that,” she said.
