Crisis Center honored as Outstanding Chamber Business
The Tinley Park Chamber of Commerce has honored the Crisis Center for South Suburbia with its Outstanding Chamber Business Award. The local nonprofit has been providing domestic violence services, prevention and education for over 40 years in the south suburbs.
While the organization provides counseling, housing, advocacy services in court and local hospitals, education in schools and local communities, it is most recognized for its emergency shelter. The shelter currently provides a safe haven for 12-15 households, but plans are in the works for an expansion in the next few months.
The Crisis Center’s shelter is one of only 17 emergency shelters in Illinois designed to support the needs of victims of domestic violence, which has been on the rise. In a typical year, over 12,000 nights of shelter are provided.
“It’s a safe place where clients can heal from the trauma they have endured and know someone cares about them,” said Lorri Nagle, the organization’s director of development.
Survivors are provided with meals, basic necessities, counseling, support groups, and connections to countless resources to help them on their road to independence. Because of financial support and donations from the community, all of the services remain free.
Nagle also hopes that the recognition will help increase awareness of domestic violence in the community.
St. Coletta’s of Illinois reaches service milestone
Nestled in a business park on Crossing Drive in Tinley Park, St. Coletta’s of Illinois has provided residential, educational and vocational services to thousands of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities from throughout the south and southwest suburbs for 20 years.
Tinley Park recognized the nonprofit last week for its 20-year milestone during its 2022 Tinley Park Business Breakfast.
Founded in 1949 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Coletta’s originally operated from a farmhouse in Palos Park. They served 29 boys that first year and, as enrollment increased, expanded the campus to include residential cottages, a school, dining hall and church. Girls were admitted to St. Coletta’s for the first time in 1984.
By 1990, its facilities were in need of expensive repairs, including roofing, masonry tuck-pointing and asbestos abatement.
A decision was made to begin anew by deinstitutionalizing the 105 children and adults living on campus and opening group homes in neighborhoods throughout the south and southwest suburbs. Each home offers 24-hour supervision along with cooking assistance, cleaning assistance, life skills training, clinical supports and evening/weekend activities.
Tinley Park was selected as the site of its new vocational training center and school as it was centrally located to the group homes.
St. Coletta’s of Illinois now serves more than 300 people, including nearly 100 students at the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. School for Exceptional Children and about 200 residential clients at its various group homes.
Residents are transported to the Tinley Park campus each day to work on their life skills, vocational training and leisure activities. The goal of the Community Day Services is to prepare participants for community employment, economic self-sufficiency and integration into the community.
Local businesses, including Jewel, Tinley Bowl, TJ Maxx, Portillo’s, Meijer’s and McDonald’s, have partnered with St. Coletta’s to offer employment to many of the adult participants.
Other businesses and churches, including Orland Toyota and Lexus, Aero Rubber, Atlas Putty, St. Stephen’s Catholic Church and St. George Catholic Church, have delivered Christmas presents to the group homes and even organized food drives through the years.
Will County Forest Preserve’s wildlife ecologist, Black Road project win national awards
The Forest Preserve District of Will County has received two awards from the National Association of County Park and Recreational Officials.
Wildlife ecologist Becky Blankenship, of Shorewood, won the Young Professional Award. The District also won an award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Parks and Recreation for the Black Road Regional Trail Connection Project, which includes pedestrian bridges over the DuPage River and Interstate 55. The 2022 NACPRO awards were presented on May 15 at the NACPRO
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conference in Valdosta, Georgia.Blankenship, a 2017 graduate of the University of St. Francis in Joliet, has worked for the Forest Preserve District since June 2020. She is responsible for wildlife monitoring, management and concerns in more than 23,000 acres of preserves in Will County. In her rookie year, Blankenship started a radiotelemetry tracking program to track the movements and habitat use of state-endangered ornate box turtles. She also worked to establish a turtle crossings along a rail line, and she uses game cameras to capture photos of wildlife in the preserves.
“Hearing the wonderful things said about me during the awards ceremony almost brought me to tears,” Blankenship said. “It also gave me a moment to reflect upon how much I was able to accomplish in my initial year as the wildlife ecologist. I am so proud that my work with the county’s wildlife has been recognized not only by the Forest Preserve, but also by a national organization.”
The Black Road Regional Trail Connection opened in November of 2021 after more than 20 years of planning. The project connected the Rock Run Greenway and DuPage River trails along Black Road and provides safer passage for pedestrians and bicyclists as they travel between Joliet and Shorewood. The work was complicated and hit setbacks through the years, but always kept inching forward to its culmination.
Orland Park library seeks input on memory loss programming
Orland Park Public Library, in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s disease, Pathlights, and Rush Alzheimer’s disease Center, is hosting a forum for residents to visit the library to share their thoughts on how the community can better serve those affected by Alzheimer’s.
The forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. June 23 at the library, 14921 S. Ravinia Ave.
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